Haha-jima

Hahajima, Haha Jima, or Haha-jima is the second-largest island within the Bonin or Ogasawara Islands SSE of the Japanese Home Islands. The steeply-sloped island, which is about in area, has a population of 440. It is part of Ogasawara Village in Ogasawara Subprefecture, which is approximately south of Tokyo, Japan. The highest peaks Hahajima are Chibusayama (lit. Breast Mountain), approximately , and Sakaigatake, . It is part of an archipelago that includes Chichijima approximately to the north and the nearby smaller islands such as Anejima and Imōtojima and Mukōjima. The group forms the Hahajima Rettō (母島列島; formerly the "Baily Group"). Micronesian tools and carvings suggest prehistoric visits or settlement but the island was long uninhabited before its rediscovery, sometimesbut probably mistakenlycredited to Bernardo de la Torre during his failed 1543 attempt to find a northern route back to Mexico from the Philippines. Captain James Coffin, of the whaler originally named the largest island in the group "Fisher Island", which became Hahajima, and the second largest "Kidd Island", after the owners of his vessel. The islands came to be known as the "Coffin Islands". (Hahajima was also called Hillsborough Island.) Hahajima was settled by Europeans before becoming part of Japan. During the Pacific War, the Japanese government removed the local civilian population and fortified the island. It was attacked several times by the US bombers. First on December 4, 1944 when Navy search planes of Fleet Air Wing One joined with Seventh Air Force bombers to attack installations on the island as well as Iwo Jima. Four days later there was another attack by Fleet Air Wing One. Then on December 10, B-25 Mitchells from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing struck at shipping moored at Hahajima. The remains of defensive fortifications are now one of the island's tourist attractions. The population, which was 1,546 in 1904 and 1,905 in 1940, is now only 450.