The Kozushima village government on Kozushima island announced that the entire area of the island in the Izu island chain of Tokyo has been certified as an International Dark Sky Place by the U.S. International Dark Sky Association.
It is the such second certification in Japan, following that for Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park, which stretches across the municipalities of Ishigaki and Taketomi in Okinawa Prefecture.
The International Dark Sky Places Program, founded by the Arizona-based nonprofit, encourages communities and other areas around the world to preserve and protect dark sites through lighting policies and public education.
Since 2017, the Kozushima Tourism Association has trained island residents as starry sky guides and organized tours for island visitors.
With the support of the Tokyo metropolitan government and others, the village began preparations in 2019 to apply for the dark sky place status, and enforced an ordinance in January this year to control excessive lighting throughout the island.
In order to meet the standards set by the association, the village asked Chuo Ward, Tokyo-based Iwasaki Electric Co. to make special streetlights that do not leak light into the sky. The village is in the process of replacing all of the about 580 street lamps on the island with the new type, and has already replaced about 80% of them.
The prevention of light pollution is said to lead to such environmental protection efforts as the protection of animals and plants and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through energy conservation.
Mayor Hiroshi Maeda of Kozushima village said: "I was looking forward to the moment of the recognition. We will continue to improve our environment so that more people will visit us for starry sky tours and other programs."
An official of the village's industry and tourism section said: "The starry sky looks more beautiful in the winter when the air is clear. We will strengthen the promotion of our starry sky as a tourist resource and increase the number of our starry sky guides, which currently stands at 17."
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