The author of a children's picture book illustrating the period of time Japanese fished around the Takeshima islands in Shimane Prefecture has started a crowdfunding project to publish an English-language edition of the book.
Titled "Mechi no Ita Shima" (The islands where there were sea lions), the book was written by former elementary school teacher Yumiko Sugihara, 76. The Takeshima islands, part of the town of Okinoshima, are the subject of a long-standing dispute with South Korea, despite being part of Japanese territory.
"In order to peacefully resolve this issue, we need to get the word out not just in Japan, but to the world," Sugihara said.
Sugihara is the granddaughter of the operator of a company founded to conduct fishing around Takeshima. She lived in Okinoshima through her high school years, and taught elementary school in the Kanto region. After her retirement, she returned to Okinoshima in 2008.
While Sugihara had known almost nothing about her grandfather's fishing activities in Takeshima, she was aware of such things as the hunting of Japanese sea lions there and the area's abundant marine products.
She hit upon the idea of the book feeling that it was her duty as a granddaughter to "share this with everyone."
The word "mechi" in the title is the Okinoshima name for Japanese sea lions. Sugihara talked with people familiar with those days about such subjects as how sea lions were captured alive for sale to zoos and elsewhere, and the lives of local fishermen.
Sugihara self-published the book in 2013, and thanks to its popularity it was distributed by a publisher a year later.
She began working in earnest on the English version around last autumn. She was assisted in the translation by a person who supported her work about six years ago.
The crowdfunding campaign is being conducted through the leading website, Campfire. Sugihara said her goal is to "show the world what it was like in the days when people lived together with the Takeshima islands, in order to resolve the Takeshima issue peacefully."
She is aiming to raise 2.5 million yen by the end of April.
Sugihara intends to print 800 copies of the English version with the money raised and send them to locations including international schools in Japan and different countries' embassies. As thank-you gifts to donors, she is offering such items as a set of the Japanese and English versions of the book, locally cultivated rice and original Japanese sweets from Okinoshima.
Sugihara said she chose crowdfunding because she thought it was a method familiar to people in their 30s and 40s, who are the least interested in the Takeshima issue. "Unless we motivate the youth, the problem won't truly be solved," she stressed.
On Feb. 22, a society dedicated to telling people about the Takeshima islands, led by Sugihara, held a study meeting at an Okinoshima library. Essays written about Takeshima by local middle school children were read aloud.
This is meant to be the first of a series of lectures. If the English version of the children's book is published, it is to be read aloud along with the Japanese version, and there are also plans to introduce a Korean translation.
"Many of the people related to the issue have passed away," Sugihara said. "We have to take action. We can't give up until it is resolved."
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