Tokara Islands

Toshima village is twelve islands strung between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima, and people live on seven of them: Kuchinoshima, Nakanoshima, Suwanosejima, Tairajima, Akusekijima, Kodakarajima and Takarajima. There is no airport. The village's own ship, Ferry Toshima 2, is the only scheduled way in, and it sails about twice a week. It leaves Kagoshima at 23:00, reaches Kuchinoshima at 5:00 and Takarajima at 11:30, and ends at Naze on Amami-Oshima at 15:20. It leaves Naze at 2:00 the next night and is back in Kagoshima at 18:20. That rhythm decides your trip: one night on an island and you catch the ship on its way back north, or several nights waiting for the next pass. Each island has a few minshuku and no restaurants, and the village's island guides tell you to book a room before you board. Meals come with it. There are no taxis or rental cars and no bank, and the guides say no shop takes cards, so bring cash. The reward is hot water. Kuchinoshima's Seranma Onsen sits at the south tip; borrow the key from the village branch office first. Nakanoshima has two milky baths on the shore, open around the clock, paid by donation. Akusekijima's Yudomari Onsen opens at 16:00 for 200 yen, and Kodakarajima's seaside pool is mixed and free. The islands sit on an active seabed. From 21 June 2025 a swarm near Kodakarajima produced 2,405 felt quakes by year's end, including an intensity 6-lower quake on Akusekijima on 3 July, and residents of Akusekijima and Kodakarajima left for Kagoshima from 4 July. Nearly all were home by 1 August 2025. The swarm has faded but not stopped.