The Struggle over the Arase Dam: Japan's First Dam Removal Begins

Extract

Building no dams at all would be best. This is clear. How can we open discussion concerning the destruction of dams that have outlived their usefulness? Kumamoto Prefecture becomes the first to take up the challenge of dam removal. Summer has come to the Kumagawa River. Local fishermen who ply the waters for ayu sardines as a livelihood continue to decrease, but tourists from Tokyo and the Kansai area coming for the sport of it are on the up.

The river is broad, the water clear, and the 30cm-long “shaku ayu” with their distinctive aroma when cooked are drawing more and more people. The government's unprecedented plan to expropriate the river's fishing rights is currently deadlocked, thanks to the stubborn resistance of the residents protesting the construction of the Kawabegawa River dam upstream which would be the second largest in Kyushu.