OGASAWARA-MARU TO THE BONIN ISLANDS

Just came back from Ogasawara Islands.

Ogasawara Islands are also known as Bonin Islands, a chain of islands about 1000 kilometers south from Tokyo.  “from Tokyo” is not really correct, because Ogasawara Islands are still administratively part of Tokyo.  The latitude is about the same as Okinawa.

“24 hours” Can you imagine what that is?  Well, yes, that’s the length of a complete day though, that’s how long it takes you to get to Ogasawara Islands.  “24 hours!?”  That’s what I thought, too.  Ogasawara-maru, a name of a big ship carries 894 people, is the only way you can get there.  You can’t fly.  Ogasawara-maru goes to the Island, only once a week.  I usually don’t like long time transportation, such as 10-hour-flights though, contrary to my expectation, I really enjoyed the 24 hours.

Mainly for two reasons.  First, it was a first time experience for me.  Second, I can move around as I wanted on the ship.

The adventure started even before getting on board.  What do we do now?  Where do we get on board?...  Everything was new to us, and especially for me, I really like experiencing new things, so I was really excited.  “Oh… this is how our room looks like…” ”Oh… this is how the lounge looks like…” ”Mmm… this is this is the price of food they serve…” deck, shop, safe locker, storage, shower, toilet… everything was new to me, and that continued till I got off the ship.

On a plane, even if the seat belt sign is off, you can’t move around.  Well, technically, you can, maybe walk or stand up to stretch for 10 minutes is the most you can do, but during the 24 hours on the ship, you can do whatever you want.  You don’t have to excuse yourself every time you stand up like in an airplane.  You can go outside, you can stay inside, take a shower, drink, eat, read, take a walk, look at all the information on the wall, take a nap…, I felt so comfortable and had no problem at all spending 24 hours.

Although I haven’t even reached the islands at this time, I guess I will have to continue to a separate article for the actual experience on the Ogasawara islands…