The Volcano Islands or Iwo Islands are a group of three Japanese-governed islands in Micronesia. They lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and belong to the municipality of Ogasawara, Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The islands are all active volcanoes lying atop an island arc that stretches south to the Marianas. They have an area of 32.55 square kilometres (12.57 sq mi), and a population of 380. The island of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands lies about 1,240 kilometres southeast of Miyazaki.
Ogasawara is a village in Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan, that governs the Bonin Islands, Volcano Islands, and three remote islands.
Chichijima (父島) is the largest and most populous island in the Bonin or Ogasawara Islands. Chichijima is about 240 km (150 mi) north of Iwo Jima. 23.5 km2 (9.1 sq mi) in size, the island is home to about 2120 people (2021). Connected to the mainland only by a day-long ferry that runs a few times a month, the island is nonetheless organized administratively as the seat of Ogasawara Village in the coterminous Ogasawara Subprefecture of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Together with the Volcano and Izu Islands, it makes up Japan's Nanpō Islands.
Hahajima, Haha Jima, or Haha-jima is the second-largest island within the Bonin or Ogasawara Islands SSE of the Japanese Home Islands. The steeply-sloped island, which is about 21 km2 (8 sq mi) in area, has a population of 440. It is part of Ogasawara Village in Ogasawara Subprefecture, which is approximately 1,000 km (620 mi) south of Tokyo, Japan.
Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by broadleaf tree species with evergreen, glossy and elongated leaves, known as "laurophyll" or "lauroid". Plants from the laurel family (Lauraceae) may or may not be present, depending on the location.
The Nansei Islands subtropical evergreen forests is a terrestrial ecoregion of the Ryukyu Islands, also known as the Nansei Islands, in Japan. The Nansei Islands are an island arc that stretches southwest from Kyushu towards Taiwan. The larger islands are mostly volcanic islands and the smaller ones mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island. The highest point is Mount Miyanoura on Yakushima Island at 1,936 metres.
Ogasawara National Park is a national park in the Ogasawara Islands, located approximately one thousand kilometres to the south of Tokyo, Japan. The park was established in 1972 within the municipality of Ogasawara, itself part of Tokyo. In 2011, the Ogasawara Islands were inscribed upon the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Bonin white-eye or meguro (メグロ) is a small songbird endemic to the Bonin Islands of Japan. It is the only species in the genus Apalopteron. Its taxonomic affinities were a long-standing mystery and it has been placed with the bulbuls, babblers and more recently with the honeyeaters, during which it was known as the Bonin honeyeater. Since 1995 it is known to be a white-eye in the family Zosteropidae, that is closely related to the golden white-eye of the Marianas Islands.
Pandanus boninensis is an Asian species of plant that is endemic to and common in the Distylium-Schima dry forests and Raphiolepis-Livistona dry forests of the Ogasawara Islands, Japan. It has aerial prop roots and grows on rocks. The beetle, Phylloplatypus pandani is a leaf miner that consumes the leaves of P. boninensis, it was first described by scientists in 1998. The fungus, Kodonospora tetracolumnaris was isolated from dead leaves of P. boninensis and described in 1993.
The Bonin flying fox, Bonin fruit bat, or in Japanese Ogasawara giant bat is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to four islands in Ogasawara Islands, Japan. Its natural habitat is subtropical forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Ogasawarana yoshiwarana is a species of land snail with an operculum, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Helicinidae, the helicinids.
North Iwo Jima, now officially North or Kita Iōtō and previously known as Santo or San Alessandro, Hooge Meeuwen Island, and North Sulfur Island, is the northernmost member of Japan's Volcano Islands. Together with the Bonin Islands, the Volcanos form the Ogasawara Archipelago and Subprefecture. Together with the Bonins and Izu Islands, they form the Nanpo Islands, all formally organized as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. North Iwo Jima is located 80 kilometers (50 mi) north of Iwo Jima, 207 kilometers (129 mi) SSW of Chichijima in the Bonins, and 1,170 kilometers (730 mi) south of Tokyo on Honshu. Previously inhabited by two Japanese villages from 1898 to 1944, it is current a desert island.
South Iwo Jima, officially Minami or South Iōtō since 18 June 2007 and also formerly known as Santo Agustino, is a 3.4 km2 (1.3 sq mi) uninhabited island in the North Pacific. Located 60 kilometers (37 mi) south of Iwo Jima, it is the southernmost of the Volcano Islands, part of the Nanpo Archipelago. Farallon de Pajaros is the next island to its south, 541 kilometers (336 mi) away in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Ogasawara Subprefecture is a subprefecture of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in Japan. The subprefecture covers the Bonin and Volcano Islands and three isolated islets and is coterminous with the village of Ogasawara. The subprefecture covers 104.41 square kilometers (40.31 sq mi) and has a population of 2,415 people. It maintains a main office on Chichijima and a branch office on Hahajima, the two permanent settlements in the islands.
The Carolines tropical moist forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in Micronesia. It includes the central and eastern Caroline Islands in the Federated States of Micronesia.
The Yap tropical dry forests is a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregion in Micronesia. It includes the Yap Islands and neighboring atolls in the Federated States of Micronesia.
The Bonin greenfinch, also known as the Ogasawara greenfinch, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae that is endemic to the Ogasawara Islands of Japan, where it is found on the Bonin Islands and Volcano Islands. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the grey-capped greenfinch and some authorities consider it as such, but a 2020 analysis found it likely to represent a distinct species that diverged from C. sinica about 1.06 million years ago, and the International Ornithological Congress now recognizes it as such, making it the eleventh endemic species in Japan. There are fewer than 400 individuals in the population and it is considered critically endangered by the Japanese government, necessitating protection. According to the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, as of December 2021, the Ogaswara greenfinch is Japan's most endangered bird.
The Bonin Islands are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some 1,000 kilometres directly south of Tokyo, Japan and 1,000 miles northwest of Guam.
