The Islands of Kagoshima
Culture, Society, Industry and Nature
Edited byKei KAWAI, Ryuta TERADA and Sueo KUWAHARA

Yakushima Island. Photo: Ryuta TERADA

Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands

国立大学法人

鹿児島大学
KAGOSHIMA UNIVERSITY

Kagoshima University
Research Center for the Pacific Islands

Copyright © 2013 by the Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands (KURCPI)
Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands
1-21-24 Korimoto, Kagoshima City, 890-8580 Japan
Phone +81 99 285 7394
Fax +81 99 285 6197
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means without prior written permission from the publisher. Copyrights of the photos are held bythe photographers.
For bibliographic purposes this book should be cited as follows:
Kei KAWAI, Ryuta TERADA and Sueo KUWAHARA (eds.) 2013. The Islands of Kagoshima:
Culture, Society, Industry and Nature. Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands(KURCPI), Kagoshima City. xii + 158 pages; 25.5 cm.
Published on 15 March, 2013.
ISBN 978-4-9906958-0-4
Technical editing, graphic design and DTP: Ryuta TERADAThe Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands (KURCPI) focuses on thestudies on island-zones in Kagoshima, Oceania and its surroundings. An island-zone, consisting of anarea that encompasses a group of islands, is a space where networks of people, things and information
are formed and interaction among islands take place. An aggregation of island-zones comprises anisland-sphere.
The KURCPI aims to promote interdisciplinary studies on islands and islands zones in Kagoshima, Oceania and its surroundings. The results of the studies are combined to promote comprehensive
understanding of islands and islands zones and to further the welfare of people in Kagoshima, Oceania
and its surroundings. KURCPI website. http://cpi.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/index.html
Printed in Japan

PrefaceE

nvironmental problems such as global warming and species invasion cause global environmental change, which impacts the world’s ecosystems. Phenomena such as economic and social
problems are rapidly disseminated as seen in the globalization of the world’s economies. Portions ofthe globe, which can be quickly and easily influenced by such phenomena, are islands. The islands ofthe Pacific demonstrate that rapid impact where rising sea levels lead to country-wide crises.
An island is a small, simple model because islands are closed systems isolated by water in a limited natural and human environment. Because islands are so simple, a study of islands allows us toproject the consequences of fluctuating and complicated phenomena onto the larger world. An island,
therefore, is a site that can suggest a number of solutions to global problems.
Kagoshima is an island prefecture with the second largest number of islands in Japan. The distance between north and south in Kagoshima is approximately 600 km. The islands in Kagoshima
are primarily located in the sub-tropical zone. Kagoshima Prefecture has 605 islands, which include
28 residential islands. The Nansei Islands, which stretch southwest from Kagoshima to Taiwan, wereseparated from the Eurasian continent due to sea-level rise in the Neogene and then became islands.
We could therefore say that these islands have already been influenced by environmental changes,
such as sea level changes from global warming.
Islands from Okinawa to Kagoshima were called the Island of the Way, and since ancient times,
people and businesses have relocated to these islands. Because the Amami Islands are located in themiddle of the Island of the Way, they have been influenced by Yamato culture from the north andRyukyu culture from the south. These islands have, therefore, experienced another kind of globalization, migrating peoples, which are another important factor impacting the world. Conservationof nature is essential to preserve these beautiful and highly diversified natural environments and toprotect the native animal species, such as the Amami black rabbit, which inhabits the Amami Islands.
These islands are ideal sites for studying the impact of globalization and environmental problems,and generating discussions of possible solutions.
The Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands (KURCPI) published a bookin 2001 entitled “Beyond Satsuma,” about the islands of Kagoshima (http://cpi.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/project/projectindex.html). Ten years have passed since that publication, and the economic and social
system on the Kagoshima Islands has changed. New evidence in a number of research fields has beenreported. The Project Planning Committee at KURCPI plans to publish this new book in English togenerate global awareness about these remarkable islands.
To conclude, we would like to thank Project Planning Committee member Sueo Kuwahara,Koji Aoyama, Satoru Nishimura, Ryuta Terada, Yositaka Sakamaki, Sumie Nakatani, Kei Kawai,
Kagoshima University, Kagoshima local government, the public office on each island and local islanders for their support. This book is the results of a research grant funded by 2011-2012 JSPS
Grant-in-Aid for Exploratory Research (No. 23651256 to KK).
Shinichi NODA
Director
Kagoshima University
Research Center for the Pacific Islandsv

Editors
Kei KAWAIProfessor, Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands
1-21-24 Korimoto, Kagoshima City, 890-8580 Japan
Phone +81 99 285 7392
Fax +81 99 285 6197
E-mail: kkawai@cpi.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Ryuta TERADA
Associate Professor, Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University
4-50-20 Shimoarata, Kagoshima City, 890-0056 Japan
Phone +81 99 286 4131
Fax +81 99 286 4015
E-mail: terada@fish.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Sueo KUWAHARA
Professor, Faculty of Law, Economics and Humanities, Kagoshima University
1-21-30 Korimoto, Kagoshima City, 890-8580 Japan
Phone +81 99 285 8911
Fax +81 99 285 8911
E-mail: kuwahara@leh.kagoshima-u.ac.jp

Kanamizaki, Tokunoshima Is. Photo: Ryuta TERADAvi