View source for Hahajima

{{Short description|Second largest of the Ogasawara islands}}
{{Infobox Islands
| name             = Hahajima
| image_name       = Hahajima-retto.png
| native_name =    {{langx|ja|母島}}
| native_name_link =
| image_caption    = Map of the Hahajima Rettō (Imōtojima is mislabeled as Tori-shima)
| image_size       =
| pushpin_map      = Japan complete
| pushpin_label           = Hahajima
| pushpin_label_position  = {{coord|26|39|N|142|10|E|type:isle|display=inline}}
| pushpin_map_alt         = 
| pushpin_relief          = 
| pushpin_map_caption     = 
| map_custom       = 
| nickname         = 
| location         = [[Pacific Ocean]]
| coordinates      ={{Coord|26|39|N|142|10|E|type:isle}}
| archipelago      = [[Bonin Islands]]<!--until page moves-->
| total_islands    =
| major_islands    =
| area_km2          = 19.88 
| length_km         = 
| width_km          = 
| coastline_km      = 
| highest_mount     = Chibusayama
| elevation_m        = 462
| country            = Japan
| country_admin_divisions_title     = [[Prefectures of Japan|Prefecture]]
| country_admin_divisions           = [[Tokyo Metropolitan Government|Tokyo]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1   = [[Subprefectures of Japan|Subprefecture]]
| country_admin_divisions_1         = [[Ogasawara Subprefecture|Ogasawara]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_2   = [[Villages of Japan|Village]]
| country_admin_divisions_2         = [[Ogasawara, Tokyo|Ogasawara]]
| population       = 440
| population_as_of = 2021
| density_km2      =22.1
| ethnic_groups    =[[Japanese people|Japanese]]
| additional_info  =
}}

'''Hahajima''', '''Haha Jima''', or {{Nihongo|'''Haha-jima'''|母島|extra=meaning Mother Island}} is the second-largest island within the [[Bonin Islands|Bonin]] or [[Ogasawara Islands]] SSE of the [[Japanese Home Islands]]. The steeply-sloped island, which is about {{convert|21|km2|0|abbr=on}} in area, has a population of 440.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.soumu.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/07ogasawara/guidance/summary.html|title=支庁の案内: 管内概要 (Japanese)|access-date=2022-06-16|date=2021-04-01}}</ref> It is part of [[Ogasawara, Tokyo|Ogasawara Village]] in [[Ogasawara Subprefecture]], which is approximately {{convert|1000|km|abbr=on}} south of [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]]. 

The highest peaks Hahajima are ''Chibusayama'' (lit. ''Breast Mountain''), approximately {{convert|462|m|ft}}, and Sakaigatake, {{convert|443|m|ft}}. It is part of an archipelago that includes [[Chichijima]] approximately {{convert|50|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the north and the nearby smaller islands such as Anejima and Imōtojima and Mukōjima. The group forms the Hahajima Rettō (母島列島; formerly the "Baily Group").

{{clear|left}}

==History==
[[File:View from Hahajima-Island and the Minamizaki Tokyo,JAPAN.jpg|thumb|220px|View of the southern tip of Hahajima, the Minamizaki peninsula]]
[[File:Hahajima-oki.jpg|thumb|right|Oki village, Mukōjima in the distance]]
[[Micronesians|Micronesian]] tools and carvings suggest prehistoric visits or settlement but the island was long uninhabited before its rediscovery, sometimes{{mdash}}but probably mistakenly{{sfnp|Welsch|2004}}{{mdash}}credited to [[Bernardo de la Torre]] during his failed 1543 attempt to find a northern route back to [[Spanish Mexico|Mexico]] from the [[Spanish Philippines|Philippines]]. Captain James Coffin, of the [[whaler]] {{ship||Transit|1817 ship|2}} originally named the largest island in the group "Fisher Island", which became Hahajima, and the second largest "Kidd Island", after the owners of his vessel. The islands came to be known as the "Coffin Islands". (Hahajima was also called ''Hillsborough Island''.) Hahajima was settled by Europeans before becoming part of Japan. 

During the [[Pacific War]], the Japanese government removed the local civilian population and fortified the island. It was attacked several times by the US bombers. First on December 4, 1944 when Navy search planes of [[Carrier Air Wing One|Fleet Air Wing One]] joined with [[Seventh Air Force]] bombers to attack installations on the island as well as [[Iwo Jima]]. Four days later there was another attack by Fleet Air Wing One.  Then on December 10, [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25 Mitchells]] from the [[2nd Marine Aircraft Wing]] struck at shipping moored at Hahajima.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/comms/1944-12.html|title=CINCPAC COMMUNIQUÉ, DECEMBER 1944|website=www.ibiblio.org|accessdate=6 July 2022}}</ref> The remains of defensive fortifications are now one of the island's tourist attractions. 

The population, which was 1,546 in 1904 and 1,905 in 1940, is now only 450. A single road connects the abandoned village of Kitamura (北村) at the north end of the island to the village of Okimura (沖村) – formerly "Newport", at the southern end of the island, where the harbor is located. The island can be reached by ferry in about two hours from Chichijima. The economy of Hahajima is based on [[commercial fishing]], tourism, and a state-run [[rum]] distillery.{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} Cocoa (''[[Theobroma cacao]]'') is also [[Cocoa production in Japan#Hahajima|grown on Hahajima]], but it is a relatively small operation by the [[Sōka]]-based Hiratsuka Confectionery Company.<ref name="Yomiuri Tokyo Cacao">{{cite news |title=Exec getting close to making 'Tokyo cacao' chocolates |url=https://www.stofficetokyo.ch/news/environment/exec-getting-close-to-making-tokyo-cacao-chocolates |access-date=23 November 2025 |work=[[Yomiuri Shimbun]] |via=Embassy of Switzerland in Japan |date=19 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Cadby 2020">{{cite news |last=Cadby |first=Jeana |title=Tokyo Cacao: Japan's first 'soil-to-bar' chocolate |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2020/02/29/food/tokyo-cacao-chocolate/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021053837/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2020/02/29/food/tokyo-cacao-chocolate/ |archive-date=21 October 2020 |access-date=23 November 2025 |work=[[The Japan Times]] |date=29 February 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==Education==
[[File:The Hahajima elementary and junior high school Hahajima Ogasawara Japan.jpg|thumb|Haha-jima Elementary School and Junior High School (小笠原村立母島小中学校)]]
Ogasawara Village operates the island's public elementary and junior high school, Ogasawara Village Municipal Haha-jima Elementary School and Junior High School (小笠原村立母島小中学校).<ref name=EDucschool>"[http://www.vill.ogasawara.tokyo.jp/kyouiku_gakkou/ 学校教育] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309054459/https://www.vill.ogasawara.tokyo.jp/kyouiku_gakkou/ |date=2018-03-09 }}." Ogasawara, Tokyo. Retrieved on March 8, 2018.</ref> The [[Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education]] operates [[Ogasawara High School]] on nearby [[Chichijima]].<ref>[http://www.ogasawara-h.metro.tokyo.jp/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215113124/http://www.ogasawara-h.metro.tokyo.jp/ |date=2020-02-15 }}</ref>

==Ecology==
Hahajima is of considerable interest to [[malacologist]]s because of its [[endemism|endemic]] [[land snail]] [[fauna]], including the eponymous ''[[Lamprocystis hahajimana]]''. Due to the widespread presence of [[invasive species]] including [[goat]]s (which destroy [[habitat]]) and [[rodent]]s, [[flatworm]]s and the [[rosy wolfsnail]] (which eat the native snails), it was feared that many of the endemics had become [[extinct]].<ref name = chibaetal2007>Chiba ''et al.'' (2007)</ref>

But most if not all of the endemic land snail species seem to persist on the remote Higashizaki peninsula on the eastern coast. This is a quite pristine expanse of ground, scenic but very hard to reach (one has to climb Mt. Chibusa before descending to the peninsula). It consists of sheer seacliffs surrounding a plateau with [[Chinese fan palm]] (''[[Livistona chinensis]]''), [[pandanus]] and broadleaf (e.g. ''Persea kobu'', a wild [[avocado]]) forest, and appears to be untouched by invasive species at present. It has been proposed that access to the area should be monitored, so that visitors will not inadvertently contribute to destroying this unique area.<ref name = chibaetal2007 />

===Snails===
All of these snails are endemic at least to the [[Bonin Islands]].
* ''[[Boninena callistoderma]]'' – [[Endangered]], now restricted to Hahajima and nearby Anejima<ref name = chibaetal2007 />
* ''[[Gastrocopta boninensis]]'' – Vulnerable
* ''[[Hirasea acutissima]]'' – Endangered (believed [[extinct]], rediscovered 2003), endemic to Hahajima<ref name = chibaetal2007 />
* ''[[Lamellidea biplicata]]'' – [[Vulnerable species|Vulnerable]]
* ''[[Lamprocystis hahajimana]]'' – Endangered
* ''[[Mandarina hahajimana]]'' – [[Data deficient]], possibly a new [[taxon]]<ref name = chibaetal2007 />
* ''[[Mandarina polita]]'' – Data deficient
* ''[[Ogasawarana yoshiwarana]]'' – [[Critically endangered]] (believed [[extinct]], rediscovered 2003), endemic to Hahajima<ref name = chibaetal2007 />
* ''[[Ogasawarana arata]]'' – Data deficient
* ''[[Paludinella minima]]'' – Data deficient
* ''[[Vertigo dedecora]]'' – Vulnerable
* ''Tornatellides tryoni''

===Birds===
Among birds, the [[Bonin white-eye]] (''Apalopteron familiare''), a gaudy-colored [[passerine]], now only occurs on Hahajima.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22704125/0|title=Apalopteron familiare|website=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species}}</ref> The extinct [[Bonin grosbeak]] (''Chaunoproctus ferreorostris'') is sometimes said to have occurred in the Hahajima Group (though not on Haha-jima itself), but this seems not to be true. ''Columba janthina nitens'', the Bonin [[subspecies]] of the [[Japanese wood-pigeon]], used to occur on Haha-jima. While it is not precisely known when it vanished from this island,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Extinct Birds|last=Hume|first=Julian P.|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2017|isbn=9781472937469|pages= 495}}</ref> the [[taxon]] apparently became completely extinct during the 1980s, but was rediscovered in 1998. The island has been recognised as an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]].<ref name=bli>{{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/hahajima-islands-iba-japan|title= Hahajima islands|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 26 January 2021}}</ref>

{{Portal|Tokyo|Islands}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
===Bibliography===

{{Commons category|Hahajima}}
* {{aut|Chiba, Satoshi; Davison, Angus & Mori, Hideaki}} (2007): Endemic Land Snail Fauna (Mollusca) on a Remote Peninsula in the Ogasawara Archipelago, Northwestern Pacific. ''Pacific Science'' '''61'''(2): 257–265. <small>[[Digital Object Identifier|DOI]]: 10.2984/1534-6188(2007)61[257:ELSFMO]2.0.CO;2</small> [http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.2984%2F1534-6188(2007)61%5B257%3AELSFMO%5D2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1 HTML abstract]
* {{citation |last=Welsch |first=Bernhard |date=June 2004 |contribution-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25169675 |contribution=Was Marcus Island Discovered by Bernardo de la Torre in 1543? |title=Journal of Pacific History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=109–122 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Milton Park |doi=10.1080/00223340410001684886 |jstor=25169675 |s2cid=219627973 }}.

{{Ogasawara, Tokyo}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hahajima}}
[[Category:Bonin Islands]]
[[Category:Islands of Tokyo]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of the Nanpo Islands]]