I’m being flown to Tokyo for a conference and I want to use that to slingshot somewhere a bit extreme. That last few times I went Dublin > Baltics, Delhi > Nepal, Dublin > Svalbard and Singapore > Siam Reap.
I’ve “done” Japan, including two weeks in Tokyo, and I have nothing left there that I care to do, except an island called Aogashima which is on my bucket list. Flights from Haneda are only $100 AUD and fly three times a day. Well, that takes you to the neighbouring island of Hachijojima and then it is a short-ish ferry ride to Aogashima.
What is so special? Well Aogashima is a tiny island about 3kms across that is entirely a volcanic crater, and the volcano is active, last erupting around 250 years ago when half the population died. That population today is only a couple of hundred people, and they grow produce in the rich volcanic soil.
The easy is of course cheap and convenient to get to, if all goes well!
Here’s the extremes:
- Active volcano, which is a risk as White Island in NZ recently showed us
- Nobody speaks English
- The only easy way to stay there (I can’t phone and talk in Japanese) is to stay at the free campground
- This will be mid-September, which is peak typhoon season
- The ferry gets cancelled half the time
So I could have an idyllic hiking holiday (both islands are picturesque volcanoes) or I could be in a typhoon, in a active volcano crater, in a tent, in a typhoon. I think that qualifies as extreme!
The good news, 25 degrees celsius day and night, no hypothermia for me.