Grandchildren of Japanese evacuees create virtual reality map

Grandchildren of former residents of Iwoto Island in Ogasawara, Tokyo, have created a virtual reality map of the island to show its history to younger generations.

During the Pacific War, fierce battles took place on the island.

The map has pre-war and modern-day photo panels that allow viewers to compare and contrast the different eras. The residents who were forced to evacuate to the mainland during the war have not been allowed to return to the Pacific Ocean island - about 1,250 kilometers from central Tokyo - due to volcanic activity.

The map project was spearheaded by a group of third-generation children of former residents.

The island was settled in 1889 with the aim of extracting sulfur. Sugarcane was later cultivated. In 1944, about 1,000 people were ordered to evacuate the island. Most of the around 100 residents who did not evacuate and who served as civilian personnel to support Japan's military also died.

In 1968, Iwoto was returned to Japan by the United States, but the Japanese government declared it was difficult to return due to volcanic activity. Delegations of former residents are allowed to make exceptional trips to the island to visit family graves.

The group, formed in 2018, began digitizing old photos depicting island life. Images for the VR map were taken from Iwo ga Oka hill near the former center of the island, with a 360 degree camera in August 2022 when a delegation from the Kanto district council of Junior Chamber International Japan visited. Photos were taken on the former site of a prewar elementary school, among other facilities.

The old photos seen in the map belong to the evacuees who fled the island in summer 1944. The Kanto council, which organizes visits to Iwoto Island, recognized the historical value of the photos and encouraged the group to incorporate them into the map.

The map, which can be downloaded and viewed in an app called Cluster, can be found by inputting the Japanese kanji characters for Iwoto. The map has helped some former islanders reconnect with the past. Tokiko Okuyama, 89, of Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, lost two brothers who had remained behind on the island. Okuyama said I can't forget my brothers. I want to go back to the island to visit their graves. Iwo ga Oka hill stirs strong memories for Okuyama, as she and her brothers used to eat potatoes there, cooking them with hot steam that emanated from the ground.

The chairman of the group, Ryoma Nishimura, said that I was seriously concerned that our ancestors who pioneered life on the island would be forgotten if we did nothing. Nishimura's grandparents lived on the island. The 41 year-old who is also a member of the VR-map production team, remembers the words of his grandmother, Yasuko Kikuchi, who said, Don t forget our island. Nishimura visited Iwoto for the first time in seven years in February. He visited the former site of a recently rediscovered factory that made sugarcane shochu spirit. Nishimura said that people lived and developed the island before the war came along. We want to pass down the island's history to future generations. The goal of the group is to increase the scope of the VR map in the future.