A CHE COSA CAZZO SERVE LA NATURA?

THANK YOU to (Okinawan?) fishermen for giving us such a beautiful gift to celebrate Marine Day (海の日 Umi no Hi, national holiday, tomorrow), following Wikipedia "a day of gratitude for the blessings of the oceans and for hoping for the prosperity of the maritime nation that is Japan"!

Today, while we four Italians were cleaning a beach in Itoman, picking up large amounts of garbage donated to the sea by assholes, found the corpse of a rare Green (Blue in Japan) Turtle, choked to death by some fisherman's net.

A big punch to the stomach would have hurt less.

Once again, it has been amazing how not a single person - large families with children wasting rivers of potable water 'for fun' at the fountain; a lazy couple sitting at the beach - didn't move a single finger to help us.

In two different moments a young father and a young mother, however, asked where we were from and thanked us. Already a small reward for us.

Happy Marine Day!, at this point whatever it means...

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/green-turtle

L’altro giorno, in auto con amici, riflettevamo sulla negatività dei miei post durante l’ultimo anno su questa fèsspagina. Dicevo: vorrei tanto tornare all’età dell’innocenza, quando tra un orrore (cemento) e l’altro (massacro quotidiano della natura), ogni tanto pubblicavo anche qualche storiella positiva, che trasmetteva l’idea di un’Okinawa bella e invitante. Sarò diventato troppo sensibile? Negativo? Oppure le cose stanno andando davvero a rotoli?

Se fossi un completo marchettaro, potrei dipingere l’arcipelago come un’oasi felice, attirarvi legioni di girolami vacanzieri e, ogni tanto, lucrarci sopra (come sanno ben fare colleghi sparsi per il Nippone). Fin dalla Prima Comunione, però, o almeno fino dalla prima foto di Salgado che ho potuto ammirare, il mio impulso si è sempre proiettato prima verso la verità, poi – eventualmente (bollette da pagare, avvocati da evitare) – verso la marchetta.

Uno dei capisaldi che mi spinse a finire in questo paese fu la formula matematica facilina: giapponesi diversi da cinesi. Più educati, con una lingua addirittura piacevole (quanto fastidiosa quella dei mangiacani) e con film per adulti più sofisticati. Più vegeto da queste parti, più questa formula, però, mi si sta sgretolando fra le mani.

L’altro giorno Marco-quello-buono, laureato in Spiagge & Bagnetti all’Università di Viareggio, ci ha trascinati in una spiaggetta delle sue. ‘Figata assoluta. Mare pulito, niente buzzurri. Solo una gringa ricca che si è costruita un villone a ridosso della spiaggia e che, da quando la gente ha iniziato a scoprirla grazie a Google Satellite Ficcanaso, ha cominciato a irritarsi e a minacciare sparatorie da soldata gèin’.

Il posto, in effetti, era molto bello. Acqua priva di assorbenti femminili usati galleggianti, niente maragli apparenti in giro, solo qualche stragista del mondo sottomarino armato di mute e fiocine, una costante del panorama balneare bokkinawense. Ciliegina sulla torta: un simpatico papero galleggiante non di plastica, quasi addomesticato, tutto solo nella baia a caccia di cibo.

‘Galleggia qui da gennaio’, ci ha detto Marco-quello-buono.

Gli abbiamo dato un po’ di croccantini da gatto, non avendo pane e nutella negli zainetti.

Poi è arrivata una famiglia di cini horribilis, ululanti, prole illimitata. Il cinno più repellente – grasso e pieno di energia spaccacazzi – ha subito caricato il papero, come gli ammazza-tori fanno nelle arene della sfiga. Il mio urlo da Polifemo è giunto dalle onde fra le quali facevo il bagnetto con un occhio ben aperto sul povero papero da difendere.

Il mostro in miniatura si è spaventato, l’essere che lo ha messo al mondo ha trascinato tutto in circo Zhou Enlai all’estremità più lontana della spiaggia, a distanza di sicurezza dai gaijini pericolosi.

Poi è toccato ai fiocinatori. Cinque tardo-adolescemi (vent'anni spesi malino a cranio) rientrati dalla battuta di caccia. Risaliti sul bagnasciuga, come hanno visto il papero che razzolava indisturbato si sono diretti ad accalappiarlo con l’elastico del fucile, un po’ come faceva John Wayne con i cavalli più imbizzarriti per marchiarli a fuoco.

Sono corso fuori dall’acqua e ho allontanato con una spinta il più leader del gruppo di cretini, quello con l’elastico pronto per impiccare.

Si è allontanato in silenzio senza reagire.

Dopo cinque minuti – l’idiozia è notoriamente recidiva -, il più grasso del mazzo ha caricato di nuovo il povero papero. E lì ho sbroccato.

‘No, idioti (baka, oroka), non lo toccate!’

Ho iniziato a guardarli direttamente in faccia, uno per uno, pronto ad appioppargli un maegeri kekomi sul pomo d’Adamo, come ai bei tempi di quando praticavo le arti marziane.

Ciccio-idiota si è scusato con una tripletta di sumimasen, gli altri hanno abbassato lo sguardo ma sono rimasti lì attorno.

Ho pregato gli dèi del Giappone affinché qualcuno provasse a sfiorarmi. Satoko da mesi è mentalmente preparata a portarmi le arance in gabbia, io sto facendo il conto alla rovescia (in questa terra di quotidiano massacro di Sora Natura è solo questione di tempo prima che io metta le mani addosso a qualche minus habens). Purtroppo nessuno lo ha fatto.

‘Rispettate gli animali, dio giapponese!’, ho cercato di spiegare ai decerebrati il perché delle mie scintille (gaijino pazzo, ovvio). Qui nessuno rispetta gli animali, esseri che disturbano il panorama circostante.

Il piccolo leader ha provato a spiegarmi, in proto-inglese, il perché della sua idiozia conclamata:

‘Il papero non ha proprietario’.

‘E allora?’

‘Allora voglio mangiarlo.”

Il mio sguardo inceneritore ha concluso il dialogo, seguito da un Ginooo chiama la poliziaaaaa. Gino, che è su questo pianeta ma spesso frequenta pure gli altri, in quel momento epico si stava cambiando le mutandine (Gino gira sempre con il cambio di mutande e di canottiere della salute, anche a Ferragosto), nascosto dietro uno scoglio a distanza di timpani.

In ogni caso i cinque ritardati, appena hanno sentito la parola polizia, hanno pronunciato un chiaro kaerimasu, annamosene. E così hanno fatto.

Ho preso platealmente loro la targa. Avevano l’adesivo dei principianti, dunque freschi di patente. Dall’aspetto idioti importati dalla mainland, ma avrebbero anche potuto essere indigeni (gli indigeni oggigiorno non sono più quelli di una volta).

Chissà se ieri, il giorno dopo questo approfondimento umano, i cinque imbecilli sono tornati a grigliare il papero in spiaggia. Bisogna che chieda a Marco-quello-buono di fare un passaggio investigativo in quella spiaggia per controllare se vi pulsa ancora qualcosa di vivo. E bisogna che qualche esperto in antropologia mi spieghi le vere, abissali differenze tra una formica mangiatutto cinese e una giapponese.

June 16th

Mini-full-Italian-gaijin beach clean up today at Top Secret Beach! Few but good girolami, today we collected a scary amount of nastiness donated to the poor sea by imbecile fishermen and thirsty assholes of half world. I found plastic bottles from Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia and even Greece! Buoys and fishing nets a go-go.

Then, as we like symbolic but meaningful micro-actions, we returned a bag full of shells - picked up by tourists or sold as souvenirs by shops to retarded tourists - to the almost dead seabed (a year ago in the same place there where sea urchins, corals and shells, many fishes and other strange marine creatures; today: just few fishes). It has been an almost... religious moment.

At the same time we saw some fishermen killing poor fishes but no daring to bring a single piece of plastic waste away from the beach. In these moments I think that the apocalyptic scene depicted by the annoying movie "Idiocracy" is, day after day, nearer and nearer.

Today it has been just a 'pre-opening' of the serious clean up that we planned for the 7th of July at the same place. Still a mountain of garbage waits for us.

July 7th

Wonderful job today for a multi-national (Italy, Japan, U.S.A., Malaysia, Colombia) team at Top Secret Beach! Even under the rain, we collected a disgusting amount of nastiness - mostly plastic - brought by the sea currents (and dropped by the sea assholes, fishermen ichiban). We enjoyed the situation so much that next Sunday we'll repeat it near Itoman: everybody is welcome to join us.

Special thanks to our photographers, plastic bags providers and drivers - a particular thank you to my personal driver who, in spite of his advanced age - 84 years old -, drove us to the location. Ah, almost forgetting: also a special thank you to the old fisherman that refused to help us bringing away any piece of trash. Porco City the only possible future for this poor island?

https://www.parcocity.jp/

SE QUI NON CI FOSSERO GLI ITALIANI (QUELLI BUONI)...

SUPER-lecture on dying Okinawan reef, yesterday at the Ryudai (Nishihara University) library, by the Italian marine biologist and researcher Giovanni Diego Masucci. An enlightening moment on the miserable conditions of the archipelago environment due to greedy and ignorance: cement a go-go, over-fishing, constant deforestation et too much cetera.

During a wonderful one-hour commented slideshow, Mr. Masucci showed the scary and saddening results of his years-long research on the marine and coastal situation of the main island of Okinawa.

Coral bleaching, dying almost everywhere at an impressive rate; blind over-fishing; careless over-usage of plastic; estate speculations and dirty business to cover the whole archipelago with resorts, malls, roads, airports; the economical benefit$ that a healthy natural environment could bring to Okinawa and to Japan, if only people weren’t so cement+plastic addicted; the constant, systematic destruction of the coastline; the urgent need to correct our lifestyle in order to try to slow down the heating of the planet due to the climate change; the disrespect for local communities in the smaller islands, weak and left alone by local and national governments in the struggle against the greedy building companies, often supported by questionable politicians; the few eco-friendly companies trying to give a (better) future to Japan; suggestions for a lesser human impact on the already worn out natural environment.

The beautiful lecture has been followed by a very international public, each one giving his/her contribution in terms of questions, comments and suggestions. Two very interesting points – in the end just one: education – came out from the voices of two ladies: a young ‘uchinanchu’ (native Okinawan) and a Singaporean mother who has been living in Okinawa for over fifteen years: the gap between local people – mostly interested in a comfortable, ‘easy’ lifestyle (malls, SUVs, concrete homes, Crocs and cheap food) and the sensitive gaijin-crowd -; the environmental education that should be given to local people starting from elementary schools, at the moment missing in action…

Some other interesting point: the need to visualize in money value all the actual problems, as too many simple minded people only understand that; the need to point out the dirty politics, where/whenever it’s linked to project$ aiming to destroy the last nature left; the importance of trees for our health (what future generations will breath, concrete dust?; eat: micro-plastics?); the importance of starting, at least for a small percentage, a serious debate about these issues, at the moment very far from everyday’s life of Okinawans. Before it’s too late, if possible.

This Thursday (1 p.m.), another golden Italian researcher, Piera Biondi, will give a very interesting public lecture about her study on coral transplant, one of the few ‘medicines’ available to fight against the constant destruction of reefs. Same place: the library of Nishihara University. Don’t miss it!

JULY 5th

ONE MORE very interesting lecture, yesterday at Nishihara University. Italian marine biologist and researcher Piera Biondi, from Verona, gave us the results of her years-long research on Okinawan corals. The archipelago’s prefecture, since 2012, started a project to grow corals, conscious of the constant devastation of the reef. With the collaboration of some local fishermen, three locations along the western coast of Okinawa’s main island have been chosen to ‘farm’ new corals: Cape Manza and, more south, Maeganeku 1 & 2. The popular Cape Manza, famous between tourists and divers, is the one in better shape. Naturally protected, corals over there have a longer life expectancy. Less at the Maeganeku locations, as facing the open ocean and its strong currents.

The prefecture has another project that, sooner or later, should start: a new ‘farm’ in Kume-jima, this time tourists+children-oriented. If successful, it could educate the new generations about the endangered sea issues.

The actual ‘farms’ - where ‘baby’ corals are grown and, in a second moment, transplanted -, however, don’t work as they could be. ‘Baby’ corals are grown (try to grow) in too shallow waters, often surrounded by tourist-divers. Consequently, many wanna-be-coral die. The cost of this project, paid with our taxes, is incredibly high: if in the rest of the world a ‘baby’ coral transplant costs on average 2$, in Okinawa - for some mysterious reason - the same operation costs 3000 yen per coral! 

After Piera’s lecture, the public participated with interesting comments and questions. The most challenging one (by a German entomologist): why Okinawa prefecture, instead of following stubbornly its own system - which doesn’t seem to work as it could -, doesn’t simply follows the systems of other countries that already succeed in transplanting corals? As usual in this country, the reason is always one: pride for Japan’s own navel (choices, strategies, systems).

Let’s hope that in the future more and more projects and studies like this will grow, in the daily struggle against cement and reef’s death. Okinawa has an extreme and urgent need to wake up its population about environmental issues, otherwise the near future will be based on a 100% concrete archipelago on a background of faraway natural memories…

On the 22nd of September (h 18:00-20:30) the amazing researches of Giovanni Diego Masucci and Piera Biondi will be hosted during a one-day-only event at Sakurazaka Theater – public debate in English with a Japanese translator -, in the center on Naha.

https://www.facebook.com/events/376267199701289/

GRAZIE Giovanni! GRAZIE Piera!

Okinawa owes you a lot.

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Monday, 23rd September 2019

THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all the gentle souls that yesterday evening came to Sakurazaka Theater to listen to marine biologists Giovanni Diego Masucci and Piera Biondi's super-interesting lecture on Okinawan corals!

The little event passed our expectations. The room has been filled, mostly by Japanese people. Not only some eccentric foreigners care for the future of Okinawa, then!

The slideshows of Giovanni and Piera have been followed intensely by the audience. Somebody made pain noises when Giovanni showed the map of Okinawa with the heartbreaking results about the covering of the island with concrete. Less then 40% of Okinawa's coastline is still natural, a serious problem for a place that promotes itself - through the mainstream touristic propaganda - as a "coral island"...

If building companies will continue destroying nature, in around ten year an unstoppable process will start killing all corals. Corals indispensable non just for beautiful postcards, but also for the life of fishes.

The two lectures, result of two years of serious research throughout Okinawa's main island, a work for the University of the Ryukyus (琉球大学, Ryūkyū Daigaku), have been followed by many questions. People worried for the destruction in Henoko and in non-military sites, people asking themselves what to do to change this sad situation, people that simply love nature and dream a more eco-friendly place where to live: all of them asked Giovanni and Piera their opinions. Many interesting points emerged from the debate, not just about corals, but also about our lifestyles: pollution, transport, diet, aggressive business, politics etc.

Here comes my personal collection of THANKS/GRAZIE/ありがとう: of course first of all to my Italian friends Giovanni and Piera for bringing, through their job, some light to Okinawa!; to Seiga Yamada and to the whole staff of Sakurazaka for hosting this unique event; to Yuko Nakazato for the amazing - quick, accurate, professional - service of interpreting, translating from English into Japanese and viceversa; to Riccardo Virgili and Satoko Ishizaki for these photos; and once more to my wife Satoko, for promoting this little event that meant so much for us!

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UPDATE! (February 2021):

My wondercool friends Giovanni & Piera's new adventure, that I support with all my heart. If you belive in a planet not just made of cement, cars and malls, please, share and support them.

We, especially Okinawa, need more Giovanni & Piera!

https://theoceancy.org/