Playback 2005: Midnight Sirens and Daily Life on Miyake Island, Five Months After Return

What was FRIDAY reporting 10, 20, or 30 years ago? In this retrospective series, Playback Friday, we revisit once-hot topics from the past. This time, we look back at a photo-report from the July 8, 2005 issue, titled:
“Follow-up Photo Report: Five Years After the Eruption, Five Months After the Evacuation Order Was Lifted — The Reality of Life on Miyake Island: ‘Living with Volcanic Gas,’ Light and Shadow.”

On June 26, 2000, volcanic activity intensified at Mt. Oyama on Miyake Island, prompting an emergency volcanic alert. Although the eruption subsided after a major explosion in August, massive amounts of volcanic gas began to be released. As a result, in September, a full evacuation order was issued for the entire island, and all residents were forced to leave.

The article is a reportage on the state of the island five years after the eruption and five months after the evacuation order was lifted in February 2005, when residents began returning to their homes. (Statements in 《》 are quoted from the original article; all ages and titles reflect those at the time.)

Returning to the island was a painful choice to coexist with the gas

“In the schoolyard of the junior high school, a mountain of garbage had piled up. From appliances like refrigerators and washing machines, to furniture such as tables, and even construction waste like corrugated metal—every kind of bulky waste had gathered here.

This is Tsubota Junior High School on Miyake Island. Currently closed. As massive amounts of bulky waste were generated during the disaster recovery process and disposal couldn’t keep up, the schoolyard became a temporary collection site. A mountain of garbage in an empty schoolyard—it was a scene that seemed to symbolize the struggles of a Miyake Island still in the midst of recovery.”

The nearly five-year-long evacuation was due to the continued release of harmful volcanic gases (sulfur dioxide). Even after the evacuation order was lifted, the concentration of gas remained high in some areas, leading to restricted access zones.

Residents were required to carry gas masks at all times, and every household was provided with a receiver that could broadcast warning alerts. Mayor Yukou Hirano’s policy of coexisting with the gas was a difficult but necessary decision.

As of May 10, 2005, the number of residents who had returned to the island was 1,668. Including newcomers such as teachers, police officers, and other public employees, the total population reached 1,928. Before the evacuation order in 2000, the island had a population of 3,829—nearly half had not returned.

However, it wasn’t all bleak. The island’s main industry, tourism, was starting to recover. From May 1, tourists were allowed back, and during Golden Week, the island bustled with anglers.

“Nature’s ability to recover is amazing. There was a time when I really didn’t know what would happen, but maybe the ocean is even richer now than before the eruption. It could be because nutrients from the mountain have poured into the sea. Divers are gradually coming back too,”

said Katsutoshi Okinawa (65), vice chairman of the Miyake Island Tourism Association, expressing a sense of relief and growing hope as the summer season approached.

Alarms went off in the middle of the night

Of the 57 lodging facilities that existed before the eruption, 23 had resumed operations. By the summer vacation season, that number was expected to rise to around 30, with an estimated accommodation capacity of 800 to 900 people. However, the outlook varied by region. In areas designated as “high-concentration zones,” such as the Miike district—which remained under restricted access—there was still no prospect of reopening facilities like inns.

“A 33-year-old woman who used to run a guesthouse lamented:

‘I’m still full of energy and want to reopen my guesthouse. I’ve made repairs, cleaned everything thoroughly—but we have no idea when the restrictions will be lifted. I’m worried not only about the volcanic gas, but also about typhoons.’”

Many of the buildings in the Miike district had suffered severe damage—rotting pillars, collapsed roofs—and with no clear timeline for returning, few people were making repairs. Some residents had given up on returning entirely, choosing instead to relocate to other areas or public housing managed by the village. As a result, abandoned homes were left to decay, and would likely suffer further damage in the event of a typhoon.

Despite limited inventory, businesses such as Seigyo Fisheries in the Kamitsuki district had resumed production and sales of kusaya, a local specialty. Meanwhile, the number of elementary school children had dropped dramatically—from 202 across three schools before the eruption, to just 56. The schools were consolidated into a single institution, Miyake Village Elementary School, where lively children’s voices could still be heard.

However, daily life had not fully returned to normal. The reporter recalled one particularly jarring experience:

“The most surprising thing during my stay on Miyake Island was the frequent warning alerts, issued both day and night.

At 2 a.m., a loud warning suddenly went off, startling me awake. I didn’t catch the full message, but I clearly heard the words ‘please evacuate.’

Yet everything outside remained eerily quiet. No one seemed to be evacuating.”

The next day, when the reporter inquired at the village office, they explained:

“The alert was meant for individuals with cardiovascular or respiratory conditions, advising them to wear gas masks and evacuate. Even when the volcanic gas levels are not harmful to healthy individuals, we are required to issue alerts once the levels exceed a specific threshold.”

The island’s alert system was designed so that if the gas concentration surpassed the set limit in any one area, the warning would sound across the entire island.

“One resident, half-jokingly, remarked: ‘More than the volcanic gas, it’s the ping-pong-pan (alert chime) that builds up stress. But we can’t allow ourselves to get used to it. Being woken up in the middle of the night is tough, but we really can’t let our guard down.’”

The road to “coexistence with volcanic gas” remained a difficult one, and it seemed that it would still be a long time before the islanders could truly reclaim a peaceful life.

Miyakejima has lived in symbiosis with eruptions

Volcanic activity on Miyake Island continued for some time, but by 2011 the volume of volcanic gas had decreased to under 1,000 tons per day, and by the summer of 2016, it had dropped to just several dozen tons per day.

According to the current Tourism Pamphlet issued by the island’s tourism association,

“A small amount of volcanic gas continues to be emitted from the central crater of the island, but since toxic components harmful to the human body are hardly detected, carrying a gas mask is unnecessary.”

The island’s population had once recovered to 2,676 by 2010, but as of May 31, 2025, it has declined to 2,165. The outflow of young workers to urban areas has accelerated depopulation and aging. In response, the island has been promoting resettlement efforts. Some newcomers have taken over agriculture and fishing businesses that were left without successors.

The annual number of tourists exceeded 40,000 in 2006 and 2007 but has since stabilized in the mid-30,000s. While numbers dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, they recovered to the 30,000 range in 2023.

On June 17, the volcanic alert level on Miyake Island was raised to Level 2. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that an eruption could occur affecting the area around the summit crater and called for caution.

Looking back at history, major eruptions have occurred on Miyake Island in 1962, 1983, and 2000—roughly every 20 years in recent decades. However, thanks to continuous monitoring by the Meteorological Agency, there have been no fatalities from these eruptions. The people of Miyake Island have a long history of coexisting with volcanoes.