A Fish Out of Water: Ogasawara: Hahajima Day One

This is the fourth part in a series on my trip to Ogasawara. The introduction is here, and the previous post is here.

Tetsuya's breakfast turned out to be just as nice as its dinner (see previous post), and again the portions were just right. I wouldn't call it a small breakfast but it was lighter and more balanced than most Japanese hotel breakfasts, including the heavy morning meal we'd had the day before. How nice to have fruit in the morning! This was also the first meal that actually kind of reflected the tropical setting.

At left: thick Japanese style toast with lemon curd, made locally from Ogasawara lemons. On the plate, clockwise from left: yogurt with local passion fruit sauce; fresh local pineapple and passion fruit; cheese and nama ham (parma-style cured ham); herbed sausages; tamagoyaki (thick Japanese omelet) with seaweed. At right, green salad and orange juice. "Western" style breakfasts in Japan always include salad, which I usually find a bit odd, but this one was quite welcome as it included a local plant. The dark green and purple leaves seen above are harutama, also called hantama, ginjisou, or suizenjina (Okinawan spinach, Gynura bicolor). Imported from Okinawa, it grows well on Ogasawara.

Here's the toast all curded up. The lemon curd was delicious and I vowed to hunt some down and buy it for myself.

Then it was time to pack up. Above is the seashell and coral collection I'd set out in my room's open-air bathroom to dry (no, that's not the light of a beautiful sunrise: the bathroom's nightlight was red). There are only a few beaches where the collecting of shells is allowed, and I took full advantage. And then I had to find a way to fit them all into my suitcase.

We were driven to the ferry terminal and boarded the Hahajima Maru, above (picture taken the previous day in better weather). The Hahajima runs between Chichijima and Hahajima, the main islands of Ogasawara, taking just over two hours. It runs on a varied schedule but runs almost every day, usually making two crossings per day.

Above, we're heading out of the bay, passing the larger Ogasawara Maru that connects Chichijima to Tokyo.

The Hahajima Maru is much smaller than the Ogasawara Maru and since it's a short trip there are no private rooms or beds. Instead, passengers can choose to sit out on the deck or inside in reclining seats, shown above.

Or they can go down to the open berth below for a quick nap, which is what these guys did, apparently having been out late the night before.

When Hahjima came into view I thought it looked wilder and lusher than Chichijima. I kept wishing the weather was nicer, but the fog did add a nice touch.

Soon we were landing in Oki Wan (Oki Bay), Hahajima's main port (see it on Google Maps here). It was indeed wilder than Chichijima, with fewer buildings and a prettier landscape.

We were split into two groups and taken straight to our lodgings. I was put up at Island Resort Nanpu, which looked more like a cheap apartment building than a "resort", at least from the outside. Actually its own website describes the place not only as an "island resort" but as a minshuku (family inn) and pension as well, all quite different categories. I would have called it a dormitory or budget hotel.

It was fairly institutional on the inside, but clean, new and nice enough.

This time we were two to a room, and I shared this one with Laura. It was by far the smallest place I'd stayed at on this trip, but pretty normal for Japan and very clean and cozy. It had the basics in the room like a unit bath, TV and mini-fridge, and on each floor was a corner with a computer and a little kitchen set up with a water cooler, electric kettle, drinks and a microwave, all for communal use, as well as a nice jacuzzi that was unfortunately in another building and needed to be reserved.

We only had time to drop off our bags before being driven back to the ferry terminal at Oki Bay, where we began a half-day tour of the island. At the terminal our tour guide, an nice older fellow, started by handing us some maps and printouts, and started in on a rather long speech about himself and how he'd ended up on the island. I took this as a sign that the tour would be very much Japanese style.

And it was. First we were taken on a very long drive to Kita Kou (Kita Port) at the northernmost limit of the island's main road (see it on a map here). Before the war the port was home to Kita Mura, a village of 600 people who mostly made their living in the local fishing and sugarcane industries. We were given a very brief explanation about he history, none of which I could understand, then had a few minutes to explore but sadly there was almost nothing left of the village and therefore nothing to see.

So back into the cars we went, heading south to our next stop. We passed some interesting looking ruins and had to beg our driver to stop and let us look, and discovered it was the sight of the village's elementary school, founded in 1887. The jungle had mostly taken over, but among the structures left standing were parts of the school gates, made of re-used sugarcane rollers, seen above. (All of the above I found out later, as this wasn't an official part of our tour.)

Our next stop was Higashi Kou (Higashi Port), a very long and desolate strip of concrete jutting into an otherwise pretty but nondescript bay (map here). There were no boats docked, no other people to be seen, and absolutely nothing to do. Apparently the port had been used in the island's short-lived whaling industry in the 80's (this we found out afterward though, as our guide would only tell us the port was "sometimes" used by fishing boats). We had wondered at the time why such a huge and useless dock was built, but since nothing goes as well together in Japan as commercial whaling and excessive government spending, it really wasn't much of a mystery. Only in Japan would this port be included in a tour, and Mark's expression (and Mike up on the pole searching in vain for something to look at) above really captures our impression of the place.

Finally we were taken to a forest reserve near Kuwanoki-san (Mount Kuwanoki), where we were walked through a bit of the forest. Birds and trees were specialties of our guide, above, and he talked at length about them, and although I would have liked more walking and less talking it probably would have been quite interesting if I'd understood more. Apparently a number of once numerous native trees are being displaced by invasive species, but I couldn't really tell which were which and can't remember any of their names beyond the mountain's namesake kuwanoki (which means mulberry tree).

The tour over, we were driven back to the terminal and set loose with bentos for lunch. This one was a more manageable size than the previous day's bento but still quite a lot of food.

As usual, the only island touch was shikakumame (wing beans), this time worked into one of the onigiri (rice ball). As with the previous two days, I thought it would have been so nice to have been given an hour of free time to find our own lunch, or to skip lunch entirely. As it happened we did have a bit of time after our bentos were gone- not enough to go far but just enough to walk around and see a bit of Oki Mura, the island's only village.

We'd driven by a few of these signs, with me always wanting to ask to stop so I could take a picture. I'd refrained though, because I'm probably the only person in the world who'd want to take a picture of a roadside sign (except for my Dad). But we walked by this one so I finally got my chance. Isn't it cute?

We came upon this kid-filled banyan tree and stopped to have a look. The kids were friendly and invited us to join them so played around a bit, or tried to, but an adult in flip-flops is not quite so agile as a little kid and after a few attempts at climbing I fell. I've fallen out of many trees before but this was the first time I'd fallen into one- we definitely did not have banyan trees where I grew up (but if they did I'd be a pro at climbing them for sure).

Our free time over, we returned to the terminal and were packed back into the vans. The same guide brought us to the southern tip of the island for a hike. This time there was little talking but as happy as I was to be walking there was little time to stop and enjoy whatever sights we passed, as we were hurried along at a very fast pace.

I did manage to stop and admire this takonoki (Pandanus boninensis). Takonoki literally means "octopus tree", so named for its tentacle-like roots, and this particular tree had very interesting, er, tentacles. (Yes, I'm an eleven-year-old-boy at heart.)

After a while we came to Suribachi, a formation named after the traditional earthenware mortar used in Japan (see the location on Google Maps here). The red soil was neat but what I was really happy to see was the ocean.

Soon we were at a lookout with a tantalizing view of the water. None of us knew exactly where we were going but were all hoping for a beach, and that's where we seemed to be headed.

And then we were at the top of a hill, and our guide told us we had reached our goal. This was Kofuji-san, literally "Little Fuji Mountain", said to be the southernmost of Japan's many little Fujis, all named after a vague resemblance to the real Mount Fuji (map here). Um, yay.

The view was certainly beautiful, but it drove us crazy to be looking down at a beach and not actually be on it. I had enjoyed the hike, despite the fast pace, but now felt kind of ripped off.

There was a little crater on the hill with this rusted bit of machinery. The guide confirmed it was from the war but refused to say anything else and was soon trying to hurry us back down the trail. We protested and eventually, after much begging on our part and discussion on our handlers' part, it was agreed that if we could make it down really quickly we could have a short time at the beach.

On the way down we got separated and half of us ended up at Minamizaki, the beach we'd seen from atop Kofuji-san. It turned out to not be quite as nice as it had seemed from above, although I tried to have a little swim. After having a few too many big rocks roll onto my feet I gave up, and later learned that the beach is great for snorkeling but because of the rocks and strong tide not used for swimming. Oh well. At top right you can see part of Kofuji-san, the hill we'd just come from.

The other group apparently ended up at a much better beach, and as we waited for them to return to our designated meeting point I asked a local government employee (one of the many officials accompanying us that day) about the nuts that were all over the ground. We'd seen them on Chichijima too, although at an earlier stage (either new and green or a bit riper and lined with fragrant red flesh). These ones were older and I found a big pile of their empty shells, above. The official told us that they were seeds from the momotamana (Indian almond, Terminalia catappa) tree and the empties had been eaten by rats.

She said that the nuts inside had been a popular snack when she was a child and proceeded to show us how to eat them. First you select a mature nut- the one above is just right, any darker and it's probably gone bad.

Placing the nut on a rock, you bash it carefully with another rock, trying to break it cleanly in half. If you aren't careful you'll just smash the whole thing and the pieces of nut will be too hard to retrieve. Done right, you get a few long, thin nuts that taste like a mild almond. This turned out to be my favourite part of the day, and I spent a good fifteen minutes smashing and eating the nuts. Unfortunately my hands got too dirty to take a picture of an opened nut, which is just as well as they aren't much to look at. But lots of fun to eat.

The tour ended and once back at Nanpu I had time to try out the bath next door, which turned out to be a fancy jacuzzi type that put on a fancy light show. It was nice at first but I ended up feeling quite lonely, as this is exactly the type of bath found in a typical Japanese love hotel, and I'd never found myself alone in such a tub. So I didn't stay long, and when I got back Laura and I headed to Nanpu's restaurant for a pre-dinner drink. The restaurant, Austro, was open to the public (apparently as one of Hahajima's three restaurants) and quite nice, and the meal was much better than I'd expected given the simplicity of the hotel.

Clockwise from left: rice, assorted sashimi (two types of tuna and local kappore, or black jack); "pork saute" (actually more like tatsuta-age, or deep-fried pork); miso soup; atsu-age (fried tofu) stewed with chicken meatball and komatsuna greens; gomadofu ("tofu" made from sesame seeds); island grown okra and shikaku-mame (wing bean) fritters; locally grown cucumbers dressed with sesame seeds. There was also caramel mousse for dessert, not shown. This was a tasty meal, and I liked the effort put into using local ingredients.

After dinner we were brought to the local town hall for a meeting with local tourism people. It was similar to the previous night's meeting but a bit more relaxed, and instead of making us give speeches it was in a question-and-answers format. I was much less nervous but still didn't manage to offer any brilliant observations. However the locals were friendly and again seemed appreciative of our opinions.

Next the owner of the inn where the other half of our group was staying invited us over for a little celebration. Arriving early, I got to check out the place a bit. The inn was called La Mere and was cute and cozy, with a large communal area that made it seen warmer and friendlier than our place. A nice outdoor deck and large skylight were sweet touches I would have liked to have seen by day.

The owner and her staff set out drinks and snacks for us. The drinks included shochu (a vodka-like clear alcohol) on the rocks with a squeeze of buntan.

Buntan is a juicy, grapefruit-like variety of citrus, and although it's not originally from Ogasawara it is widely grown here. I can attest that it's very refreshing with shochu, but after downing my drinks a bit too quickly I gave up the shochu part and can also report that buntan is also good to eat.

Just before leaving I noticed that one of the locals had my favourite sign on his t-shirt. He said the shirt was widely available as a souvenir but I insisted on getting a picture, and I'm glad I did as I never saw it on sale. I would love a t-shirt like this!

Part five of this series to come soon. See more pictures of the day in my Hahajima album and all the pictures from the trip in my Ogasawara album.

Comments

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great place, and a lovely post... perhaps this is one nice place to visit... :D

Posted by: unique baby | 2010.04.14 at 06:30 PM

great post!

Posted by: kat | 2010.04.14 at 10:11 PM

love the sign and shirt lol. I want one as well it's too cute. simplicity in a way is a get away from luxury, I can see how some people would like the resort you featured. The pictures were amazing as always.

Posted by: Lauren Dunn | 2010.04.15 at 12:42 PM

I really enjoyed reading about your trip very much. I islands in a way reminded me of Okinawa. Thanks for your posts.

Posted by: Nona Myers | 2010.04.23 at 09:35 AM