I recently had the pleasure of visiting Ishima, a tiny island off the southeastern coast of Tokushima in Japan. It's tiny-only 1.5 km² and under 10km in circumference. It has only 85 full time residents and is accessible only by boat from Anan on Shikoku.
Thank you to Kawanishi-san for showing me around. At 83 years old he's a fisherman, a tour guide, and an environmentalist.
Fishing is the main occupation on the island, which specializes in Ise Ebi, or Japanese Spiny Lobsters. And of course, each meal is full of the bounty of the ocean.
There is a school on the island, but it has since been shut down as there are no children here.
Ishima is also home to the Sasayuri-Lily, a once thriving native species in Japan that has seen rapid decline in recent decades.
Before sunrise each morning, the fishermen load up their boats to retrieve their nets they set out the night before. Within the nets, the Ise Ebi.
The Ise Ebi must be carefully extracted from the fishing nets. Losing a limb or an eye can significantly lower the price a fisherman can receive for his catch once it's shipped to Osaka, Tokyo or beyond.
The rest of the morning is spent cleaning the boat and nets before setting them out again in the afternoon. Such is the slow lifestyle on this small Japanese fishing island.
Work and life. Passions and purpose. The residents of Ishima seems to have struck up the balance of a life well lived, in harmony with their environment.
Thank you to Tokushima no Migishita for sharing this experience with me:
shikokunomigis...
Негізгі бет Less than 100 people live here. (Ishima, Japan)
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