"The Sea Has a Mind"
Winter 1996

As a commercial diver, Shibuya has been engaged in a variety of underwater engineering work, including the restoration of Kobe port, damaged by the quake that ravaged in Kobe in January 1995. Immediately after the quake, Shibuya left for Kobe and has been there over 50 times since. We conducted an interview with Shibuya on January 13, 1996, (just after he had completed a scuba dive near Kobe) to get his impressions and memories of the previous year.

The interview is divided into three parts followed by a text by Shibuya.

• Interview 1 Kobe Immediately following the Quake
• Interview 2 The Restoration of the Sea
• Interview 3 Earthquakes, Seas and People
• text Shibuya's View of the Sea

Interview 1
Kobe Immediately following the Quake

Q: What did you do on your first visit to Kobe after the quake?

A: I spent all of my time simply walking around the city and observing the people.
I was told that it was impossible to get around by car, so I took trains, and then I walked around the coastal areas.
But there were so many dead-ends everywhere.
So I looked into the possibility of approaching the coast from the ocean, and fortunately I got a ride on a rescue boat run by the Sakai Fishermen's Co-op, with whom I'd worked on the project "Research for a Clean Sea."

Q: And what did you see?

A: There were many things just drifting in the water, and on the reclaimed land areas people were burning waste.
Flocks of seagulls and crows were looking for food.
At night I could see the crimson flames of the incinerator facilities; against the darkness they illuminated for me the reality of Kobe.
When the wind was up I could see smoke and dust all over the city.
The city had the aura of a mortally injured person, of someone dying.
I could only think of the mindlessness of wars and their victims...people and the sea, ports and towns: all of them dead or injured.
I certainly wanted to help save people, but I also felt very strongly that I had to do something to help save the sea and port facilities.
I wanted to dive into the sea and ask it,
"Are you all right? How does it hurt?"

Q: And how was the port?

A: The Port of Kobe is an important center for cargo distribution.
It is symbolized by its many, many cargo container cranes.
But now they were all bent or their bases broken.
They were like an image of an endangered species, like huge dying dinosaurs that could no longer move and were stuck in these positions.
The port was the result of a drive for cargo facility construction, a drive that had economic efficiency as its top priority.
Cargo distribution is important, of course, but we also have to think about how to build a system for communicating human feelings.
There weren't many people on the newly developed Port Island.
Stacks of containers were scattered all over the place, turned upside down, and the coastal roads, which had been flat, were twisted with holes and gaps in them.
I couldn't stop my tears as I walked about.
I felt completely helpless, and guilty for my idle way of life.
We have to care much more for each other, I kept telling myself.
We have to care much more for the sea.
We must understand nature and the earth more deeply.

Q: After that first visit, you began going to Kobe for professional reasons too, didn't you?

A: About six months after the earthquake, I began to receive assignments concerned with the reconstruction of Kobe.
My group is now involved in more than a dozen marine facility projects in and around Kobe.
Coincidentally perhaps, but the sites where we are working now are in fact those places I visited on my own just after the quake.
It makes me wonder if the sea itself may have a mind.
Perhaps these places recognize people who want to help heal them.

Interview 2
The Restoration of the Sea

Q: What did you find underwater?

A: Rain drainage tunnels and sewerage facilities had been destroyed, and people were concerned that polluted water and other pollutants would flow directly into the sea.
Some 80% of the ferro-concrete port retaining walls had also been destroyed, and sandy debris was coming out of the cracks in the walls.
About two weeks after the earthquake it snowed in Kobe, and the melted snow turned the color of the sea a reddish-black.
In the winter usually, because of the northern winds, the water near the coast is relatively clear.
On the Pacific Ocean side of Japan, polluted water is usually swept away offshore; the phenomenon is called the offshore sweep.
And because the low temperatures inhibit plankton growth, the coastal waters become clear.
But last winter in Kobe, as a direct result of the influx of sewage and pollutants, the coastal seawaters were very dark. Waste and debris must have flowed into the sea along with the melted snow.

Q: Is the situation better now?

A: I cannot tell.
But as repairs to the rainwater drainage system and to the port retaining walls progress, I'm sure that the seawater will get cleaner.

Q: You dove in the sea around Kobe today, almost exactly a year after the earthquake struck. What did you see?

A: I had expected the water to be clearer because it's winter.
In fact, as soon as I entered the water, dredging boats approached and everything became dark!
They were removing the remains of a broken pier to make way for a new one.
There is usually a base or foundation made of rocks which resembles a fortress under piers.
The dredgers were removing these rocks and will lay them anew.

Q: There was much underwater damage, then, from the quake?

A: Oh yes.
And the marine ecosystem must have suffered a lot too, though I am not an expert in that field.
Captains of fishing boats and fishermen say that before the quake they could easily catch swordfish in the middle water layer, but now they catch none.
Instead, they're catching sole and other fish that live on the sea floor.
I suppose they live in the cracks of the foundation stone.
It's also possible that the water turbulence caused by the quake released a lot of fish feed.
This is an important point. Now we may have to take into consideration the possibility of such chance occurrences when constructing structures for port facilities and the fishing industry.

Q: In what areas of Kobe is your group working?

A: Offshore of Nagata, Nishinomiya, and Ashiya, as well as around Port Island and Rokko.
We currently view Kobe from many different vantage points as we can now get around by car, in addition to diving and travelling by boat.
Kobe is a city that lies on a sharp slope, so you can get a complete view of it from either the mountain tops or from the sea.

Q: Compared with on-land reconstruction work, do you see any delay in the work being done on the port and underwater facilities?

A: No, not at all.
Important underwater facilities are being repaired as quickly as possible.
In the distribution sector, for example, container cranes were a top priority.
Some 80% to 90% of the coastal area was affected by the quake. You can't restore everything at once.
In fact, I'm rather worried about repair operations being hurried.
There is a lot of work to be done, yes, but that is no reason to hire unqualified contractors.
That has to be avoided.
While there is a definite shortage of qualified contractors and engineers, it would be dangerous if the media and public opinion applied pressure for a speedy clean-up.

Interview 3
Earthquakes, Seas and People

Q: Has this experience changed you in any way?

A: Certainly.
I have come to care more dearly for people.
That is an internal change.
It is presumptuous for me to say this, especially in the face of those many people who suffered from the quake, but it has given me a chance to take a new look at myself, the way I live and work.
I feel that this search will continue and evolve.

Q: What do you mean by a "new look?"

A: I'm in a rather precarious position.
Sometimes I am asked to participate in land reclamation projects.
In other words, I am at the forefront of artificial land development.
This kind of work is my financial life support.
One thing that the earthquake has taught is that our land reclamation strategies have to be redirected.
We need to find a new approach to reclaiming land.
Kobe is a typical case: they quarried the mountains and filled the waters with the displaced earth.
They increased the amount of available land so as to meet residential demand.
But as a matter of principle, if you want to protect the sea you also have to protect the land.
But they did the exact opposite.
The earthquake resulted in the liquification of Kobe's Port Island.
I felt that the eruption of sand and soil was the expression of the land's fury.
We are not maintaining sand and soil in their naturally endowed, proper places.
It may sound far-fetched, but let's put ourselves in the Earth's shoes.
Can't we imagine how it must feel?

Q: You're saying, then, that rampant land transformation has to cease?

A: Yes. Divers especially have to be conscientious about their work.
It's very easy to cheat when you're working in a place where no one can observe you.
For example, once a job is finished it's easy to just leave your tools and equipment on the sea floor where you've been working.
But each of us have to be responsible for cleaning up after ourselves.

Q: Do marine facilities inevitably have a negative impact on the sea?

A: Well, look at the phenomenon that I mentioned earlier whereby fish that usually live on the sea floor had come up to shallower waters after the quake.
We cannot totally deny the possibility that underwater construction may have a positive impact on the ecosystem.
Dredging may temporarily pollute the water, but that stirring up might also do some good for marine life.
At least I want to believe so.
We need to explore how to construct marine facilities that will benefit human life, marine life and the sea.

Q: And how do you think we can do that?

A: We need to understand nature and the sea much better.
With respect to my colleagues, we will continue to work on construction projects, but from now on, I am urging my fellow divers to show more care for each community, for the sea and the ports and the facilities that we work on.
We have to consider how we are all related as a result of the earthquake.
I sometimes fantasize that some day there will be a network of "sea-bound" people, those of us living with and working in the sea.
We have worked fast this time, but never in history has there been a network of sea-bound people who equaled land-based people in scale and efficiency.
Everything is connected to the sea: mountains and cities and the land...the whole universe.
I want to share what I've seen and learned underwater with all people everywhere.

text

Shibuya's View of the Sea


How We Feel about the Sea

As we work underwater unobserved, it's not easy to communicate to people how we feel about the sea. Our opinions are seldom heard. Furthermore, after a marine facility is constructed, even those who have been engaged in the work, government officials, designers, contractors, the actual builders, and so on, do not as a regular matter of course check the status of the work. This is why the responsibility of those who work underwater is paramount.

People often talk these days about environmental assessments. This has to do with assessing the impact on the natural environment of a construction project. But it's usually been predetermined that the thing will be constructed regardless of any assessment. I've never heard of a project being canceled because of a negative assessment. After all, the assessment is really being made in regard to human life, not nature and the environment. I want to see assessments made in the mutual interest of the human community and the natural environment.

It is equally important to undertake assessments after the completion of a project, in order to examine if it has brought about changes in the undersea environment and if so, how? Up to now this has seldom been done. Follow-up survey costs are never included in project budgets. A continuous follow-up survey would teach us a great deal and would benefit our work on future projects. In brief, integrated assessments that take into account both human and underwater life would benefit us all.

To Whom Do the Seas Belong?

Whenever marine facilities are constructed, for example, when land is reclaimed for the building of an airport, some sort of compensation is usually paid to fishermen for their production loss. A few people may want to protect their rights, but most become complacent after they receive that compensation. If we want to make facilities that benefit everyone, not only administrators but fishermen too have to make stronger efforts.

I have many opportunities to dive in fishing ports. Most of the time all I see is polluted water. Why is this so? People who fish and use these ports need to be more aware of this problem. Ocean pollution starts with the influx of pollutants from the land into bay areas. Then the bay waters expand into the seas and oceans. And though the pollution becomes less dense as the water moves offshore, the total area of polluted water grows.
A fishing port is a kind of bay. Japan has a great number of fishing ports. It is time that we reviewed how they are used. People need to realize that the condition of the sea largely depends on what we do for or against it. If they realized this, they would become more responsible.

Outdoor sports and marine sports are popular these days. They allow people to have more contact with the sea, with water and nature in general. But most of these people are indifferent toward pollution, and worse, they aggravate the situation by contributing to it.
At home we must be more careful with sewage. We need to understand where the water we use every day goes once it leaves our homes. We need a more comprehensive awareness of water and sewage. We need to understand where it comes from and where it goes.

The sea belongs not only to administrators and fishermen: it belongs to everyone. We are all deeply involved in it. We cannot remain indifferent or selfish about it. We must think of what benefits the seas and the oceans. The sea belongs to itself, to the earth, and to the countless life forms that inhabit it. We should be aware of this all-embracing relationship in our everyday lives.

The Connection between the Seas and Rivers

Whenever I am underwater, I make it a point to look up at the surface of the water, at the coast, the sandy beaches, ports and harbors, the river mouths, at factories and towns, vegetable fields and crops, forests and mountains, valleys and waterfalls, the sky, the whole universe. I believe that the connection between seas and rivers is crucial, because the pollution of the sea begins in the river.

I live in the coastal area of Shonan, near Tokyo, and I often dive in the sea near the island of Enoshima. Fifteen years ago, it used to take the coastal water about two or three days to regain its usual transparency following rain. Now it takes longer than a week. This time-lag corresponds to the amount of construction work that has been done to fortify the coastlines and increase coastal facilities. In short, the area has become so much man-made that rainwater now flows directly into the sea without first being filtered through the soil. The serpentine pattern of rivers and the filtering effect of river bank soil, all these natural operations have been erased. We may now be able to prevent floods and enjoy our prettified landscapes, but we have lost in turn our awareness of nature's forces.

The Sea Is Our Last Fortress

All pollution that begins on land flows eventually into the sea. In other words, the sea is the ultimate sewer. In this way it mirrors the health condition of the land. It is essential to understand the sea, especially when it is in an abnormal state.
People used to believe that the seas are so large that they cleanse and purify everything. But as we came to better understand the size and other information about the earth, we also came to understand that the seas are finite receptacles. Water accounts for two-thirds of the planet's surface. What would happen if this immense resource were to lose its purifying powers?
We need to install detectors around the world that will check the health condition of the earth's waters. And if we can connect these detectors and their findings to the Internet, we would be able to check the sea's condition anywhere in the world at any time we wanted. We also need to better enhance our understanding of the sea's finiteness. We have to move faster here, faster than the spread of pollution.

The sea is filled with invisible effects. We each need to be aware of them. For example, the positive effect of a beautiful seascape. Or the negative effect of a polluted ocean. The sound of waves crashing against rocks. The sound of waves reaching a sandy beach. How do these affect us? And what about the ionizing effect of seawater?
I would hope for scientific answers to these questions. We need more light on these and other natural matters.
[Masanobu Shibuya]

Professional divers investigate not only what is underwater. Oceans reflect their local land environment, for example, the rivers and forests that nourish them, as well the influence of excessive land and forest development, including urban life in the form of household and industrial waste. In this sense, the sea is a mirror of the city and its inhabitants, and it serves as a diagnostic yardstick of the health of mountains and forests.

We also give a report on his experience of diving into the Kushiro swamps in Hokkaido.

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[Shibuya Dived in the Icy Swamp]
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