I love the sea. I love the mountains too, but especially over the past 20 years, I've realized how much I truly love the sea. I believe the root of this lies in my childhood experiences at the tide pools of Manazuru, where my mother took me. There was a very small, goby-like fish with black and white vertical stripes left behind in a tide pool. It had yellow/orange mixed fins and was so beautiful. When I put a small piece of roast chicken my mother had brought into the tide pool, several fish vied to eat it. There were hermit crabs nearby, deftly using their claws to bring food to their mouths. The agile movements of the fish in the tiny world of the clear-water tide pool, and their transparent, bright fins were truly captivating. I would become so absorbed watching the creatures of the tide pools that I would often get a severe sunburn on my shoulders and back.

 

In addition to Manazuru, our family also visited Hiraiso Beach in Chiba. We would drive there, pass by Flower Line, and take short trips of about a day and a night to a place called Hiraiso Grand Hotel (which I heard closed a few years ago), with my parents. It was a wonderful hotel with the sea stretching out before it, but because it was facing the open sea, we couldn't swim. Instead, I enjoyed the outdoor pool with my parents, occasionally joined by singing cicadas. It was a leisurely time.

 

After that, I was busy with work for a while and couldn't visit the sea often, but in my free moments, I traveled alone to Fiji and Hawaii seeking beautiful oceans. More recently, since having my son (perhaps), I've rediscovered that the most beautiful seas are in Japan.

 

My first experience of the Okinawan sea was on Tokashiki Island with my then four-year-old son. The unbelievable beauty of the Kerama Islands. Tokashiki Bay was calm, welcoming us with a gentle, warm embrace. I will never forget my son's astonished reaction when he first put his face in the water. He was clearly shouting underwater. Fish swam freely in this natural aquarium. Even more remarkably, that day we were fortunate enough to see a large, predatory fish, a Giant Trevally (GT), which normally doesn't enter the bay, swimming leisurely. The guide was exclaiming how very rare it was for a GT to come into the bay! My son was profoundly impressed and has been captivated by GTs ever since, now passionately aiming to catch one.

 

Since then, I have visited other places like mainland Okinawa, Ishigaki Island, and Miyako Island, but the one I feel drawn to visit regularly is Iriomote Island. This island, home to one of Japan's two native wildcat species, the Iriomote wildcat, became a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site in July 2021. While I don't expect to easily encounter a wildcat, the island's allure, with its mountains, rivers, and the fact that most of it is covered in jungle, is irresistible. And the beauty of its seas is beyond mere words; it's a place that compels you to experience it firsthand.

 

My father visited Iriomote Island over 40 years ago and brought me back a small plastic bag of star sand as a souvenir. It was the exoskeletons of foraminifera, shaped like stars, abundant on the beach. It's impossible for us today to even imagine how many long years it took to form that shore. It is one of nature's precious creations.

 

Iriomote Island felt like a very distant place when I was a child. I assumed I would never be able to go to such a faraway island, thinking it would be difficult to take extended time off for travel once I started working. Now, although I can't go frequently, I find time to board a boat, meet the marine life I love, and fish with my son.

 

I am always indebted to the guides I meet on the island. Staying at my usual inn, I board their boats with the utmost care not to disturb nature, feeling a sense of 'excuse me for intruding.' Entering the water, I am deeply moved, and then return to my daily life. It's a time to realize that the environmental issues happening in our daily lives, and the currents of the vast time that the Earth evokes, must not be greatly mismatched.

 

In 2014, the underwater scenery of Iriomote Island was a magnificent paradise with beautiful coral, colorful fish, and striped sea snakes swimming. The following year, 2015, a typhoon did not pass through the Yaeyama region, and the elevated water temperatures caused coral bleaching in the same spots. Since then, coral regeneration seems to be progressing little by little due to people's efforts, but perhaps considering the global environment, it may not be right to go there.

 

I have posted photographs of the sea that I love very, very much.

 

 

Akiko Shibauchi
Director of Akasaka Animal Hospital. After graduating from the College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, and working in the Laboratory of Clinical Pathology at the Nippon Veterinary and Zootechnical College, she became director of the hospital in 2016. As the third-generation director, following her father and mother, she promotes companion animal medical care and treatments centered on the "Human-Animal Bond." Her specialties include internal medicine, general surgery, and regenerative medicine. She has also served as a former member of the Veterinary Affairs Council of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and as a part-time lecturer at the Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University. She is also actively involved in social contribution through veterinary medicine, such as supporting the coexistence of the elderly and animals, and animal therapy activities, with the lifelong theme of "creating a society where humans and animals can live happily together."