Hi, my name is Chihiro IGARASHI.
I’m from Saitama pref. near Tokyo. I moved to a remote island called Toshijima Island in April 2017.
Before moving there, I even knew neither how to pronounce the name of the island nor where it is. But now I’ve been here for over 3 years and I can tell you how fascinating this island is. I hope you’ll enjoy my blog and visit Toshijima Island one day.
It takes 20 minutes from the mainland by ferry. It places on the borderline of the Pacific Ocean and the Ise-Bay.
There are about 2000 inhabitants and more than half of them work for the fishing industry. The area is about 7 square kilometers. There are a Junior-high school, an elementary school, and 2 nursery schools. If you drive a car from the end to the other end it takes about 20 minutes.
There are 3 villages called Toshi, Wagu, Momotori. Every village has different cultures, characters of people, they even speak different dialects, I’m serious.
There are various traditional rituals and festivals. There is a unique custom “Neyako”: the first sons of fishermen make small groups and sleep in the house of the couple who substitute their parents. There are a lot of nice points about Toshijima Island, and I will make you discover it on this blog, but the nicest, in my opinion, is the spirit of cooperation.
They always help each other and there are some customs of cooperation. As a stranger, I am helped by them on a lot of things.
I moved here as a Local Vitalization Cooperator. I know, it sounds strange as the name of a job. It is the system that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications supports people who “migrate” from city areas to the depopulated areas and work for resolving the local difficulties and try to settle down there.
I grew up in an ordinary residential area which is far from the sea, and I’ve been attracted to the sea. Then in 2016, when I was 27 years old, I decided to move to some places where you can go to the beach whenever you want.
It wasn’t easy to find a specific place, because Japan is an island country and the sea is everywhere. However, I luckily found this amazing island and managed to live for 3 years.
I’d be happy if you like Toshijima Island like me.