Japan
Six hundred kilometres south of Tokyo, in the volcanic arc of the Izu Islands that stretches toward the Ogasawara chain, Torishima rises from the Pacific as a smouldering, uninhabited volcanic cone whose significance far exceeds its modest size. This remote island — its name meaning Bird Island — was the last refuge of the short-tailed albatross, a species driven to the brink of extinction by feather hunters in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From a population that may have once numbered millions, the short-tailed albatross was reduced to fewer than fifty individuals, all breeding on Torishima's ash-covered slopes. The species' remarkable recovery — now numbering over 7,000 — stands as one of conservation's greatest success stories and makes Torishima a place of pilgrimage for ornithologists and wildlife enthusiasts.
The island's character is defined by its volcanic activity and its role as a wildlife sanctuary. Torishima is an active stratovolcano, its most recent eruption occurring in 1939 — an event that destroyed a weather station and killed the personnel manning it. The volcano rises to 394 metres above sea level, its slopes streaked with lava flows, ash deposits, and the sparse vegetation that manages to colonize the unstable terrain between eruptions. Landing on Torishima is prohibited without special permission from the Japanese government, making it a destination experienced almost exclusively from the deck of a passing ship — a circumstance that, paradoxically, has contributed to the island's conservation success by keeping human disturbance to an absolute minimum.
The birdlife of Torishima extends beyond the headline species. The island supports breeding colonies of black-footed albatross, Bulwer's petrel, and Tristram's storm petrel, along with various species of booby, shearwater, and tropicbird. The surrounding waters, enriched by the warm Kuroshio Current, attract pelagic species including sperm whales, false killer whales, and various dolphin species. Tuna, marlin, and other game fish patrol the deep waters around the island, their presence signalled by the feeding frenzies of seabirds that wheel above the surface in dense, spiralling flocks.
The broader context of Torishima within Japan's volcanic island chain adds depth to any encounter. The Izu-Ogasawara arc represents one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth, a subduction zone where the Pacific Plate descends beneath the Philippine Sea Plate, generating the earthquakes, volcanism, and deep ocean trenches that define this corner of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands to the south, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, support an ecosystem of such endemism that they have been called the Galapagos of the Orient. Together, these island chains compose a journey through geological forces and evolutionary isolation that has no parallel in the western Pacific.
Torishima is encountered by expedition cruise ships navigating between mainland Japan and the Ogasawara Islands, typically as a scenic passage rather than a landing site. The best time for passage is April through June, when the short-tailed albatross breeding season is at its peak and the birds can be observed from the ship. The Kuroshio Current brings warmer water temperatures during this period, increasing the likelihood of pelagic wildlife encounters. Passengers should have binoculars and telephoto lenses at the ready — the island passes relatively quickly, and the sight of albatross soaring above their volcanic sanctuary, silhouetted against the Pacific sky, is one of those moments that reward preparation with memory.