Aogashima | Blog of Willy Yanto Wijaya

Aogashima Journey: A Brief Note and Some Travel Tips

March 22, 2020

Early March 2020, finally I managed to reach Aogashima, the most remote island of Izu islands. This was one of my most uncertain trip even till the date of departure.

In short, to reach Aogashima, we need to transit at Hachijojima first, then we can take either 20 minutes helicopter ride or 2.5 hours ferry ride (Aogashimaru). The 20 minutes one way heli ride cost 11,750 yen with allowed baggage 5 kg. We need to pay couple hundreds of yen for each kg of excess baggage (but there is limit, the staff will weigh total baggage and passengers weigh during check-in). The Aogashimaru Ferry cost around 2700 yen.

From Tokyo to Hachijojima, we can either take ANA flight (one way trip less than an hour), or take over 10 hours overnight Tokai Kisen ferry (the return ferry from Hachijojima to Tokyo departs in the morning and arrive in the evening in Tokyo).

Note that the Aogashimaru Ferry does not operate on Sunday, furthermore during weekdays it occasionally conducts goods loading (Tatsumi and Shibaura freight loading) where it does not take passengers, and even furthermore, often times due to weather conditions (strong wind/ waves) it does not operate as schedule!

Therefore, you need to take into account of that before planning the trip.

The schedule of Aogashimaru can be seen here:

http://www.izu-syotou.jp/route01/index_e.html?20191001

As for the helicopter (愛らんど shuttle by Toho Air), it operates daily schedule; but it was very difficult to grab the booking/ reservation. In most cases you need to book one month before. They mention that you can book via internet, but internet reservation only open starting from 12 PM one month before, and usually when I tried to check, in most cases, it was already fully booked. Therefore, you need to reserve via phone at 9 AM one month before to grab the reservation. But the problem was, there were so many people simultaneously made reservation call, and I failed many times to reserve the helicopter. When my call finally accepted around 09:30 AM, the staff mentioned it’s fully booked already and whether I’d like to be in the waiting list. After trying for several days, one day I luckily managed to get the helicopter reservation (just try to call with several hand-phones or land-line phone if possible).

The phone number can be checked in their website:

http://tohoair-tal.jp/

And there it goes. I adjust accordingly other stays option after I succeeded to book the helicopter. From Tokyo to Hachijojima, I booked ANA flight for free with my mileages, then stay one night in Hachijojima, the next morning I fly with helicopter to Aogashima, stay one night in Aogashima, then next morning ride on Aogashimaru Ferry back to Hachijojima, stay one night, then next morning ride ferry from Hachijojima back to Tokyo. If everything goes well, sounds like a perfect plan. But I calculated the risks such as if Aogashimaru Ferry does not operate due to weather, the next two days it will have Tatsumi and Shibaura loading, so I decided to bring tent, and to prepare just in case I need to camp in Aogashima for additional three nights. I also jumped into the waiting list for helicopter back from Aogashima to Hachijojima.

As for staying places in Aogashima, there were only two options: staying in the island’s lodging or on the camping ground. There were only seven lodgings, with average prices between 8,000-10,000 yen per night per person. Quite pricey but you get 2-3 meals daily. The camping ground is free, but you need to register beforehand. Details here:

http://www.vill.aogashima.tokyo.jp/tourism/stay.html

As I mentioned earlier, this was one of my most uncertain trip even till the date of departure. After arrived in Haneda, it was announced that the flight to Hachijojima might be cancelled due to rain/ fog and poor visibility in Hachijojima. My original plan to enjoy the ANA Suite Lounge was scattered because check-in was postponed until 30 minutes before departure before they could decide whether to fly or not. Finally, they announced that flight will be on time as original schedule.

Arriving in Hachijojima, it was raining hard whole day with strong gushing wind. No much option aside from staying in the room at Reed Park Resort Hotel Hachijojima. After rain abated a bit for a couple of hours in the evening, we went to a nice and cheap but good restaurant named Michi. Don’t forget to try its fried rice, very delicious.

The next morning, as planned, we rode the helicopter despite weather forecast said that it’s a windy day. It was a breath-taking journey with aerial view of island and vast Pacific Ocean. The helicopter flew from Hachijojima Airport to Helipad Landing Spot on Aogashima. Despite weather forecast saying it will be a cloudy/ windy day, not long after arriving at Aogashima, a sudden strong rain poured down making some of us a bit wet

We stayed one night in Onjuku Tametomo, a lodging in Aogashima. The kind lady owner (who also simultaneously worked as post-office delivery-woman) fetched us from the helipad to the lodging which is not so far. To my dismay, we were informed that tomorrow Aogashimaru Ferry will not operate, due to previous heavy rain and wind, it stayed in Tokyo, and it meant the next coming will be Friday (4 days later).

For Aogashima, we planned to explore Otonbu, the volcanic caldera within Aogashima island. Aogashima itself is a volcanic island, where its last eruption was hundreds years ago which made it uninhabitable for several decades.

Trusted too much in Google Map, we got astrayed because when we search Otonbu, Google Map gave direction along a road where it looked near to Otonbu, but there’s actually no path connected to Otonbu. But due to this, we walked almost nearing the Sanbou Port, which some portion of the road was heavily damaged and under repair constructions.

Fortunately, we got free hitchhike back where we learned that there were actually many project/ construction workers now staying in Aogashima to work on repairing the damaged road to the port (there was another section road from the opposite side where cars could still pass through tunnel and reach the Sanbou Port).

After getting back on the right track, we reached Entrance of Makijo (大凸部遊歩道), and kept hiking till the Otonbu Park (大凸部公園). But too bad that weather was so foggy that we could not clearly see the Otonbu caldera.

We then took a short-cut path, climbing the rock stone stair full of slippery moss to Todaisho Shrine (東台所神社), where apparently there was a short-cut path to Oyamatenbo Park (尾山展望公園). It was a very remote, seldom-trodden path in a remote island, with the clouds passing not far above, and wind of the sea strongly blew. Very fortunate, an hour later, the fog started to disappear, revealing the Otonbu!

On that day, there was a call from the helicopter company as well, since some persons suddenly cancelled, whether I as in the waiting-list would like to take it. I agreed because I checked in Google Maps the camping ground is actually quite far from the village (needs to walk one hour with kilograms of luggage), furthermore there’s no guarantee if Aogashimaru will operate on Friday morning (and Saturday seemed would be raining, Sunday again it’s not in operation).

Next day, we flew with heli back to Hachijojima. In Hachijojima, we just learnt that in winter (from Dec until mid of March), the waves are so bad that Aogashimaru often got cancelled and even if they decide to operate it’s a very “bumpy” or we can say extremely “wavy” ride, where even strong people will easily get sea-sick. But after April or May, the sea starts becoming calm, and ferry ride will be more comfortable.

We stayed one night again in Hachijojima, this time at SeaDive Guesthouse near Sokodo Port because we thought tomorrow it will be near and easy to catch the Tokai Kisen Ferry. Unexpectedly, due to strong wind/ rain previous night, the ferry did not depart from Tokyo that previous night, and thus we need to extend one more night stay in Hachijojima.

We thought out the idea to utilize Sokodo Campground which is free and has quite nice facilities. Too bad it was closed due to Tokyo Government policy to mitigate Coronavirus spread.

But we didn’t miss this additional one day stay in Hachijojima to visit Hachijo-Fuji, the tallest mountain in Izu islands with only 854 meter tall. There’s also scenic Fureai Farm nearby.

Eventually, the next morning we could ride on Tokai Kisen Ferry back to Tokyo. It was a very long over 10 hours trip, and although people said it was not as “wavy” as Aogashimaru, I almost got sea-sick and felt nausea especially the first several hours onboard (I have taken many ferry trips in Japan: Hokkaido-Honshu, Sado Island, Rishiri-Rebun Ferry and never got sea-sick at all).

Reflecting back to weeks ago, the breath-taking sceneries and slow pace of life really made me don’t wanna return back to the stressful hustle bustle of big city and work pressures. Suddenly the saying of an old man in Aogashima resonates so much: ゆっくり生活できることは楽しみ（the ability to live a slow pace is the enjoyment of life）.