North Iwo Jima
Encyclopedia
Volcano Islands
The Volcano Islands is a group of three Japanese islands south of the Bonin Islands that belong to the municipality of Ogasawara...
group of the Ogasawara Islands
Ogasawara Islands
The Bonin Islands, known in Japan as the are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan. Administratively, they are part of Ogasawara Municipality of Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo...
, 80 km north of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
. It is 1170 km south of Tokyo, 207 km SSW of Chichijima.
Geography
The island consists of the heavily eroded peak of a stratovolcanoStratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...
, which rises 792 m above sea level (804 m according to other sources). The peak is called Sakagigamine (榊ヶ峰), with another peak at Shimizu (清水峰, 665m). Its area is 5.57 km², and shore length 8.0 km. It is part of Ogasawara
Ogasawara, Tokyo
is a village in Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo, Japan, that governs the Bonin Islands, Volcano Islands and three remote islands .-Geography:...
municipality and is uninhabited. Its Japanese name was changed to Kita-iōtō on June 18, 2007.
History
The island was formerly inhabited. It was first settled by settlers from the Izu IslandsIzu Islands
The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōshima....
in 1889, who lived in two towns, Ishinomura (east) and Nishimura (west). At the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the population was 103. The civilian population was evacuated during the war. As a story goes, long before the other settlers had settled there, a group of people from Clarion island migrated to the island for they believed that the sacred fish, the clarion angelfish, was migrating, and moving, but it was actually a different fish, but they never found out. (Clarion island never had an indigenous human population, just Mexican navy personnel in recent times, so this story sounds bogus.)
Unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
until 1940, it became part of the newly created municipality of Iōtō
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
in 1940, which was included in Ogasawara-mura
Ogasawara, Tokyo
is a village in Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo, Japan, that governs the Bonin Islands, Volcano Islands and three remote islands .-Geography:...
in 1968 upon the return of the islands by the United States to Japan.
Four men, flying a United States Navy S-3B Viking jet from the U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis
USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74)
USS John C. Stennis is the seventh Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier in the United States Navy, named for Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi. She was commissioned on 9 December 1995...
, died when their aircraft crashed on August 10, 2004 on Kita Iwo Jima during a naval exercise over the Pacific. They were Lt. Cmdr. Scott A. Zellem, 35, of Indiana, PA, Lt. Patrick S. Myrick, 31, of Seattle, Lt. James J. Pupplo, 34, of Selden, NY; Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua B. Showalter, 24, of Fontana, CA;