Developing the project

The project to create a tourism product around Japan’s whaling heritage is not a formal, funded project, and nor has it followed a more traditional route typically followed in academic research, although not only has much research been undertaken into the culture and history of Japanese whaling within broader context of the county’s international relations since the mid-19th century but also it is contributing to a PhD that I, the researcher, am undertaking. My professional background is in cinematography and documentary production and, as a cinematographer/researcher, most people do not believe I am not making a film; indeed, after more than 10 years of stating this as the project has progressed, many people still expect me to drop my disguise and make a film.

The real asset as a researcher in the context of this ‘story’ is that 1 am a media professional with broad experience, insights and knowledge of the industry. It is a fact that the subject and the setting offers a great opportunity for film making, and 1 would be delighted with that as one outcome in the long-term, but the goal is to assemble the heritage first. Only then is it possible for this research to underpin the approach of such a project. As the project has developed, my involvement in documentary and television programs and print media has been as interviewee, advisor and commentator. This process has been useful in building a network to enhance research, sharing information, creating a public profile for the work, reporting developments and contributing to knowledge (as with this chapter) and ultimately reciprocating by communicating findings and ultimately reporting the outcome when research is completed.

In addition to extensive research into the historical and related background of whaling in Japan, a key element of the project has been, and continues to be, the active process of locating, assembling and/or restoring tangible and intangible elements of whaling heritage that are currently missing or dilapidated and seeking ways to demonstrate how this can communicate across cultural divides. The sekobune, discussed above, is a key object of translation with, on the one hand, its role in representing history and ceremony and, on the other, its contemporary charismatic role in attracting us to a sustainable way of thinking and living (Figure 11.6).

The graphic design of each boat is deeply connected to story but also works on a different level as a graphic brand. Highlighting this early in the research prompted an initiative by the Taiji History Archive curatorial team to research and record 40 of these designs in the ‘Whale Boats: Styles and Designs’ exhibition in December 2011. Net whaling embodies the notion of net work, and this can be creatively appropriated to consider the ambiguity of net work and network, not just in its traditional context but in contemporary ways to stimulate imagination, communication and translation. I have produced five photographic exhibitions, including the ‘Tradition Taiji’

Figure 11.6 Single sekobune, profile.

Photo: S. Wearne.

Figure 11.7 Six panels of Kishu Kumano-ura Hogei-zu (Whaling in the Kumano Sea).

Photo: S. Wearne, with permission from The Wakayama Prefectural Museum.

exhibition (2011) mentioned earlier in this chapter and three major public art projects, which have reconnected a ‘network’ of creative and craft based collaborators.

As a film maker, I am constantly looking for powerful visual story-telling assets and the research site has yielded many useful and engaging objects. One such example is the Byobu; rather like a ‘film’ from the Edo era, the six panels of Kishu Kumano-ura Hogei-zu and several other works from the same era, reveal evocative images consistent with written accounts of the whaling of Edo Japan (Figure 11.7.)

The remnants of a scroll in the Kakimoto Shrine in Kainan, Wakayama is another significant work. Both were digitized as an initiative of this project, and these images combine to create some of the strongest impressions in the resurgent narrative while eliciting an emotional response which is positively charged with respect for Japan’s whaling rather than the derision of the dominant existing media discourse.

Overall, the aim of the project is to increase awareness and understanding amongst domestic and international visitors through an exhibition of both my own acquisitions and also significant existing materials combined for an improved interpretive display, including restored heritage and a living museum. Indeed, adapting my professional practice of cinematography and documentary making, 1 propose to conceptualize interpretive display and present a combined narrative that for the first time brings together significant but previously isolated works from Hawks (1856), Hawley (1958), Nicol (1988) and Nakazawa (2010), as well as from further research of Blainey (1987, 2003), Boyce (2008). Belich (2013), Kalland (1993) and Takemura (2010) and the significant whaling history collections of the Hashimoto family (the original Taiji whaling family) and the significant Klaus Barthelmess collection.