Whale Watching Worldwide

Ogasawara, Miyakejima, Mikurajima
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
operators
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total
expenditure
1998 14,700 N/A N/A 1,296,576 N/A N/A
2008 28,700 6.9% 47 $1,868,400 $4,099,317 $5,967,717
Whale Watch Locations:
01: Ogasawara
02: Mikurajima
03: Miyakejima
These islands are administratively part of Tokyo, but are some
distance from the mainland. Miyakejima and Mikurajima are an
eight‐hour ferry ride from Tokyo, while Ogasawara is around
1000km south. Dolphin watching and, particularly, ‘swim‐with’ trips
are very popular on these islands, particularly Miyakejima and
Mikurajima. Larger cetaceans can be seen seasonally from
Ogasawara.
Operators are mainly small businesses such as diving shops, diving
schools, inns or scenic cruise operators, with whale and dolphin watching being a part of their business.
Local tourism and whale watching associations help coordinate and monitor the industry, and also help with
marketing.
Ogasawara has seen strong growth in its cetacean watching industry, from 3,000 visitors in 1998 to around
14,500 in 2007 (latest complete season). Many of these are repeat visitors and it is not uncommon for
people to go on multiple cetacean watching trips during their visit. The Ogasawara Whale Watching
Association reports that bottlenose and spinner dolphins can be seen year round while sperm and humpback
whales can be seen seasonally. Humpbacks are best viewed from February to April and can be seen from
land as well as by boat. Sperm whales visit from June to October. A variety of trips are on offer with an
average price of around $35 for watching and $100 for swim with dolphins and other diving trips.
Miyakejima’s cetacean watching is focused on swim‐with trips, with around 4,200 visitors this year, up from
3,150 in 2007. This growth is very important to the local tourism industry, which has been slowly recovering
since a volcanic eruption forced the island to be evacuated in 2000. Prior to the eruption more than 80,000
tourists per year visited the island and dolphin watching numbers had been estimated at 8,300. Residents
were only permitted to return to the island in 2005. Tourists have been slow to return to the island with
only around 45,000 in 2007 according to the Miyakejima tourist association. The association considers
dolphin watching to be an important drawcard for the island.
Mikurajima’s dolphin watching industry has capitalised on the disturbance on Miyakejima, with numbers
increasing from 3,000 to around 10,000. The importance of the industry is noted by the Mikurajima Tourism
Association, which claims dolphin watching and swim with trips are a primary attraction for 99% of the
island’s visitors.
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