What a little research will do...

I always like scanning media, looking at web-sites and talking with anybody we meet to discover another nook of Japan that we haven't visited yet.

This was how I ended up on a wonderful bike ride to a new neighbourhood in Tokyo to visit the dramatic catholic cathedral of Tokyo in the setting sun; a beautiful surprise to me only discovered thanks to my internet research:

In the same way I discovered about this cool island in the Izu Islands called Miyake Jima, described by its beautiful beaches, its birds and wildlife and the possibility to swim with dolphins. We jumped on the opportunity, pleased to find that not only were there boat tickets available but also there was lodging to be had on the island that we could book at that late notice.

So once again we bicycled across this huge city with our weekend gear packed on our bike racks to the ferry terminal (though in my casual arrogance I assumed I knew the way without checking Google maps and added 5 km to our route there!). At the terminal we took our bikes apart and packed them in our bike bags and piled on quite a large ship to head out for our overnight trip.

We love steaming out of Tokyo harbour at night with all of the lights glowing as far as the eye can see...

Under the Rainbow bridge....

Sleeping in a simple bunk on the big ship to arrive at the Miyakejima at 5:30 AM. Our BnB host whisked us off to his lodge for a great breakfast of fish, then we put our bikes back together and peddled off around the island. It was a forty km ride with lots of steep ups and downs on a hot, hot day, but totally worth it.

We were struck by how beautifully maintained the roads were on this remote island as in so many other places in Japan: sidewalks all around the island, railings that often look more like sculptures, a row of flowering plants along most sections of the highway and street lamps (you can see one in the photo) almost the entire circumference of the island, houses or not! Public tax dollars at work!

Not only was there scenic beauty on the island with sweeping beaches, cliffs and crashing waves, there was also lots of remainders of a very active volcano on the island. This next photo shows all that remains of a temple (the roof in the background) and its Torii gate swept in the torrent of lava from the volcano in 1980. 

Many sections of the coastline were covered with dark and colourful swaths of lava slowly being reconverted to fertile growing areas:

Notice the lack of people on the beaches:

The woods themselves were deep and luscious rain forest vegetation with trees competing densely for the bits of light they could find in the deep foliage. 

We stopped several times on both Saturday and Sunday for swims along the isolated shorelines, always enjoying benches, outdoor showers for bathers and spotless bathrooms to change in. Did these ever get used by others?

Half-way around the volcano we pedalled into a sobering area that used to be a village of 3000 plus residents before the eruption in 1980 (zero in on the photo on the sign you can). In 1980 lava came sweeping down the mountain and buried most of the town. This is the remains of the elementary and Junior High school with lava spilling out through the orifices. 

We peddled on right into the evening with the gradually setting sun to the West and distant islands sprinkled on the horizon. Beautiful bird songs accompanied us the whole way with only a few cars and trucks passing by at infrequent intervals. 

Every corner of earth was bursting with growth, with flowers and with beauty. We were thrilled to get away to such a peaceful retreat so close to Tokyo.

Now back to the "What a little research will do..."! On the long slow boat ride back to Tokyo Shelley had a little more time to research about Miyakejima. She came up with this (link). Title of the article: "The Town Where Everyone Wears a Gas Mask" Hmmm...

As we researched more fully it turns out that there was another massive eruption in the year 2000 that did not do so much lava damage but that set off 17500 earthquakes over the next 3 months (!!!) and began spewing 20000 tons of sulfuric dioxide poison gas from its summit every day. Not surprisingly the island was evacuated.

In 2015 those who wanted to were allowed to return. Nevertheless there are signs everywhere (in Japanese) saying to carry a gas mask and listen for announcements just in case there was another gas leak. Well... we missed that part of the memo.

Shelley saw something about gas masks and asked our host (the one in this photo without a mask) who said, no, there was no problem. None of the other Japanese guests seemed concerned either. 

Gas mask tourism was a bit of fad here when residents were first allowed back (see photo) and the convenience stores all have gas masks (we missed that memo as well!). 

It is a beautiful island that is not crowded at all. There are amazing and remote beaches. The birds fill the air with beautiful song. The residents are extremely kind.... and there is a risk of sulphur dioxide spewing out of the mountain!

Life is complicated and sometimes a little more thorough research is helpful! Thank you Shelley!