Coffee was planted on Chichijima in 1878. During the Second World War the islanders were evacuated and the trees were abandoned. People did not fully return until 1968.
Back home, Nose Akio found young coffee trees growing wild from ones his family had planted before the war. Tests showed they descend from the original 19th-century Typica.
A few small farms still pick and process by hand. Typhoons from late summer can wipe out both crop and trees.
What time is taking away
Bonin Typica
Pre-war Typica trees survived untended on Chichijima and were brought back into cultivation by descendants of the original growers.1
What the record says
- Coffee cultivation on Ogasawara began in 1878 with trees planted on Chichijima.1
- Civilians were evacuated during the Second World War and the coffee trees were abandoned.1
- Residents did not fully return until 1968, when control reverted to Japan.1
- Nose Akio found young trees descended from his family's pre-war planting; testing confirmed they come from the original 19th-century trees.1
- Only a few farms operate, and seasonal typhoons are the main threat.1
Single government source (Japan Tourism Agency multilingual text database hosted by MLIT). A 2024 Japan Times report says a study places Japan's first coffee growing in Okinawa, not Ogasawara; it was paywalled, so the 'first in Japan' claim is not made.
- Ogasawara Coffee (小笠原コーヒー) · Japan Tourism Agency multilingual explanatory text database (MLIT) in the bibliography
