5 ways to experience nature and culture in Ise-Shima

The sea bream (tai) occupies a special place in Japanese culture, appearing in the country’s creation myths and featuring in many folk tales as a symbol of good luck. This adventure-filled tour lets you get up close and personal with hundreds of glittering sea bream—by swimming with them at an eco-friendly fish farm.

You’ll change into a wetsuit and hop onto a fishing boat that’ll take you across a gorgeous bay, past little pearl farming and fishing huts, to a net pen housing the sea bream. Hop in and you’ll find yourself swimming and diving in the midst of the school, getting a feel for the life of a fish while being caressed by the wind and waves.

The people of Toshi Island have always earned their livelihood from the sea, and fishing remains the lifeblood of this small but bustling island just off the coast of the city of Toba. This half-day tour lets you get a feel for life on Toshi, where centuries-old traditions remain integral parts of daily life, and where local fishermen work to preserve the marine environment by promoting sustainable fishing practices.

Weather permitting, you’ll get to attend the island’s vibrant seafood auction and watch buyers throng around the day’s catch. After trying to guess some of the fish prices, it’ll be time to wrap things up at a local diner with a feast of fish served stewed, grilled, deep-fried, as sashimi, and more.

This experience takes place at Mikimoto Pearl Island in Toba, where the world’s first cultivated pearls were produced in the late 1800s. You’ll get a guided tour of a local history museum, learning about how pearl farming began on the island and how the skills of Ise-Shima’s ama women divers were indispensable to the process.

After the history lesson, you’ll board a boat together with a group of ama, who then give an energetic demonstration of their talents in the sea off the island. This “Splash Show” is followed by a tour of the Mikimoto Pearl Museum, where you’ll find out how pearls come into being, learn what makes a high-quality specimen, and understand how these treasures of the ocean make their way from sea to shop display.

As ama divers scour the shallow coastal waters of Ise-Shima for sea urchin, abalone, sazae (turban shells), and other marine delicacies, they’re carrying on a 3,000-year tradition. These women dive without oxygen tanks or other scuba equipment, and respect natural cycles by harvesting only fully grown shellfish and seaweed.

On this tour you’ll get to dive together with a working ama, who will accompany you throughout and give an exclusive lesson in traditional fishing methods. By participating, you’re also helping the ama maintain their traditional lifestyle while contributing to the preservation of the local environment.

Wakame seaweed is a popular ingredient in miso soup and many other traditional Japanese dishes. The thin, green, and satiny species has long been cultivated in the Ise-Shima region, where seedlings are placed in the sea in fall and left to grow firm and flavorful in the cold winter waters. Harvest takes place the following spring, between mid-January and the end of March.

That’s also the time of year when you can participate in this tasty tour, on which you get to learn the ins and outs of wakame cultivation and savour the real thing fresh out of the water. You’ll ride a fishing boat to a seaweed farm, where a local fisherman will show you the ropes of wakame harvesting. Once you’ve mastered cutting the kelp with a small knife and collected enough for a meal, it’ll be time to return to shore and share your harvest with the fishermen.

Munching on the seasonal seafood, you can feel good about your day’s work, too. Proceeds from this tour help sustain Toba’s wakame farms, which in turn protect the planet by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen that nourishes the marine ecosystem.