play time

Time goes? Perhaps no. Time stays, we go. Agreeing with English poet Austin Dobson, I think time makes us old, makes us change, makes us transform but time never change and it only remains as present.

We have come to April, where many bEEautiful tropical flowers blossom everywhere in Melaka and attract many flower lovers. The colorful flowers have made Melaka vibrant and attractive especially the bougainvilleas (also known as paper flower) flaunt their extravagant beauty for all to see.

Ever since my last overseas trip to Thailand last year, I’d been thinking for another trip to one of the South East Asia countries. My dream came true and I was invited to join a trip to Cambodia with some friends in early April. Even though it was a short 3 days 2 nights tour, we enjoyed natural beauty, spectacular view and warm friendly people of Khmer.

On the other hand, we are still keeping track on the news of Japan after the triple tragedy. Since March 11, few aftershocks have continued to rattle the nation and have renewed concerns about the fragile condition of the Fukushima nuclear facility, which continues to leak radiation into the ocean and atmosphere. Let us pray for Japan and what they are going through.

Sharing some shots taken in Melaka last month and early April. Last photo here was taken in Cambodia at the Siem Reap International Airport and I will post more photos of the Cambodia trip shortly.

May all beings bEE happy.

school (Masjid Tanah Chinese Primary School)

this way

stranger in town

dusk of hospital (General Hospital of Melaka)

fun to learn

"I have a dream"

bougainvillea

indulgence

time (Siem Reap International Airport)

The post March.April 2011 appeared first on juesatta (CJ Photography).

juesatta awakening foundation logo (draft)

Swallowed By The Sea (illustrated by Tomer Hanuka)

Dear friends, thank you for your kindness and support. We’ve just made a third transaction of USD150.00 to International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for Japan quake relief.

Through the generous contribution by all friends and family, we have collected a total amount of more than RM1,300.00 to date for the relief effort in Japan. Thank you for your generosity and kindness by helping those are suffering from the devastating effects of the recent 8.9 earthquake and tsunami.

Together we hope and pray for all in Japan as well as all other countries to be affected by this event and that the recovery will be swift and complete.

In addition, another 7.4 powerful quake just struck Japan yesterday. Fortunately destructive tsunami is not expected according to The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

May all beings be happy.

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A fishy tale: It seems almost too good to be true, but this little dog seems to have survived against all odds and was discovered by coastguards floating on a raft at sea

It appears almost too good to be true, but this little dog has been found alive and well adrift at sea, an astonishing three weeks after the tsunami that devastated Japan.

Members of the Japan Coast Guard came across the dog on Friday as they were conducting an aerial search of the area.

Local television showed pictures of the dog scampering around the roof of the house before it disappeared inside through a hole in the roof.

Rescuers had hoped to find more tsunami survivors living inside the house but after tearing the roof open, it was found to be empty apart from the dog.

Despite its three weeks at sea, the medium-sized brown dog seemed to be in reasonably good condition considering its ordeal.

The discovery of the dog is a rare glimmer of hope in Japan where thousands of people are believed to have perished in the disaster.

The nation is now gripped by the ongoing nuclear threat posed by the unstable Fukushima plant as workers continue to battle to restore vital cooling systems damaged by the quake.

Against all odds: The dog appears to have survived by clinging to a house that had been swept away by the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11

Safe and hound: A member of the Japan Coast Guard comforts the dog that seems to have survived an amazing three weeks at sea following the devastating tsunami

The post Hope floats: tsunami dog found after drifting in ocean for 3 weeks appeared first on juesatta (CJ Photography).

Japan earthquake victims (photo: www.news.com.au)

我像一个等着看好戏的观众，看着海啸前进的片段。

长长的地震摇晃后，我按捺着颤抖的手，抓起电视遥控器。老公每次地震后都那么做。我们母子三人躲到桌子下，余震强烈，电视屏幕闪着海啸警报。东京湾的船只匆匆往岸边驶，海岸线升高，向陆地蔓延，几十分钟后，海水慢慢侵袭陆地，掩盖道路，缓缓往房子去。我像旁观者，情绪高亢，却没有多少恐慌，这一切对我来说很新鲜。或许是角度问题，从天空鸟瞰，海浪看起来那么温柔优雅，又或许，我比较愿意袖手旁观，因为这里不是我的国家。

当然那时谁都没想到情况会这么恶劣。

两天后，我发现自己身在挤满顾客的超市里。地震、海啸、停电和核漏，人们开始惊慌，大量采购。我也跟着紧张，女儿的牛奶最重要。于是惶惶跑向冷藏区，差点撞上一个老人，我闪了一下，继续往前小跑，然后把购物车装得满满，安心结帐去。我排入队伍，开始环视周围，却发现没有人推挤，没有人急得跑着抢货，人人虽然神色匆忙，却还有秩序有自律。

Japan earthquake victims (web photo)

我站着，双颊发烫，实在羞愧。

然后我开始发觉自己已被卷入这场灾害，不再是一个旁观者。

灾害没有停止，汽油短缺，辐射物质泄漏，人心惶惶。我继续每天往超市钻，扛回罐头、水、干粮、厕纸、蜡烛等，几天下来，家里堆满了备用品。

直到我读到这样一则短讯：

“不要大量采购。这些东西可能是要送上东北区。我们还有三餐美味，灾区的灾民一天只有一个饭团。”

消息可能不确实，我却确确实实看到了自己的私欲与邪恶。

如果还有什么能让我更羞耻，那便是打开电视。灾区的女人在破残且空无一物的便利店里为孩子买到几个没被水冲走的零食，她对着镜头说：“能买到这些太感谢了，深僻的地方还有许多被困着的人们，请你们救救他们。”她转身拭擦眼角的泪水。

许多灾民在镜头前说他们的感受，“有这些食物，已经很感恩了”，“这种情形也是没有法子的”，“这样更要加油”。

怎么都没有抱怨？

我明白了，这大概就是彻底的团体精神。一个国家，一个人民，一个思想。

我不得不重新计量住了8年的地方，我重新认识自己以为很了解的大和民族。

原本一个骇人的灾难，却让我看到了一个勇敢美丽的民族，一个强稳的社会结构，还有一个丑陋自私的我。

晚上，我拿起一个红豆馒头，想扔进垃圾桶，却犹豫了一下。我最不喜欢这东西，平常家婆送来，我随手就丢了。但是今晚，我重新放回冰箱。为了灾区的人民，我会珍惜食物。

The post 地震之后 appeared first on juesatta (CJ Photography).

juesatta awakening foundation logo (draft)

Thank you friends for your kindness. We’ve made a second donation of RM400.00 to Taiwan Buddhist Tzu-Chi Foundation Malaysia.

After the 8.9 quake and subsequent tsunami, the people of Japan are short of many things, such as petrol and food. The members of Tzu-Chi will overcome all kinds of hurdles and deliver hot food into the hands of those in difficulty. The money donated will be used entirely for emergency relief and for long-term construction as Japan clears the rubble and prepares to rebuild.

Thank you and may we keep Japan in our prayers. We will make third trasnfer soon and friends who are wishing to donate, kindly contact us.

May all beings be happy.

Members of the international non-profit organisation, the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, bow their heads as they collect donations in Sydney (photo: AFP)

Young and old, volunteers prepares the relief goods to ship to Japan. (Photo by Chien Shi-si; date: 03/13/2011; location: Jing Si Abode, Hualien, Taiwan)

The residents and volunteers pray together. (Photo by Chen Wei-chun; date: 03/16/2011; location: Oarai, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan)

Tzu Chi volunteers provide hot meals for the second day. (Photo by Hsiao Chi-jen; date: 03/17/2011; location: Oarai, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan)

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juesatta awakening foundation logo (draft)

Thank you friends for your support, we have made our first transfer of USD 150.00 donation to International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for Japan quake relief.

Our donation will support the rescue works in Japan. And, we must give a deep bow of immense gratitude to all the volunteers’ efforts to respond to the emergency relief. There are many rescue workers or emergency workers risk their lives and some even sacrificed themselves! Many stories of heroism are reported such as one as reported by Japanese journalist Chie Matsumoto:

“People received the warning through the city speakers that are set up outside. They heard, ‘A big tsunami is coming. You need to evacuate.’ Shortly after, they heard, ‘Run!’

“The announcement was cut off and the people never heard from the speakers, or the people who announced it, again. The few people assigned to announce it were at the disaster prevention center, and they went missing.

“They sacrificed their lives to send everyone else to a safer place. They gave priority to others’ safety. The disaster prevention center is now under the mud brought on by the tsunami.”

Although we are not on the ground to help like them nor to be like them, we can still send out our prayers to give them (both rescuers and victims) hope and strength in the face of this terrible catastrophe.

Thank you again and we will soon to make a second transfer. Friends who wish to contribute, kindly contact us. Sharing some photos taken from Red Cross flickr:

Those who have suffered near drowning are wrapped in blankets and then plastic sheeting to keep them both warm ad dry before being transported to Ishinomaki Red Cross hospital for treatment. (Photograph: Toshirharu Kato, Japanese Red Cross)

For some of the youngest patients, who may be particularly vulnerable, special care must be provided, however warm skin and a kind voice, together with a watchful eye can go a long way to ensure a speedy recovery. (Photograph: Toshirharu Kato, Japanese Red Cross)

One week after the earthquake struck and tsunami surged through, a Japanese Red Cross volunteer surveys the damage to Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture. (Photograph: Japanese Red Cross Society)

Technicians scan Red Cross rescue workers for signs of radiation in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture in northern Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 14, 2011. (Photograph: Reuters/Kyodo)

The post First transfer of donation for Japan quake relief to IFRC appeared first on juesatta (CJ Photography).

love.peace

Last month, February was a very busy and hectic month for mEE, nothing but work. The pace of life is going back to normal in early March and I can have more updates on juesatta.

Having said that, a series of fortunate events have just happened in Japan, earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown tragically claim countless human lives and destroy the livelihoods of many others including wildlife and ecosystems. And the latest update of today,

The toll of Japan’s triple disaster came into clearer focus Monday after police estimates showed more than 18,000 people died, the World Bank said rebuilding may cost $235 billion and more cases of radiation-tainted vegetables and tap water turned up. (yahoo.com)

More work has to be done here such as to increase awareness of the need for aid after natural disasters. And we’re grateful that everyone is standing together in such difficult moment and is giving a hand. Each of us make a difference and together we’re powerful.

Besides the quake, war has also begun in Libya when US coalition forces launched strikes on Libya to degrade its air defense yesterday. Despite the goals of US coalition forces to protect the people of Libya, Libyan government claimed that allied attacks on Sunday have killed innoncent civilians. It was not immediately clear what targets had been hit but we do hope that Libya can return to stability as soon as possible and its problems can be resolved peacefully.

May you find serenity here and we hope that the victims in Japan and people in Libya to peace, and survive. May all beings bEE happy.

Sharing some shots taken in Melaka within these two months.

demolish

"I'm watching you"

seven

duet (traditional Malay performance)

dine

ambitious

heading home

Masjid Selat Melaka (Malacca Straits Mosque)

fire fighters

The post February.March 2011 appeared first on juesatta (CJ Photography).

juesatta awakening foundation logo (draft)

A huge 8.9 earthquake, subsequent tsunami, and nuclear meltdown struck Japan on March 11th at 2:46 pm, causing immeasurable human suffering and physical damage. Officials say at least 10,000 people were killed, many more are still missing or injured, and millions are without food, water, power in Japan.

Major disasters always require a huge amount of international support to provide relief and long term recovery efforts. Japan, being one of the world’s most generous nations, has always donated when other countries have experienced disasters. In these, their days of greatest need now, we stand ready and are eager to help the Japanese in this time of great trial.

I’ve received calls these two days from friends who  have expressed their sympathy and wish of helping those who are at risk in Japan now. We are getting the assessments by the reputable aid organisations such as Red Cross, Tzu Chi, World Vision, Salvation Army and those already have a presence in the impacted area and their response will likely be faster and more efficinet than other organizations that are not on the ground.

Right now, while waiting and see how the relief situation develops, we express our heartfelt sympathy for the tragic loss and are ready to assist the reputable aid organisations. Friends, you can make a donation to well-known charitable organisations or through us as we are collecting fund and will make the transfer next week to the organisations mentioned that are working on relief and recovery in the region.

A woman cries amid the destruction in Natori, Japan (Reuters photo)

Residents walk along a path overlooking shattered homes from the tsunami in Kesen Numa, Miyagi Prefecture. (Reuters photo)

A man surveys the damage in Minami Sanriku, a town in Miyago Prefecture, on Tuesday, March 15. (AFP/Getty photo)

A Self Defense Forces soldier holds a 4-month-old baby in Ishinomaki city in Miyagi prefecture Monday. The child survived the tsunami with her family. (AFP/Getty photo)

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A massive tsunami engulfs a residential area in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan. (photo by Reuters/Kyodo)

TOKYO – A ferocious tsunami unleashed by Japan’s biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it carried away ships, cars and homes, and triggered widespread fires that burned out of control.

Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii but did not cause major damage. Warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West coast. In northeastern Japan, the area around a nuclear power plant was evacuated after the reactor’s cooling system failed.

Tsunami waves swirl near a port in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 137 were confirmed killed, with 531 people missing. Police also said 627 people were injured.

The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and was followed for hours by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter. A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said.

Koto Fujikawa, 28, was riding a monorail when the quake hit and had to later pick her way along narrow, elevated tracks to the nearest station.

“I thought I was going to die,” Fujikawa, who works for a marketing company, said. “It felt like the whole structure was collapsing.”

Scientists said the quake ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000 times stronger than one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month.

“The energy radiated by this quake is nearly equal to one month’s worth of energy consumption” in the United States, U.S. Geological Survey Scientist Brian Atwater told The Associated Press.

As night fell and temperatures hovered just above freezing, tens of thousands of people remained stranded in Tokyo, where the rail network was still down. The streets were jammed with cars, buses and trucks trying to get out of the city.

The city has set up 33 shelters in city hall, on university campuses and in government offices, but many planned to spend the night at 24-hour cafes and hotels.

Tomoko Suzuki and her elderly mother stood on a crowded downtown corner, unable to get to their 29th-floor condominium because the elevator wasn’t working. They couldn’t find a taxi to go to a relative’s house and nearby hotels were booked.

“We are so cold,” said Suzuki. “We really don’t know what to do.”

The government ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant in the city of Onahama to move back at least two miles (three kilometers) from the plant. The reactor was not leaking radiation but its core remained hot even after a shutdown. The plant is 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

The Defense Ministry said it had dispatched dozens of troops trained to deal with chemical disaster to the plant in case of radiation leak.

Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at either of them.

Japan’s coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles (kilometers) inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images on Japanese TV of powerful, debris-filled waves, uncontrolled fires and a ship caught in a massive whirlpool resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.

Large fishing boats and other vessels rode high waves ashore, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged cars bobbed in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.

The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the homes, probably because of burst gas pipes.

Waves of muddy waters flowed over farmland near Sendai, carrying buildings, some of them ablaze. Drivers attempted to flee. Sendai airport was inundated with thick, muddy debris that included cars, trucks, buses and even light planes.

Highways to the worst-hit coastal areas buckled. Telephone lines snapped. Train service in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo’s Narita airport was closed indefinitely.

President Barack Obama said the U.S. “stands ready to help” Japan.

Jesse Johnson, a native of the U.S. state of Nevada who lives in Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife when the quake hit.

“At first it didn’t feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table,” he told The Associated Press. “I’ve lived in Japan for 10 years, and I’ve never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t know whether it’s me shaking or an earthquake.”

NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.

A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in the city of Ichihara and burned out of control with 100-foot (30-meter) flames whipping into the sky.

“Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. “We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment.”

He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the hardest-hit region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.

Also in Miyagi prefecture, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant, but it was later extinguished, said Tohoku Electric Power Co.

A reactor area of a nearby plant was leaking water, the company said. But it was unclear if the leak was caused by the tsunami or something else. There were no reports of radioactive leaks at any of Japan’s nuclear plants.

Jefferies International Ltd., a global investment banking group, estimated overall losses of about $10 billion.

Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in northern Iwate prefecture, said officials were having trouble getting an overall picture of the destruction.

“We don’t even know the extent of damage. Roads were badly damaged and cut off as tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things,” he said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was magnitude 8.9, the biggest to hit Japan since record-keeping began in the late 1800s and one of the biggest ever recorded in the world.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Several quakes hit the same region in recent days, including one measured at magnitude 7.3 on Wednesday that caused no damage.

A tsunami warning was extended to a number of areas in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and Latin America, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities ordered an evacuation of coastal communities, but no unusual waves were reported.

Thousands fled homes in Indonesia after officials warned of a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) high, but waves of only 4 inches (10 centimeters) were measured. No big waves came to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, either.

The first waves hit Hawaii about 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT). A tsunami about 7 feet (2.1 meters) high was recorded on Maui and a wave at least 3 feet (a meter) high was recorded on Oahu and Kauai. Officials warned that the waves would continue and could get larger.

Japan’s worst previous quake was a magnitude 8.3 temblor in 1923 in Kanto that killed 143,000 people, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe in 1995 killed 6,400 people.

Japan lies on the “Ring of Fire” — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world’s quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 nations. A magnitude-8.8 temblor that shook central Chile in February 2010 also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people.

By MALCOLM FOSTER, Associated Press writers Jay Alabaster, Mari Yamaguchi, Tomoko A. Hosaka and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo; Jaymes Song in Honolulu and Mark Niesse in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Seth Borenstein in New York contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS that the Kobe quake was in 1995, not 1996.)

The post Hundreds killed in tsunami after 8.9 Japan quake appeared first on juesatta (CJ Photography).

Japan's Shark Fin Capital, Kesen-numa City. This is the picture that sparked a global outcry. (by Alex Hofford)

KESEN-NUMA CITY, JAPAN – It’s 5am on the the north eastern tip of Japan’s main island of Honshu, and 75 tons of dead shark is being meticulously arranged into a neat grid of tidy piles, of twenty sharks per pile.

If you thought shark finning was exclusively a Chinese problem, think again. Welcome to Kesen-numa City, Japan’s shark fin capital.

Here, six days a week, small teams of Japanese workers go about the hushed business of industrial shark-finning.

By 6.30am, with piles arranged, the sharks are disemboweled first. Hearts are ripped efficiently from bodies by men wearing brightly coloured rubber boots and aprons. At 7am, shark corpses are cleaned of their blood by workers wielding water hoses. And by 8am, small teams are silently moving up and down aisles and rows like robots in a Japanese car factory, quickly slicing off every dorsal, pectoral and tail fin from the lifeless, grey lumps. Big hungry black crows squawk in the shadows, looking for bloody morsels. And shark fins plop with regularity into small yellow plastic baskets. The baskets fill up fast, are then weighed, and finally carried to a nearby truck, where a man with a notepad strikes a deal. At 9.30am, it’s all over for another day. Fork lift trucks scoop up tons of limbless carcasses, then dump them into a high-sided truck. The process is a brutal sight to behold, and not for the faint-hearted.

Cutting the fins (Alex Hofford)

The fishing port of Kesen-numa City is located in Miyagi Prefecture in North East Japan, and is the country’s only port dedicated to catching sharks.

Over two days in early July this year, I saw 119 tons of blue shark (Prionace glaucaof), ten tons of salmon shark (Lamna ditropis), and three tons of short fin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus)  landed on the dock at Kesen-numa. Not to mention several tons of endangered bluefin tuna, (Thunnus thynnus), but that’s a whole other story. Taking government transparency to another level, landed shark tonnage numbers are provided daily by the port of Kesen-numa’s Japanese only website, which is publicly, (and apparently unashamedly), available.

About half of the shark fin that is processed in Kesen-numa City is destined for China, mainly Hong Kong and Shanghai. For wealthy Chinese, shark fin from Kesen-numa is seen as a premium, or luxury, brand. Mr Hatakeyama, 45, a shark fin processor from Kesen-numa, said, “Quite a bit of shark fin is sent to Shanghai from here as there are many rich people there. Our shark fin here can command higher prices than Chinese shark fin sourced from elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East or Africa. Even though the Chinese have their own shark fin, they prefer Japanese brands”.

Given the delicacy’s roots, this is hardly surprising, but what is more unexpected is that a considerable portion of the shark fin processed in Kesen-numa is bound for domestic consumption. Like in China, shark fin soup is common place at weddings, company banquets and all sorts of other special occasions where the paying host wants to show off their wealth. And much of the shark fin produced at small food factories dotted around the city ends up bound for Chinese restaurants in Japan, of which there are many. The rest is sold to hotels to include on their menus for newly weds and for corporate banquets.

In olden times, shark fin was sometimes used as a substitute for gold when Japanese merchants traded with China. Understandably, and for this same reason, the exact location for fin drying in Japan remains a closely guarded secret. And a significant amount is shipped to China for sun-drying, although the exact drying location in China is an even bigger secret.

These days, the port of Kesen-numa feels like a town down on it’s luck. Once thriving, today there is a sense of decay in the air. Overgrown and rusty. Similarly, attitudes have yet to move with the times. As public sentiment slowly turns against shark fin soup in Hong Kong, what was once an ancient tradition in this forgotten corner of Japan, is, according to conservationists, wreaking havoc on shark populations worldwide. Small fishing boats used catch sharks as part of the city’s ancient tradition.

But this tradition, coupled with modern fishing methods like the advent of strong  and long fishing lines, and boats that can go further and stay out of port for longer, is a recipe for disaster for the sharks. According to the Japan Fisheries Agency, the nation’s national shark fin catch nearly halved since the late 1960’s. In 1969, the total number of sharks caught and landed in Japan was around 65,000 tons. Last year’s total was around 35,000 tons, and Kesen-numa accounts for around 90% of all sharks caught nationally.

Whether the global marine ecosystems can suffer such an onslaught is debatable. The arguments against shark-finning are, by now, well known in Hong Kong. It is said that sharks take decades to reach adulthood, and by ripping them out of the oceans at such an unprecedented rate, we are depriving them of them of the chance to reproduce, and thus repopulate their decimated numbers. Cruelty may be the issue at stake for those who see the wasteful practice of slicing the fins off the shark at sea and tossing them back over the side of the boat, but in Kesen-numa the whole shark is landed. It is said that every part of every shark landed at Kesen-numa is processed there and then consumed. Even it’s heart. For the people of Kesen-numa are seen as a little strange by ordinary Japanese. Locals can ill afford the shark fin soup available at many of the town’s small side street restaurants, but the locals have developed a peculiar, if bloodthirsty, fondness for raw salmon shark heart sashimi. An exotic ‘delicacy’, which, according to local people, is consumed nowhere else in Japan. It is left up to the tourists who visit Kesen-numa to order the city’s famous speciality, shark fin soup.

And tourists do come. Some are attracted to the splendid hiking along Miyagi Prefecture’s rugged coastline, whilst others are seafood aficionados, looking for their next hit of sublime ultra-fresh exotic seafood. Early risers among them will inevitably make their way to the dock, where they are confronted with one of the most bloody spectacles they are likely ever to witness in their lives – Kesen-numa’s very own industrial shark-finning show.

A quick walk around the town, reveals a parallel universe, where even the most basic concepts of marine conservation do not exist. Just a stone’s throw from the dock, is the ‘Kesen-numa Rias Shark Museum’,  which visitors enter through a giant set of shark jaws. Once inside, tourists are first confronted by real copies of faded front pages of tabloid newspapers from around the world that sensationalize shark attacks on swimmers. Make no mistake, sharks are bad, evil, a threat to humanity and they should be erdaicated from the face of the earth, the headlines, and so it seems the museum’s message screams at us. This despite the fact that humans are statistically far more likely to die from crossing the road, than from an attack by a shark. After passing exhibits relating to the natural history of sharks at the half way mark, visitors leaving the museum pass a glass display box filled with all kinds of products one can make from shark; shark fin soup in a can, shark cartillage pills which are supposedly good for joint pain, and hand-crafted handbags made from shark leather. But not a word about conservation and the critical situation facing global shark stocks due to over-fishing.

Could a new battle between marine conservationists battling to save the sharks and the Japanese fishing lobby be on the horizon? First there was the annual showdown in the Southern Ocean between the Japanese whaling fleet and the environmental groups Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd to save the whale. Then there was the runaway success of the Oscar-winning documentary ‘The Cove’ which exposed the brutal Japanese trade in captive dolphins. One would think the tide is slowly turning.

Isn’t it time Kesen-numa City, Japan’s dirty little shark secret, was shut down too?

Alex Hofford: Hong Kong China Kesennuma Japan shark fin photographer
[source: http://www.alexhoffordphotography.com/node/2333]

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