Crowdfunding for the Oga Log begins!

In mid-January, members of Chichijima's meeting launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the costs of producing the Ogasawara Traveler's Log (Oga Log), a notebook that can be used by visitors to the island to keep a record of their travels.

The Oga Log was conceived through a series of discussions by members of Chichijima's meeting as a way to increase the number of fans who relate to the island's beautiful environment and the sentiments of island residents.
Members hope that having a special traveler's log (notebook) that looks like a passport will make visitors to Chichijima excited about the long-distance journey to the island. Special privileges will also be offered to Oga Log holders that will encourage them to visit the island again and again, helping to revitalize the island.

A dedicated Oga Log team was formed from members of the Treasures Island meeting. This team had many discussions on the contents of the notebook. They paid particular attention to the details that would make the notebook feel like a product of the Ogasawara Islands. For example, the inner cover was made from the takonoki (lit., "octopus tree"; Pandanus boninensis), a plant indigenous to the Ogasawara Islands that is characterized by its stilt roots that stick out of the ground like octopus legs. After consulting with a company that specializes in environmentally-friendly printing, parts of the plant's leaves were incorporated into the washi paper to give it an original finish.

The Oga Log is not just something that visitors will use to keep records of their travels. Members aim to make it into a notebook that visitors will want to carry around and use for a long time, a notebook that will make visitors want to tell others about the story behind its creation.

Benefits for crowdfunding supporters will include products such as ocean plastic accessories made from plastic debris that washed up onshore and jam and cider made from rare Ogasawara lemons--fruit with a short harvest season. They plan to deliver the notebooks together with products and services that give off the feeling of Chichijima.

By running a crowdfunding campaign, the project members hope that island residents and fans of the Ogasawara Islands will work together to develop the Oga Log brand and that the notebook will provide an opportunity for residents to connect with people who encounter the islands for the first time.

Furthermore, on February 1, 2021, the six members who had been working on the Oga Log project established a general incorporated organization in order to continue developing the Oga Log brand as an ongoing business.

They plan to continue to add new crowdfunding returns and deliver charming items from Chichijima to Ogasawara fans so that they will want to visit the island again and again.