A citizens' group concerned over the extinction of marine life in Isahaya Bay, Nagasaki Prefecture, took to the streets May 13 in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district.
The group's members called on the government to open a closed water gate that is blocking the flow of sea water under a reclamation project in the bay. In front of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries building, members of the group, Tokyo Residents from the Sea of Ariake, acted like the clams and seabirds that inhabit Isahaya Bay while chanting, "Open the water gate right now!"
"We've lived in the Sea of Ariake (which adjoins Isahaya Bay) long before mankind appeared on the Earth," said a participant playing the part of a dead crab. "They (government officials) must realize that they are part of nature."