Letters to Foreign Correspondents

To the members of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan Re: Mega Cruise Ship Threatens Proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site We are Amami Nature Conservation Association. We live in Amami Oshima. With East China Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east, Amami is a beautiful sub-tropical island, situated in the south west of Kyushu. It is famous for its turquoise green sea, its abundance of coral reefs and its rare wildlife. There are quite a number of endemic and endangered species to found on the island, such as the Amami Black Rabbit and Lydith Jay. Islanders attribute the preservation of Amami’s nature to the lethally poisonous ‘habu’ snake, fear of which has discouraged humans from venturing into the mountains over the years. In 2017, the people of Amami took steps to register a large portion of the island as a ‘World Natural Heritage Site’ and it seems likely that they will succeed in their application. In recent months, however, a huge threat to Amami’s nature has arisen. It has been proposed to build a port, in a tiny village in the south west of Amami, big enough to house a 220,000 ton cruise ship. Plans for this development have been pushed ahead, with most of the local inhabitants ignorant of the details and oblivious to the irreversible damage that will inevitably be caused to Amami’s marine and forest ecosystems. This would make an interesting story on how the Japanese political system endangers nature and cultural environment, in addition to imperiling a local community. Amami Nature Conservation Association and I cordially solicit you to cover this topic. We could help you arrange transportation, accommodation and excursions that would show you the beauty and nature of Amami. The problem unfolded as follows:  Last August, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) abruptly introduced plans for the development of a ‘Mega Cruise Ship’ port. These ‘Mega Cruise Ships’ are the world’s biggest and are as large as 220,000 ton, holding as many as 8,000 people. The development is supposed to be on the same scale as one you would see in the Caribbean. Nishikomi, with a population of 34 people is the proposed location for this development. Nishikomi is a tiny village in a secluded part of Setouchi Town, just a few kilometers from the area reserved for the World Heritage Site. Setouchi Town is the area in the most Southern part of Amami, with a population of 9,000 and it is the governing authority over the village of Nishikomi.  A meeting was held by Setouchi Town Authority to explain the development plans. On September 6th twenty nine of Nishikomi’s thirty four villagers voted “YES” to support the development. I suspect these people feel obliged to support their local leaders on these issues and are unaware of the repercussions of endorsing a development on such a huge scale.  On the 15th of September, the Setouchi Town Authority presented a petition to solicit the cruise ships to come to Nishikomi, at the Setouchi Town Diet.  Over the period of October / November, Setouchi Town Authority gained support for the development from local commercial organizations; including the Fishing Co-op, the Small Business and Enterprise Association, Construction Association and the Tourist Board. They achieved the support of these bodies by explaining the proposed development to only a few select members, neglecting to inform the individual members about the issue.  On the 13th of December, Setouchi Town Authority brought these petitions to Kagoshima Prefecture and after likely to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The whole process to　push ahead the plans for this development has been conducted secretly within a small number of stakeholders. Consequently almost none of the people living in Setouchi Town are informed or even aware of the plans for this mass tourism development project.  At a press conference on 25th January the governor of Kagoshima prefecture declared his support for the project. The manner in which the MLIT, Kagoshima Prefecture and the Setouchi-Town Authority have promoted this development shows us they have no intention of taking into account the opinion of the people of Setouchi Town. It appears that they are determined to pursue their own agendas, despite the obvious damage that would invariably result with ‘mass tourism’ on this scale.  At the start of February I, among a number of concerned local citizens, got together and formed the organization, ‘Amami Nature Conservation Association’. We realized that to construct a port to facilitate the gigantic size of these cruise ships alone would mean huge damage to local marine ecosystems. Additionally, if the proposal were to go ahead the thousands of passengers arriving in Nishikomi would ruin its unspoilt environment and destroy the local culture. Our object is to protest against this mass tourism cruise ship project and resume democratic decision-making processes. Please come visit this beautiful island, cover the story happening here and help us protect Amami’s nature for the future generations to come. Best regards,