16 Akusekijima Residents Return to Island; Others May Return Friday as Quakes Continue

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:13 JST, July 17, 2025

KAGOSHIMA — Some of the residents of the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture who had evacuated to Kagoshima City and other locations in response to the ongoing succession of earthquakes in the area have voluntarily returned, the Toshima village government said on Thursday.

The local government had said it would decide whether to allow the residents to return to the islands if no earthquakes measuring 4 or higher on the Japanese seismic intensity scale occurred for 5 days. However, as there were no signs the quakes would end, 16 people, from pre-school age to those in their 80s, from Akusekijima Island left Kagoshima Port by a village-run ferry late on Wednesday night and arrived on the island the following morning.

As of Wednesday, 52 people from Akusekijima Island and 15 people from Kodakarajima Island were evacuated. Some of the others who wish to return are expected to do so on Friday.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency there have been a total of 2,136 quakes measuring intensity 1 or higher in the area between June 21 and 10 a.m. Thursday.

“My fishing boat is still floating [in the harbor], so I want to get it back before the typhoon hits. I hope there won’t be a big earthquake,” a fisherman in his 70s told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday before he boarded the ferry.