14.5 kilometers from Tsukumi Port along the northern coast of the Youra Peninsula. When the liner nears the Hoto Island, you can see that there are a lot of three or four-story houses made of concrete lining up from the wharf towards the slope of the mountain.
　Housing for people can only be built on the west coast in this island. The rest of the island is the cliff washed by the rough waves of the Bungo Channel. No wonder these tall buildings gather in one place. Furthermore, this is one of Japan’s leading bases for pelagic tuna fishery.
　Tuna fishing started during the late 1890s. The longline fishing boat of Hoto Island is quite famous in the seas south of the East China Sea. In addition, the fishermen were known to party hard after coming back from a long fishing trip. It was rumored they go out as far as Beppu, or even to Ginza of Tokyo for entertainment.
　The tuna fishing remains unchanged. However, with the limitation on the catch volume and the movements of the world, the number of vessels which exceeded 150 during its peak period is now only down to 15 that are registered with the union. Every day, the location of each ship sent by radio transmission is posted at the harbor, but the information has become sparse.
　The population of the island also became less than half in a few decades, currently under 1,000 people. The environment is quite harsh including many hills, with the aging of the population. The remote islands supporting plans of Oita Prefeture have been changed to “fishery to create, grow, and manage” with the change into the current situation.
　However, the people’s hearts remain unchanged together with the fishing activities. Kunio Yanagita described in his book Kainan Shouki, that “This island is like one big family,” whose heart is still pounding lively. The name of Hoto Island is said to have derived from Hotonogo in the ancient Amabe. Hoto is a word related to production and good fishing. We wish that Hoto Island will continue to prosper.
　There was also a sad event apart from maritime accidents. On July 25, 1945, just before the end of World War II, one of the bombs dropped by a U.S. military-owned Grumman fighter hit an elementary school in class, causing deaths of 126 victims including children and teachers at school. Wars are always tragic.