We hear from a professional female mahjong player who moved to Hachijojima about what it’s like to live there. Prices are “all higher than supermarkets in mainland Tokyo” |.

Hachijojima is a remote island located about 290km south of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Although it is located in Tokyo, the average annual temperature is about 18 degrees Celsius, and it is also known as the “island of eternal spring,” and its beautiful nature never ceases to amaze visitors. visit A member of the Japan Professional Mahjong Federation who moved to Hachijojima in July last year and shares his daily life in an old private house on his blog “Mahjong Pro Hachijojima Monogatari” and YouTube channel “Hachijojima Wild” Couple” Chiaki Matsuoka is a female professional mahjong player. We asked him about his reasons for moving to Hachijojima and the reality of his life there.

Result of worry about Hachijojima and the Goto Islands…

— What made you move to Hachijojima?

Chiaki Matsuoka (hereinafter referred to as Matsuoka):I became a professional mahjong player when I was 19 years old, and since then I have lived my life as a professional mahjong player. When I was 24 years old, I thought, “I only live once, and I want to try many things besides mahjong,” and I thought, “I will save up to 10 million yen and I’ll do something different.” “As I’ve always loved nature, I thought, “I’d like to go to the countryside.” I thought, “Maybe I should move.” Also, I like to travel alone, and during the coronavirus pandemic, there was a time when the LCC (low cost airline) Peach was very cheap, so I went to the places where I could go on Peach. At that time, I thought, “Maybe I’d rather live on a remote island than on the mainland.”

――I believe you went to several remote islands, but were there any other remote islands you could move to besides Hachijojima?

Matsuoka:The Goto Islands in Nagasaki were also candidates. I was watching an anime called “Barakamon” which is set in the Goto Islands, and it shows a scene where the villagers move to the island and live for happy with the local people, and it made a big impact on my heart. However, land and houses in the Goto Islands are very cheap, about half the price of Hachijojima, but the hourly wages for part-time jobs…it’s hard for me to make a living there. Also, I went to a few izakayas on the island, but they were mostly old people and no young people. I always wanted to get married, but at the time I didn’t have a boyfriend, so I thought it would be difficult to meet someone on this island.

Broadcast your daily life on YouTube

— Did you choose Hachijojima with income and marriage in mind?

Matsuoka:I agree. Also, since I have to go back and forth to my hometown in Tokyo for work as a professional mahjong player, it would be difficult because of the distance, including the need to make one stop through Nagasaki . Hachijojima is about an hour’s flight each way from Tokyo, and many places offered part-time jobs at around 1,200 yen per hour, so I thought Hachijojima would be a better choice for my way of life It’s been two years since I moved here in July the year before.

— Did you talk to those around you when you moved?

Matsuoka:I made the decision alone without communicating with anyone. I told my parents a month before I moved, but I had already told the landlord of the room I was staying in that I was moving out, and I told him my friends via X (formerly Twitter) that I was moving out 3 days ago. This is an after action report (lol).