Why this ride
An 18 km round trip from Ogasawara - roughly 19 min in the saddle. The stops in between: Yomejima and peripheral reefs, Mukojima and peripheral reefs and back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Higashijima and peripheral reefs and Mukojima and peripheral reefs
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 18 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 19 min
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Higashijima and peripheral reefs
Higashijima means eastern island, and like its relatives in the Ogasawara chain it sits in the middle of the Pacific, around a thousand kilometres south of Tokyo and at the end of one of the longest regular ferry runs in Japan. No road leads to it, and nobody rides there. What it offers is a glimpse of one of the world's most isolated natural laboratories, seen from a boat on a good day.
Read the complete Higashijima and peripheral reefs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Higashijima and peripheral reefs is where the day begins. Next is Yomejima and peripheral reefs.
2. Yomejima and peripheral reefs
This is the one place on the list you cannot ride to, and it is worth being clear about that from the start. Yomejima is a small, uninhabited island in the Mukojima group, the northernmost cluster of the Ogasawara Islands, roughly a thousand kilometres south of Tokyo in the open Pacific. There are no roads, no people, no landing stage for visitors, and the reefs around it are part of the protected area that UNESCO inscribed as the Ogasawara Islands World Heritage site in 2011.
Read the complete Yomejima and peripheral reefs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yomejima and peripheral reefs comes up about 6 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mukojima and peripheral reefs.
3. Mukojima and peripheral reefs
Three little islands sit alone in the Pacific more than a hundred kilometres north of Chichijima, and the Japanese gave them a joke that has lasted. Mukōjima is the bridegroom, Nakōdojima the matchmaker and Yomejima the bride, and together they form the Mukojima group, sometimes called the Parry Islands after a British naval officer. Nobody lives here now. The islands are volcanic remnants, treeless in places and grazed down in the past by goats, and they receive almost no visitors.
Read the complete Mukojima and peripheral reefs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 9 km into the recorded legs you reach Mukojima and peripheral reefs. Next is back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs.
4. back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yomejima and peripheral reefs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs, late in the day. Next is Higashijima and peripheral reefs.
5. Higashijima and peripheral reefs
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Higashijima and peripheral reefs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Higashijima and peripheral reefs. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Higashijima and peripheral reefs to Yomejima and peripheral reefs
Higashijima and peripheral reefs → Yomejima and peripheral reefs is 6 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yomejima and peripheral reefs to Mukojima and peripheral reefs
Yomejima and peripheral reefs → Mukojima and peripheral reefs is 3 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mukojima and peripheral reefs to back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs
Mukojima and peripheral reefs → back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs is 3 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs to Higashijima and peripheral reefs
back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs → Higashijima and peripheral reefs is 6 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.