The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODONew island emerges after underwater volcano eruption south of Tokyo
TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODO
35 Comments
Login to comment
Fighto!
Really good news.
But Japan should act quickly - China will absolutely try to claim this new land.
John-San
Quickly stick a Japanese flag on it.
Mr Kipling
Too late. I have already claimed it for England. God save the Queen.
Dooh, King.... Still doesn't sound right.
itsonlyrocknroll
Isn't nature wonderful, so the nationality of the team of geologists/scientists that first detected the phreatomagmatic eruptions?
Years from now the Government of China could naming another fully armed fortified sand castle..
Adding a few more dashes to the soon to be flexible Nine-dash line
Jimizo
Send a fax to UNESCO.
Elvis is here
It could disappear just as quickly so don't build an airport just yet
And there is only one King!!!
ebisen
What new island?! China has been visiting it since at least 1000 years and they have old documents to prove it!
nosuke
Tiny too tiny inhabitable
voiceofokinawa
The headline is really misleading.
Certainly, the eruption occurred south of Tokyo, as the headline says, but it occurred near Iwojima, about 1,200 Km from Tokyo.
At any rate, Earth seems to have entered the active phase of volcanos. Be aware of Mt. Fuji, which is just sleeping for now.
Jay
How about creating a micronation? Could base it on other successful self-proclaimed entities, like the Maritime Republic of Eastport, the Dominion of Melchizedek, or the Principality of Islandia.
Blacklabel
Global warming? Climate change? Act of God?
GlobalObserver
And UNESCO would send a fax back to you saying: Do some research. And look up Unclos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea
TrevorPeace
I like pumice. Always knew it floats and brought a few chunks home from Sakurajima, several years ago. Was surprised they didn't seize it at Haneda. But, back to the topic of the article - yes, it should have been headlined as 'near Iwo Jima. I can also remember a similar occurance near Iceland, years ago. The wonders of nature are truly wonderful.
Martimurano
Global warming, climate change, act of God ?
Nope, none of the above, just the geology of planet Earth; the article mentions a resumption if magmatic activity.
Coulda been
Not quite the same intensity as 78 years ago.
Patient Zero
Is it your belief that volcanism is related to climate change..?
Please take a basic geography course. Review an episode of "Bill Nye the Science Guy", or something.
Gene Hennigh
It's so rare in a lifetime to see a new island form. This is just cool stuff. I hope it gets big enough for future generations to be able to use it. Just awesome.
桜川雪
Chinese president Xi keeps that document in his suit pocket the same way that former US president Trump keeps the document proving his innocence.
Mods: please don't delete. Related to the island situation and having a go at world leaders (which is allowed within parameters, which are met).konjo4u
Happy Birthday!
Mark
Yup, some one will come along 50 years from now and claim it, like what is happening all around us these days, wars being fought, women and children killed all for LAND and GREED.
Nicolò
Don't write the article only for Americans. It was originally Iwoto and American changed its name to Iwojoma during colonization. Then the J government revised it back to iwoto.
Previously iwoto and now also iwoto.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Who colonized it first? The name is a calqued from a Spanish name, Isla Sufre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwo_Jima#Name
Desert Tortoise
A new volcanic island broke the surface near Tonga in September 2022. The island periodically emerges and then is washed below sea level, only to reappear during the next series of volcanic eruptions.
Surtsy began as an underwater volcano south of Iceland and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Japan grew some landmass in 1974 when the island of Nishino-shima poked through the surface and it grew again in November 2013, a next-door neighbor breached the surface, Niijima
A new island may be forming south of the island of Hawaii as plate techtonics slowly moves the island of Hawaii north and west of the hot spot in the Earth's crust that creates the volcanos that form the many islands in the Hawaiian Island chain. There is a very active volcanic seamount called Loihi southeast of Hawaii that could break the surface to become the next Hawaiian island.
Desert Tortoise
Don't write the article only for Americans. It was originally Iwoto and American changed its name to Iwojoma during colonization. Then the J government revised it back to iwoto.
Historically inaccurate. Iwoto means "sulfur island." Since the Japanese word for island can be expressed as "shima" or "to," the meaning will stay exactly the same. "Shima" and "jima" mean the same thing, but the pronunciation changes to "jima" depending on the character that precedes it.
Prior to WWII some mainland Japanese and some maps called the island Iwo Jima while local residents called it Iwoto.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/06/19/national/iwojima-site-of-fierce-battle-is-officially-renamed-iwoto/
Zaphod
I am sure it is found on an ancient Chinese map.
Desert Tortoise
I don't think the Chinese can claim this new islet. It is only a few hundred meters offshore and is closer to the airfield than Mt. Suribachi is. If it grows to any size it will merge with Iwoto.
Hercolobus
Memories of Iwojima. I remember riding on the US Coast Guard bus from the tarmac to their HQs building. Landed there so many times that it was almost home. The caves were quite hot. At Mt Suribachi there were few male goats in the cliffs. This was in 1984-88. But then the LORAN station got returned to the Japanese government. Same with Minami Tori Shima or Marcus Island. This one was much farther and smaller.
voiceofokinawa
The island in question is "硫黄島", literally meaning "Sulpher Island". The Chinese characters can be read as either "Iwojima" or "Iwoto". The Americans called it "Iwojima", which became customary even among the Japanese after the war. It was only recently that the Japanese government decided to restore the traditional way of calling it: "Iwoto". The Chinese characters remain the same.
Note that there is another volcanic island called "Iwojima" written in the same Chinese characters, just south of Kyushu.
finally rich
Chinese president Xi keeps that document in his suit pocket the same way that former president Biden keeps the document proving his family's innocence.
Mods: please don't delete. Related to the island situation and having a go at world leaders (which is allowed within parameters, which are met).
Desert Tortoise
Hercolobus, Iwojima has no harbor, not even a pier for a ship to tie up to. How did ships bring fuel and supplies to the island?
Desert Tortoise
There is a military airfield with a fuel farm. At the very least they will need to use ships to bring the fuel. Transporting general freight, spares, food and the like by air is quite expensive. I have to assume ships bring at least the fuel and some of the bulky goods to the island.
What is weird is the island is basically a lava dome on top of a much larger caldera that is submerged. It is rising about a meter a year. Ships that were sunk offshore during WWII are now high and dry a hundred meters or more from the new shoreline. It's like bread dough rising.
1glenn
Some truly earth-shattering news.