Pacific Magazine > Magazine > January 1, 2008

Japan Tourism

A Village Turns To Tourism

Can Visitors Help A Fishing Community Survive?

By Agnes E. Donato, Saipan Tribune

Fishing boats are a common sight on Toshijima. PHOTO: Pacific Magazine

TOSHIJIMA, Japan—We are familiar with images of modern Japan—bright city lights, cutting edge fashion, and domestic robots. But coming to Toshijima, a tiny island off the coast of southern-central Honshu, one is reminded that Japan is an island nation. And in many respects, this economic powerhouse has a lot in common with its Pacific Island neighbors.

I traveled to Toshijima with fellow journalists from the Pacific Islands. It was the third day of the Sasakawa Pacific Islands Journalism Fellowship and we were raring to get out of Tokyo. We had just spent two hectic days running about the city. We needed a sniff of the ocean air.

So we jumped on the shinkansen (bullet train) at Tokyo Station, heading to Nagoya. The quiet train got us there in one and a half hours. Then we took another train to Ise, home of the most important Shinto shrine in Japan. After a guided tour of the grand shrine, we were off to Toba City. We caught a boat to Toshijima.

The sun was sinking behind Toshijima when we caught our first glimpse of the island. From a distance, Toshijima looked every bit the small fishing village described in the travel guides. Fishing boats line the docks of the barely 7-square kilometer island. As we would find out later, this island of 2,500 people accounts for $15 million of Toba City’s $50-million annual fishing income.

But no reading prepared us for the warmth of Toshijima’s people. Kanako Yamamoto, a local resident, was the poster girl of island hospitality at the dock, as she greeted arriving passengers with a hearty smile on her face and a freshly caught fish in her hand.

A five-minute drive on the hilly coastline gave us a closer look at the island. We were on our way to the Teiyo Hotel, a traditional Japanese inn or ryokan built 44 years ago. We took off our shoes as we walked in the entrance, and put on the slippers provided by the inn.

Inside our tatami mat room, tea was waiting on the low red table situated by a hanging scroll. We settled on the rice-straw matting, and our coordinator, Rieko Hayakawa poured tea for me and our third roommate, Suzanne Chutaro of the Marshall Islands.

Dinner was served shortly after in a separate tatami room. If anyone had any lingering question about the essence of the island, it was swept away by this meal. Dinner was a celebration of the bounty of Ise Bay. Shrimp, lobster (known around Japan as Ise-ebi), clams, scallops, and a still-gasping-fish sashimi—all served with great care and attention to detail the Japanese are known for.

Amid such abundance, however, lies an island economy struggling with the changes in the greater world. For one, the skyrocketing oil prices are eating away at the fishermen’s profit. Masamichi Nakamura, one of the village leaders who stopped by the ryokan for some after-dinner drinks with us, says almost half of his earnings go to gasoline for his seven boats. On low-catch days, he says, it’s more practical to keep the boats at the dock than to send them out for fishing.

The fishermen also face stiff competition from imported fish, particularly from Taiwan. Toshijima is getting little by way of support from the Japanese government. Fisheries do not enjoy a protective importation policy such as that rice production has. The reason: fish simply are not considered a staple food in the nation of islands. Rice, on the other hand, is considered Japan’s national food.

Ultimately, the future of Toshijima’s fishing industry—and Japan’s fish-eating culture in general—rests with the youth.

Even in Toshijima, notes Sadahiro Yamashita, fishing is losing its appeal to the youngsters. The owner of Teiyoo Inn recalls a time when the men of Toshijima were literally born to fish. The birth of a first son meant a perpetuation of the family business, so a big party was held. The best seafood was served, and the entire island was invited. Although the parties are still going on today, the meaning is not quite the same.

“Now our sons cannot be forced to go into fishing. Even they don’t think things should be that way,” Yamashita says.

Kazutoshi Hamaguchi, a member of the Toba city council, adds that many young Japanese do not eat much fish either. And this is mainly because they don’t know how to cook it.

Although Toshijima without fishing is unimaginable, the island people realize they cannot live on fishing alone. So the villagers, mostly the women, decided to take matters into their own hands and began efforts to get tourists into the island.

“We think that promoting our fishing culture to the tourists is a win-win solution,” says Yamamoto, who we first met at the dock. She is one of the leaders of the Shima no Tabisha, a community-drive group promoting tourism to Toshijima. Remarkably, most of those involved in
the group are ama, Japan’s famed women divers who free-dive for abalone, seaweed and sea cucumbers.

“More tourists mean a bigger market for our fish,” she adds