The Ogasawara Islands are located alone in the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 km south of Tokyo. The Ogasawara Islands have various indigenous species, as they have always been isolated, never been linked with any continent. This is the character Ogasawara share with Galapagos Islands off Ecuador.
小笠原諸島。天気予報では時々耳にするが、一体何処にあるのだろうか。東京から南に約1000km、太平洋の中にポツンとある。小笠原諸島は大陸と陸続きになったことがない「海洋島」だ。そのために、小笠原の生物は長い時間にわたって独自の進化を遂げ、ここにしか生息しない「固有種」が多い。ガラパゴス諸島も海洋島だ。
10年ほどまえ、この小笠原諸島に何度か通った。小笠原に行くには東京港から客船・小笠原丸に乗る。午前中に竹芝桟橋を出発して一昼夜、翌日の午後に船は小笠原諸島の主島・父島に到着する。空港はない。帰りは同じ船の復路で帰るので、いったん出発すると約1週間は戻れない。
小笠原の魅力は、何と行っても、その自然だ。コバルト色の海、白い砂浜、亜熱帯の森林、不思議な樹木。運がよければザトウクジラやイルカを見ることもできる。季節によってはトビウオが飛び交い、ウミガメが産卵する。
About 10 years ago, I visited Ogasawara a few times to work on a project there. To go there, you need to get on a passenger vessel named Ogasawara-Maru from the Port of Tokyo. Setting off in one morning, it takes one whole day on board, and arrive in Chichijima in the afternoon next day. There is no aiport. On the way back, you get on boar the same vessel. Once you set out, you would come back only after a week.
The fascination of Ogasawara is its nature - the cobalt blue ocean, white sandy beach, semi-tropical rainforest, strange looking trees. If you are lucky, you may take a look at whales and dorphines. In some occasion, flying fish fly and sea turtle lays eggs.
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41-1 Pacific Ocean, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Kodak G400Data <All images are digitizedy Kodak Picture CD service from Negatives>
41-2 Chichijima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Kodak G400-3
41-3 Chichijima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Fuji G100
41-4 Chichijima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Fuji G100
41-5 Minamijima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Fuji G100
41-6 Minamijima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Fuji G100
41-7 Minamijima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Fuji G100
41-8 Hahajima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Kodak G400-3
41-9 Hahajima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Kodak G400-3
41-10 Hahajima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Kodak G400-3
41-11 Chichijima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Fuji G100
41-12 Chichijima, Ogasawara, Japan, 1992/ Pentax MX Takmar 50mm Fuji G100