The scenery of the Seto Inland Sea, with countless islands floating on its calm waters, is described as “many-island beauty” and is recognized worldwide as beautiful.
However, due to the effects of depopulation, the scenery and customs of Okayama Prefecture’s 19 inhabited islands are gradually being lost.
The Okayama Remote Islands Project is an initiative created to help people living in Okayama Prefecture learn about the appeal and challenges of the islands in the Seto Inland Sea.
The project was launched jointly by the urban cleanup volunteer group green bird, a specified nonprofit corporation (Green Bird) and L’Occitane, a cosmetics brand founded in France.
The first Okayama Remote Islands Project event was held on May 20, 2023.
Guided by Creators Lounge, a general incorporated association, which organizes art events based in Kojima, Kurashiki City, we visited Mukuchijima and Matsushima, off the Kojima Peninsula.
On Mukuchijima, we cleaned the beach, and on Matsushima, we visited an art museum created by repurposing a closed school.
This article introduces environmental conservation activities carried out by an urban cleanup volunteer group and a cosmetics brand.
The information presented was current when this article was published in July 2023. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What is the Okayama Remote Islands Project?
In its regular activities, green bird focuses on picking up trash in busy urban areas.
Together with its sponsor, L’Occitane, it held the Okayama Remote Islands Project, visiting islands in Kurashiki City.
As part of the Okayama Remote Islands Project, participants leave the city and collect marine litter on islands in the Seto Inland Sea.
Overview of the Okayama Remote Islands Project
The Okayama Remote Islands Project encourages people living in Okayama Prefecture to visit islands in the Seto Inland Sea and, through firsthand experience, feel the character of the islands in the Seto Inland Sea and become aware of the challenges facing the islands.
The project was organized by green bird, a specified nonprofit corporation, with sponsorship from the cosmetics brand L’Occitane, founded in France.
On May 20, 2023, as the first Okayama Remote Islands Project event, participants visited two islands off Kojima, Kurashiki City: Mukuchijima and Matsushima.
On Mukuchijima, participants cleaned the beach, collecting marine litter washed ashore on the island’s coast.
On Matsushima, they visited Matsushima Branch School Art Museum, housed in the former Shimotsui Nishi Elementary School and Shimotsui Junior High School’s Matsushima branch, which closed in 2000.
As they visited the two islands, participants learned about the realities of life on the islands in the Seto Inland Sea.
Cosmetics brand L’Occitane and nature conservation activities
L’Occitane is a cosmetics brand originating in Provence, in southeastern France.
Through cosmetics made from natural ingredients, it shares the Provençal lifestyle with people around the world.
The brand has stores throughout Japan, including two locations in Okayama Prefecture.
For L’Occitane, which runs a business that benefits from nature’s bounty, the plants and soil that provide the ingredients for its products are essential.
With a desire to protect nature, it planned an event to collect marine litter together with green bird.
Creators Lounge, a general incorporated association
Creators Lounge, a general incorporated association, is a group of artists that organizes art events mainly in Kojima.
Its aim is to create places where people can communicate through artistic activities.
To date, it has held exhibitions, workshops, music events, and more, based in Shimotsui Port, which flourished during the Edo period as a port of call for Kitamaebune trading ships.
For the Okayama Remote Islands Project, it guided participants to Matsushima, the site of the beach cleanup.
It also provided Matsushima Branch School Art Museum, which Creators Lounge had established, as a place for participants to interact.
The name of Creators Lounge, a general incorporated association, was changed on May 10, 2023. It now operates as Matsushima Branch School Art Museum, a general incorporated association.
Urban cleanup volunteer group green bird, a specified nonprofit corporation
green bird, a specified nonprofit corporation, is an urban cleanup volunteer group founded in Tokyo’s Omotesando district in 2002.
Together with its 62 teams across Japan and 10 teams around the world, it continues trash-picking activities that anyone can easily join.
There are no special requirements to participate; anyone can join by simply showing up at the meeting place at the designated time, without bringing anything.
The Okayama Remote Islands Project was coordinated by the green bird Okayama team.
Founded in 2013, the green bird Okayama team has carried out around 500 trash-picking activities around Okayama Station, JR Kurashiki Station and the Bikan Historical Area, and Uno Port.
People of all ages, nationalities, and occupations take part in its regular activities. In addition to providing opportunities to pick up trash, the group creates places where people from diverse backgrounds can interact.
To help people living in Okayama learn about the character and challenges of the islands in the Seto Inland Sea, the team planned the Okayama Remote Islands Project together with L’Occitane and Creators Lounge.
Beach cleanup on Mukuchijima
What kind of environmental conservation activities are carried out by urban cleanup volunteer group green bird and cosmetics brand L’Occitane?
Here’s a look at the Okayama Remote Islands Project event held on May 20, 2023.
Chartering a boat to Mukuchijima
The meeting point was Kojima Sightseeing Port, about a five-minute walk from Kojima Station.
The destination, Mukuchijima, is about 2 kilometers southwest of the southern tip of the Kojima Peninsula, while Matsushima is about 600 meters away.
Since neither island has a regular ferry service, the group chartered a boat to visit Mukuchijima and Matsushima.
▼ The passenger boat is spacious enough for all 20 participants to relax.
You can climb onto the roof of the boat.
A refreshing breeze blew over the boat as it glided across the water.
▼ The Seto-Ohashi Bridge, usually seen only from land, looks even more impressive when viewed from below at sea level.
As we enjoyed the view from the water in the refreshing breeze, we reached our first destination, Mukuchijima, in about 15 minutes.
▼ We landed on Mukuchijima, walking across an unsteady plank laid from the bow of the boat.
We made our way forward, feeling nervous about an experience unlike anything in our everyday lives.
After landing on Mukuchijima, we walked for about five minutes to our destination, the beach.
Why did you take part in the Okayama Remote Islands Project?
The first Okayama Remote Islands Project brought together high school and university students, as well as working adults in their 20s to 50s.
Some regularly took part in activities with the green bird Okayama team, while others were volunteering for the first time.
So, the first event after arriving on Mutsukuchi Island was introductions among the participants.
▼ On the terrace of Elephant Rock Inn, a guesthouse standing on a beach where gentle waves lap the shore, everyone shared what had prompted them to join.
When asked why they had joined, some gave enthusiastic answers such as “I was interested in the marine litter problem,” while others candidly said, “It sounded fun to pick up trash and visit an island.”
Among the participants was someone from Vietnam.
▼ Traveling all the way to an island in the Seto Inland Sea to pick up trash must have been a valuable experience.
The beach cleanup begins
After the introductions, they got straight to picking up trash.
▼ Equipped with the supplies needed for the beach cleanup, such as garbage bags and work gloves, everyone headed out to the beach.
They began the beach cleanup on the sandy shore of the swimming beach on the western side of Mutsukuchi Island.
As they walked, carefully scanning the sand, they noticed white clumps mixed in with it.
▼ They were Styrofoam, a petroleum-based material that does not biodegrade.
They found lots of palm-sized pieces of Styrofoam not only on the beach but also in the bushes.
If they broke down into even smaller pieces, they would be difficult to see.
It is frightening to think that they are drifting through the ocean as microplastics.
Countless empty bottles and cans were also scattered across the beach and among the bushes.
▼ They moved to the area around the port on the northern side of Mutsukuchi Island to collect marine litter.
▼ Pushing through the bushes, they found a large number of plastic bottles.
Plastic bottles, too, are artificial, petroleum-based materials that do not biodegrade.
Despite Mutsukuchi Island having neither shops nor vending machines, they found a large number of plastic bottles.
They must have been carried here from where we live by the wind and waves.
▼ They also found large pieces of trash, such as a helmet.
Plastic is a useful material that supports our daily lives.
However, when disposed of improperly, its resistance to decomposition makes it a troublesome pollutant that harms the environment of the sea and islands.
▼ The trash collected during this beach cleanup.
▼ They also collected a large number of empty cans.
Some of the cans had labels that appeared to have been made decades ago.
When improperly discarded items drift through the ocean as marine litter, they do not decay even over the course of decades.
The labels, familiar from decades ago, stirred a sense of nostalgia, while also bringing home the deep-rooted nature of the marine litter problem.
Elephant Rock, the symbol of Mutsukuchi Island
Mutsukuchi Island is home to a nationally designated Natural Monument known as Elephant Rock.
▼ The rock visible in the background of the photo is Elephant Rock.
The name comes from the way a giant granite boulder, eroded by the waves, came to resemble an elephant facing away.
Mutsukuchi Island is part of Kurashiki City, but even Kurashiki City residents rarely get to see this sight.
The view from the island, floating on gentle waves, is actually a rare sight even for the people of Kurashiki.
I think the participants will remember not only the reality of marine litter but also the beautiful scenery of the Seto Inland Sea.
▼ A commemorative photo with Elephant Rock, the symbol of Mutsukuchi Island, in the background.
Enjoying seafood while gazing out at the calm sea
Lunch was prepared by the guesthouse Elephant Rock Inn.
▼ They enjoyed seafood on the terrace, with a view of the calm sea.
▼ They savored fresh seafood from the Seto Inland Sea.
Visit Matsushima Branch School Art Museum, a museum in a former school
In the afternoon, we moved to Matsushima Branch School Art Museum, a facility in Matsushima that makes use of a closed school.
We boarded the boat again and set off from Mutsukojima for Matsushima.
Matsushima Branch School Art Museum
Matsushima is an island located about 600 meters off the southern tip of the Kojima Peninsula.
It is the smallest inhabited island in Okayama Prefecture, with a circumference of about 1.2 kilometers.
▼ Matsushima Branch School Art Museum stands right in front of the port.
Before visiting Matsushima Branch School Art Museum, we explored Matsushima.
▼ Of course, we made our way around the island while collecting trash.
Sharing a commitment to conservation
The Okayama Remote Islands Project was made possible through the efforts of three organizations.
At Matsushima Branch School Art Museum, they introduced the work of each organization and shared the background behind holding the Okayama Remote Islands Project.
L’OCCITANE
L’OCCITANE, the cosmetics brand that supported the Okayama Remote Islands Project, shared how the project came about.
L’OCCITANE undertakes six social contribution initiatives focused on people, nature, and the future of the planet.
In June 2022, its Sustainable Month, it conducted an online survey asking people to choose the initiative they most supported from among the six.
Of the approximately 20,000 total responses, the largest number, 5,850, voted for green bird’s activities.
The Okayama Remote Islands Project was planned to share the work of L’OCCITANE and green bird with the people who supported it.
Creators Lounge, General Incorporated Association
Creators Lounge introduced Matsushima’s history.
There is evidence that people lived on the islands around Matsushima as far back as 15,000 years ago, and stone tools are still sometimes found in the fields.
In the mid-Heian period, Fujiwarano Sumitomo, known for rebelling against the imperial court of the time, barricaded himself here.
For this reason, Sumitomo Shrine, dedicated to Fujiwarano Sumitomo, stands on Matsushima.
In addition to Matsushima’s history, they also shared how Matsushima Branch School Art Museum is being used.
The second floor of Matsushima Branch School Art Museum is an atelier, where artists regularly visit to work on their creations.
The public can also enjoy Matsushima, and the area that was once the schoolyard is now used as a campground.
The sea stretches as far as the eye can see in front of the school building, and one of the attractions of Matsushima Branch School Art Museum is the chance to camp while taking in the Seto Inland Sea’s iconic view of its many islands.
green bird, a nonprofit organization for neighborhood cleanup volunteering
green bird introduced its history since its founding in 2002.
In 2002, people from the Omotesando shopping district came together and, with the idea of reducing the number of people who litter, began organizing litter pickups that anyone could easily join.
They also introduced litter-picking activities around Shibuya Scramble Crossing after Halloween celebrations, as well as a program to collect tapioca milk tea containers.
Through collaborations with celebrities and companies, they continue their work around the world to increase the number of people who do not litter.
Reluctant to leave the island
The extraordinary time spent on the calm sea passed in the blink of an eye, and before we knew it, the day’s itinerary had come to an end.
Reluctant to leave after such an enjoyable time, we headed back to Kojima Sightseeing Port.
The Okayama Remote Islands Project not only collected marine litter, but also gave us a chance to fully experience the character of the islands in the Seto Inland Sea.
We became aware of the reality of marine litter, and the beautiful scenery of the Seto Inland Sea also stayed with us.
What we felt while picking up trash in the Seto Inland Sea
From the island’s beach, we could see the beautiful scenery created by the calm waves and the islands, but trash carried in by the wind stood out at our feet.
As the labels on the trash show, most of it had washed in from the places where we live.
We were made to realize that when trash is disposed of improperly, we end up polluting beautiful scenery without meaning to.
It is sad to realize that the beautiful scenery of the Seto Inland Sea and our everyday lives are connected through trash.
The issue of marine litter is now covered in school education, but some people may not feel that it is a problem close to home.
However, when you actually go out to sea and pick up trash, you cannot help but realize that it is connected to our lives.
Experiencing the beauty of the Seto Inland Sea and becoming concerned about the marine litter problem may inspire you to take action to protect the environment.
The Okayama Remote Islands Project gave us an opportunity to face the problem of trash.
Okayama Remote Islands Project Information
| Name | Okayama Remote Islands Project |
|---|---|
| Date | The first event was held on May 20, 2023. Held irregularly. |
| Location | 2670 Shimotsui, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Participation fee (tax included) | 1,000 yen |
| Website | greenbird |
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