Evangelia Papoutsaki MA Leeds, PhD Cardiff, MRSNZ

Futoshi Hamada, at his own admission, wants to be remembered as the Rabbit Man. That was his answer to my question that offered him several other options: award winning photographer, Amamian, island ecologist... For Hamada-san, the black Amamian rabbit, unique to these islands, is his passion. He spent 40 days and nights with his camera in a forest that is full of Habu (venomous snakes) to record a black rabbit mama feeding her baby. That is dedication beyond description. And

These amazing group of young people has singlehandedly put the Amami islands in the blogosphere. Kojiro Fukada felt the need to fill in the information gap about the islands online from within the islands. He traveled to all eight islands offering training at the town halls on how to create your own blog. He created a blogging platform for 5000 island bloggers (http://amamin.jp/) where 150 blogs are posted daily. This is an amazing achievement in terms of creating a locally d

Doing research in the Amami islands is such a delight! I have met some lovely people, all happy to share their experiences. Yesterday I was at Radio Uken, a gem of a community radio at the south of Amami Oshima. Run by the delightful Hiroko and an army of 40 local volunteers who are enthusiastically hosting locally produced shows on just about anything that concerns the community. Apparently, the radio is left on in the fields to keep the pigs away! There is a brother and sis

I met this most amazing person yesterday here at Amami Oshima as part of my research. Yuriko Hamade is the editor and producer of Horizon magazine, a unique islands-focused publication with superb visuals and great stories that make you fall in love with this part of Japan that so few people know. She inspired me with her creativity, dedication to island life and eye for the aesthetic! Hopefully, when the islands are designated as Unesco World Natural Heritage registered plac