DIVE JAPAN DIVE TRAVEL GUIDE
| Killing the "cockroaches" of the sea |
ith some of the richest and most diverse marine habitats in the world, and the Kuroshio current bringing warm water from the tropics, Japan could be one of the world's premier dive destinations.It is not. Scuba diving in Japan is too expensive, too restricted and even for Japanese divers who know the drill, often more trouble than it's worth because of small but powerful fishing cooperatives who harass, intimidate and extort money from divers wherever they go diving. Having overfished most of Japan's edible fish species, Japanese fishers are now targeting dolphins and their human friends. It gets worse. Although Japan's laws give everyone the right to access coastal habitats, the fishing industry has usurped authority over all marine habitats and in effect, lease out a tiny fraction of Japan's coastline to dive operators. The result is that Japan's huge diver population is forced into a few overcrowded "diving parks" in areas that the fishing industry has abandoned after overfishing reduced edible species to unsustainable levels. | Slow death and the Zen of killing dolphins one barbaric cut at a time. |
If you are going to Japan anyway and you want the best available diving experience, there are a handful of independent dive operators that have somehow transcended Japan's dirty diving industry. If you ask, they can get you to spectacular dive sites and you don't have to be pay extra to be confronted by criminal thugs known as "yakuza" and fishing coop drunks who make money killing dolphins on the rare occasions when they're actually sober. Izu Peninsula southwest of Tokyo and several small islands around Okinawa offer the best diving but be sure to book with one of several international diving facilities if you're looking for quality diving adventures. | Click image to enlarge map |
Facts about Japan- Area: 377,835.00 sq km
- Population: 126.7 million
- Capital city: Tokyo
- Languages Japanese
- Literacy 99% total
- Religions observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.7%)
- Life Expectancy 77.62 male, 84.15 female (2001 est.)
- Government Type constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government
- Currency yen
- GDP (per capita) $24,900 (2000 est.)
- Industry among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals; textiles, processed foods
- Agriculture rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit; pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs; fish
- Arable Land 11%
- Natural Resources negligible mineral resources, fish
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO :: SCUBA DIVING IN JAPAN | HOT LINKS SCUBALINX™: Japan Scuba Diving CentersCDNN Japan Dive Travel NewsWARNING Japanese fishing cooperatives throughout Japan often bilk divers with an illegal "ocean entry" tax and harass divers who refuse to pay it. Fishers also illegally harass divers who choose to dive outside overcrowded "scuba diving parks" that have been overfished and then trashed by thousands and thousands of dive course participants. |
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