Japan does not live only on sakuras. In addition to the famous cherry trees that cover the country in spring, another species is a star in Oshima, a small volcanic island just 120 km from Tokyo. They are the tsubakis, wild camellia flowers that paint the alleys red in the coldest months of the year.
With less than 10,000 inhabitants, Oshima is the largest of the Izu Islands and the closest to the capital. Although under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo government, it is worlds away from the hustle and bustle of the metropolis, with the picturesque charm of old Japan and the slow pace of the inner cities.
Oshima has an annual festival dedicated to camellias, scheduled to return in early 2022, with parades, folk dancing and workshops. With around 3 million camellia trees on the island, the flower supports the local economy with the production of oil extracted from its seeds for beauty and culinary products, an activity that dates back to the 8th century.
In the botanical garden of Metropolitan Oshima Park, there are more than 3,000 trees from hundreds of species of camellias, including the kinkacha, a rare yellow camellia, and the native yabu-tsubaki (Camellia japonica).
But it’s not all flowers on the island. Oshima is an active volcano that turns the trail to its crater on Mount Mihara into a great adventure, in addition to keeping its thermal waters always warm, in the thermal water pools, the so-called onsens, with cinematic views.
Godzilla
The volcano figures in local legends, has caused recent tragedies, and has its share of popular culture: Godzilla was buried here in a 1984 film in the series. by explosives.
Following the film, in 1989, Godzilla is released from the darkness of the volcano. Today, he’s seen circulating as a poster boy for island restaurants like Sushikou in Motomachi Port, which serves “sushi bekko,” a local delicacy of fresh fish marinated in a hot sauce.
Fiction aside, the volcano actually erupted of Dantesque proportions in 1986, leading to the withdrawal of the island’s entire population. Photos and videos from the period, with lava explosions more than 1.5 km high, are displayed in Oshima’s main museum, a two-story building dedicated to volcanoes in Japan and the world (without much information in English).
Across the verdant Mount Mihara, scars were left. Lava running down the mountain seems frozen in time, now darkened. The walk to the crater is easy, but the wind and mist at its top at 758 meters of altitude require caution from visitors.
The caldera is a dramatic hole at the end of the trail some 200 meters deep. There’s smoke coming from the walls, though you can’t see the bottom or steaming lava. Its diameter exceeds 300 meters, protected by fences. In the 1930s, protection was tightened to prevent the high turnover of suicides at the scene (more than 600 in a single year).
A tori, a wooden walkway to a temple, welcomes visitors at the top and makes a perfect frame of Mount Fuji in the distance, but only on clear days when the country’s symbol mountain decides to give the air of grace.
The ideal is to start the trail at the parking lot in the park, which is also the end of a bus line, and return along a different path, which leads directly to the Oshima Onsen Hotel. Here, is the reward for the two hours of up and down: relaxing thermal waters with panoramic views of Mt. Mihara.
open air onsens
The hotel has traditional tatami rooms and a restaurant with typical cuisine, such as a fresh golden dish with camellia oil. Those who are not staying can use the onsen for 800 yen (R$40). The baths are separate for men and women, with an open part and a closed part.
Back at Motomachi, there is another traditional onsen, Hamanoyu, which is mixed and therefore requires a bathing suit (admission for 300 yen, R$14). The outdoor thermal pool is shallow, overlooking the ocean. Locals mingle with tourists, especially at sunset.
On the other side of the island, at the southern tip, is Habu Port village, where century-old wooden houses transport us to ancient Japan. To get there from Motomachi, the road is decorated by colorfully layered cliffs, the result of millenary volcanic deposits.
There’s not much to do in Habu Port, especially if you don’t have reservations for the popular Minato Sushi restaurant.
There is a practically abandoned museum in the place where the most chic hotel on the island used to be, which used to receive the Japanese elite in the heydays of the fishing village. It is the Odoriko no Sato Museum, dedicated to the dancers (odoriko) who performed in the region, one of them a character in the book “The Dancer of Izu” (1926), by the Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata.
The museum has two floors of dusty empty rooms, some with elaborate mannequins of dancers playing instruments and serving guests on the mat.
To get to Oshima from Tokyo, there are two options by sea: jetfoil, which takes less than two hours (15,000 yen round trip, R$730) or regular ferry, which takes five to six hours (10,000 yen round trip, BRL 487). Transportation on the island can be done by bus and regular taxi, or by renting a car and electric bicycles.
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