Aogashima Island – Village In Active Volcano Crater

Aogashima is a active volcanic island in Japan. You would imagine the island is deserted and rightly so. Why would anyone live here? Surprisingly, Aogashima Island has over 200 people living in the crater! That’s not all. There is a school, a local post office, local bars and couple of restaurants – just like any other small town.

The volcanic island of Aogashima has a unique feature. It is almost like a volcano within a volcano. As youcan see in the picture below, within the larger crater, you have an inner crater called Maruyama. If you go closeenough one can see steam come out of the inner Maruyama (in areas where there is no vegetation). Yet it doesnot bother the inhabitants of Aogashima Island.