Island hosting
Hosting Mo (Dr Meng Qu), my SICRI co-convenor and JF host at Hokkaido Univertsity, here in Amami Oshima gave me the opportunity to not only do some research together on island tourism activities but also get on a tour with him visiting the National Park where we got a glimpse of several islands birds unique to Amami and Ryukyus, all thanks to John Manolito Cantu who knows his birds and other non human inhabitants of the island really well.
As part of our research on island tourism, Mo and I visited the Denpaku community embedded tourism project that serves as a model of how to develop tourism at small and sustainable scale that is part of the community, designed by an Amamian architect, Yasuhiro Yamashita, who comes originally from this community. The project contains a renovated former supermarket in the center of the village that serves as the hub with space for events, art, local crafts, e-bike rentals and most amazingly an elderly day care facility! Speaking of community embedded tourism on an island with aging population! Apart from this hub there are also renovated former akiya (abandoned) houses as guest houses, a hostel and further up the coast a cluster of beach cabanas (the more upmarket part).
We were shown around and had the opportunity to talk to the architect on zoom from his office in Tokyo which was so generous given that he is a very busy and well known professional.
It was something on their website about the architect’s vision of the place that got my attention in the first place as I am here to research the impact of the UNESCO World Heritage Site on the island:
“While working on a resort development in his hometown of Amami Oshima, he was consulted about the increasing number of vacant houses on the island and began to explore ways to utilize them. At the same time, with the Amami Islands close to being registered as a World Heritage Site, he felt the danger of land being bought up cheaply by domestic and foreign developers and being devastated, and of local communities and valuable cultural resources being destroyed by overtourism, so in 2016 he started a town development project centered on the accommodation facility "Denpaku."
The propery developers are already on the island with plans to build big resorts that come with risks of disrupting the landscape and their hosting communities. There is already a change.org petition from an island community that feels overwhelmed by the pressure to sell land to developers. Scroll down for the English version. Denpaku seems to offer an alternative, island based and embraced model to tourism development and I hope others follow Yamashita’s example.
The week of hosting Mo was rather eventful as we got a taste of getting famous on a small island. I was showing Mo around Naze and as we passed by the little shopping archade where the local Amami FM has an open studio, we got invited to give an impromptu interview about our research. Amami FM is an amazing community radio that has done much to promote and revitalize island music, dialects and culture in general. So it was a true honour to get invited to talk.
A few days later I had an interview myself with this reporter and the radio’s director in the impact of the unesco impact and tourism on the island which was so insightful: the islanders need to increase their awareness of their island’s rich natural and cultural ecology now and not wait till overtourism forces them to do so. As this is a World Natural Heritage Site, the world needs to come in dialogue with the islanders, meeting in a shared space of respect for the uniqueness of this ecosystem.
Mo and I also got to taste kokuto sochou (spirit made of brown sugar produced only on the Amami islands) at Nishihira Distillery, a 4th generation small family business, that experiments with sonic ageing.
Each barrel has a special device attached to it playing different genres of music on a loop, including shima uta (the amamian folk music), reggae, Latin, hip hop etc. The sochou that was exposed to island music frequencies was strong but also restrained, high pitch. The reggae one was salty and full bodied. Mind boggling!
The experiment is run by John Manolito Cantu, a Kiwi Aussie who has been living on the island for a few years now. He is passionate about it and we were lucky to get a taste of something unique!
As Mo specializes in art islands so I thought of taking him during his visit on Amami to Horokan where my friend Yuko works. Horokan is a private foundation set up by a wealthy Amamian that offers access to his eclectic private art collection, a library and a wonderful arts based year long educational program for island children rich in island culture and nature focused activities. A wonderful and fun way to get the children to appreciate their island!
I loved it as an example of island eco-cultural identity narrative. The building’s interior design is a child’s delight, full of colour, light and art and the views of the dramatic landscape from the top are stunning! Even the toilet had spectacular views! Mo got the chance to use his binoculars to spot whales in the pacific ocean. Some of the sculptures clearly spoke to our inner child
And the perfect ending to an already amazing week: lunch with my friend みのりat one of my favourite island restaurants in Sumiyo known for its amazing soba dishes using Amami greens. A feast to celebrate this part of my Amami stay as I am leaving for Okinawa for a couple of weeks. My heart and belly are fully content!
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