Fukushima, Hokkaido

Squid hangs drying at Fukushima fishing port, rows of pale bodies stiffening in the sea wind off the Tsugaru Strait. The town sits at the southwestern tip of the Oshima Peninsula, pressed between the strait and the mountain ridges of the interior — Iwabu-dake rising behind, the sea cutting hard against the coast in front. Fukushima-cho has built its identity on what that geography produces: squid, sardine, hokke, salmon, and the particular industry of people who work cold water.

The town also carries two unexpected threads. One is sumo: the Yokozuna Chiyonoyama and Chiyonofuji Memorial Museum stands here, honoring two grand champions from the same town, and a training ring sits alongside the exhibits — not a relic but a working space. The other thread runs underground. The Fukushima-cho Seikan Tunnel Museum documents the construction of the tunnel linking Hokkaido to Honshu, with the submarine vessel Kuroshio II on display. The groundbreaking ceremony for that project was held here in 1963, and the town's connection to it is physical: Yoshioka fishing port sits directly above one of the tunnel's fixed points.

In September, the Fukushima Daijingu Reisai animates the shrine founded in the sixteenth century. The Yarube Fukushima Ika Matsuri brings the squid catch into full public view. These are not performances staged for outside attention — they are the annual rhythm of a place that processes, celebrates, and continues.