＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
1. Inokashira Park Water Purification Project
(1) Inokashira Park 100th Anniversary Executive Committee
Inokashira Park, a Tokyo Metropolitan park straddling Mitaka City and Musashino City, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017. As part of the commemorative project, the Water and Greenery Subcommittee of the Inokashira Park 100th Anniversary Executive Committee drained the water from Inokashira Pond, sun-drying it, and conducted a draining operation to purify the water, protect native species, and eradicate invasive species.
(2) Draining
Draining was carried out three times between 2014 and 2017. A large pump was used to suck up water and release it into the Kanda River. Large quantities of illegally dumped bulky debris, including bicycles and motorcycles, were unearthed at the bottom of the pond. Numerous invasive species, including bluegill, black bass, and grass carp, were also captured. Initially, 90% of the fish were invasive species.
During the three dredgings, it was confirmed that the number of invasive species caught gradually decreased with each dredging, while the number of native species was increasing.
(3) Aquatic Plants with a Water Lily
Currently, the aquatic plant “Aquatic Plants with a Water Lily” (Tsutsuitomo) is apparently proliferating rapidly. Mass proliferation of this aquatic plant was confirmed in the moat of the Imperial Palace in 2007, so it appears there is no risk of extinction.
Aquatic plants with a water lily (Tsutsuitomo) are submerged entirely. Their green, linear, thin leaves are pointed at the tip. Small, yellow flowers measuring 5-7 mm bloom above the water surface in two tiers, one above the other. While “Baikamo” (Plum Blossom Algae) have white flowers, they have a very similar appearance.
(4) A Pond Reminiscent of Monet’s Water Lilies
After repeated dredging, it seems that seeds dormant in the mud at the bottom have awakened. The water quality has improved and clarity has increased, leading to social media buzz: “It looks like Monet’s water lilies.”
2. Emergency SOS! The Great Pond Draining Mission
“Emergency SOS! The Great Pond Draining Mission” is a TV Tokyo (TV Osaka) program hosted by Atsushi Tamura of “London Boots No. 1 and No. 2” and Naoki Tanaka of “Cocorico.”
The premise is that they respond to an “SOS from local residents” plagued by dangerous creatures. They drain the water from a pond plagued by a massive infestation of invasive species and conduct a “major investigation” to discover what lurks at the bottom.
Draining ponds and castle moats has long been a common practice, with television reports of large carp resembling lords emerging.
Draining ponds not only results in the capture of large numbers of “invasive fish,” but also often results in the creation of large amounts of bulky waste (such as bicycles and home appliances).
3. Advantages and Disadvantages of “Draining”
“Draining” (also known as “kai-hori,” “kae-kashi,” “ike-boshi,” and “mud-flowing”) is a traditional Japanese management method used to maintain agricultural reservoirs.
During the off-season from late autumn to early spring, when rice cultivation ends, the ponds are drained and dried in the sun. The accumulated sludge and sediment are removed and used as fertilizer, and the fish caught are used.
(1) Advantages
Expected benefits include improving water quality, eradicating invasive fish, and protecting native species.
(2) Disadvantages
Due to mismanagement by the organizers and program staff, a mass death of native fish occurred during the TV program “Emergency SOS! Operation to Drain All the Pond Water.”
This incident occurred during a dredging operation in Kasamatsu Town, Gifu Prefecture, in February 2018. Due to a lack of containers for temporarily storing the fish caught on-site, many fish died from oxygen deprivation and other causes.
Furthermore, it seems that the task of “identifying whether the fish were invasive or native” was carried out by amateur “general participants,” which was a poor process.
4. Removing Sludge and Debris from Urban Rivers and Residential Waterways
While pond dredging has become a hot topic on television programs, sludge and bulky debris are also being dumped in more familiar urban rivers and residential waterways.
Removing this sludge and debris is impossible for individuals to do alone. It requires the efforts of local governments and the national government (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism). This requires damming certain sections of the river for a certain period of time, allowing the sludge to dry in the sun, and then removing it using heavy machinery. While this may seem like a mundane task, I hope it will be implemented in a systematic and gradual manner.