I started my career as a fisherman rather late at the age of 27. Well, it's a family business, so you know. Starting from my great grandfather, the business was passed to my grandfather, my father, and now me. I can't let the business end with me. But ever since I was a child, the sea was always nearby, so perhaps somewhere inside I'd always wanted to be a fisherman. My father was a trawl fisher and so I often worked the trawls with him. However, during the winter, the water gets cold and there are less fish to be caught. So we first started with a small wakame farm to help ends meet.
Raising wakame is quite hard work, you know. The wakame in this area becomes quite large. Somewhere along the way, the number of fishermen producing wakame decreased, and the amount of wakame produced overall fell as well.
My family started farming wakame 50 years ago. It's got good flavor and it's amazingly tender. I thought we couldn't bear to lose such delicious wakame during my generation, so I combined my knowledge with other local fishermen and restaurant owners. The demand grew little by little, and now during the winter season we're focused entirely on wakame. I want more and more people to try the delicious wakame we produce here in the bountiful ocean surrounding Sarushima.

The ocean around Yokosuka is truly wonderful.
The typical image of the Tokyo Bay is that it's a bit dirty and doesn't look so beautiful from the outside, but there is an abundance of fish. Because of global warming, ocean temperatures are rising annually, but the Tokyo Bay remains cool and packed with nutrients.
That's why although wakame won't grow in Sagami bay, it still grows in Tokyo Bay. I really think it's a bountiful ocean.
When people hear "Yokosuka" they think of the Japan Self Defense Force and curry, but fish and vegetables from the Miura Peninsula are fantastic. I really want more people to become aware of that.
Along the way, I also want to get more people excited about wakame production. I make my wakame with confidence so that I can tell everyone it's the best there is. I'd also like to raise wakame with kids while teaching them about the process, and see more kids raising their own wakame from seeds which they can feel proud of. That'd be really nice.