Why this ride
From Ogasawara it runs 10 km to Ogasawara; allow about 10 min of riding. It goes by way of Yomejima and peripheral reefs, Mukojima and peripheral reefs and back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Nishijima and peripheral reefs and Mukojima and peripheral reefs
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 10 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 10 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. Nishijima and peripheral reefs
The Ogasawara islands name each other like a family, and Nishijima is among the younger members of the group, a modest uninhabited island west of Chichijima, the father island. Chichijima, Anijima and Ototojima, the elder and younger brothers, and Hahajima, the mother island, make up the main cast. The names are Japanese, and yet the main harbour town on Chichijima is called Ōmura, and the bay on its northern side Futami, and the older Western names like Peel Island and Port Lloyd still turn up on charts. That patchwork tells you how the island chain was settled.
Read the complete Nishijima and peripheral reefs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nishijima 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 3 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 5 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 Nishijima and peripheral reefs.
5. Nishijima and peripheral reefs
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nishijima 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 Nishijima and peripheral reefs. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Nishijima and peripheral reefs to Yomejima and peripheral reefs
Nishijima and peripheral reefs → Yomejima and peripheral reefs is 3 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 2 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 2 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs to Nishijima and peripheral reefs
back through Yomejima and peripheral reefs → Nishijima and peripheral reefs is 3 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.