Three times a day – That’s how often you can watch planes come and go from Hachijōjima Airport from the Hachijō Terrace deck. It may only be 55 minutes away from Haneda Airport, but the landing here – the very same your plane achieved – is said to be the toughest in all Japan.
ANA keeps a ranking of the world’s airports according to the difficulty of their approach. The highest of these is “Category D,” and there is only one such airport in all of Japan: Hachijōjima.

The reason is due to the island’s shape. Mount Hachijō-Fuji north of the runway towers at 850 meters, while Mount Mihara to the south reaches 700 meters. Winds undulate intricately as they blow through the valley between these peaks. The air currents downwind from Mount Mihara become especially turbulent when southerly winds blow. And then there’s the runway’s peculiar fishcake shape, demanding utmost precision from the pilot until touchdown.

Despite that, the service rate is approximately 95 percent. Specially trained pilots follow established standards for navigating winds from every angle when they land here. Their skills are to thank for your safe arrival here.

Here’s a fun fact…

This island has long been known as a “hard-to-reach island.” Long ago before the age of flight, the ocean - not the mountains - separated the island from the mainland. The Kuroshio Current that encircles the island is one of the fastest in the world. Ships sailing from Edo were stymied by this current, along with the winds and waves. Such obstacles made the island hard to reach, leading the Tokugawa Shogunate to designate it as a place for exiles.

Even now, a one-way trip by boat takes 11 hours. It doesn’t matter if you fly, as you’d still have to cross the same sea. Hence, “hard-to-reach.” It is an island slightly apart from the world – from the dizzying rush and noise of everyday life.

That’s why time here flows at a pace different to anywhere else. Its inhabitants overcame rushing currents to live here, developing a culture in concert with nature.
Beyond the runway lies the wide open sea. The same wind that brought you here now races across that endless blue.