About a thousand kilometres south of Tokyo, in the Pacific, a scatter of small volcanic islands sits on the road to nowhere. These are the Ogasawara Islands, also called the Bonin Islands, and they have never been joined to any continent. That isolation is the whole point. Snails, plants and insects have evolved here in ways found nowhere else, which is why UNESCO listed the islands in 2011 and why some people call them the Galapagos of the East.
The main inhabited islands are Chichijima and Hahajima, reached by a ferry from Tokyo that takes about a day each way and runs only every few days. If you are on a motorbike, you will need to understand that the ride is a short one: a few narrow roads on Chichijima, a few more on Hahajima, with the sea always close.
History is unusual too. Western and Pacific Islander settlers arrived in the 1830s, a mix of sailors and adventurers, and the islands later fell under Japanese control. Commodore Perry stopped here in 1853 before sailing on to Japan. During the Second World War the islands were fought over, and Iwo Jima is not far south. The US administered Ogasawara until 1968, and some residents still carry names that reflect that mixed past.
The sea is the real attraction. Humpback whales pass between roughly January and April, dolphins can be seen year round, and green turtles nest on the beaches. The water is clear and warm, and the forests contain endemic trees, including the Bonin palm, and a flying fox found nowhere else. Weather is subtropical, with typhoons in late summer and autumn, so check the ferry schedule. Fuel and food are limited to the village on Chichijima, so plan the day with some care, and treat the islands as a place to slow down.