[Shika Town, Ishikawa Prefecture] Residents’ Anger and Anxiety: “At the Mercy of a Giant Hose”

An Unprecedented Drift Object

“There’s always been a lot of driftwood, like old wooden boats and fishing gear, but this is on a whole different level. The area was filled with a strange smell—a mix of sediment and rust—and it was just plain unpleasant. This rocky area is actually a hidden gem for catching bigfin reef squid from spring through summer, but now even fishing has been banned,” said a local resident.

“Have you ever seen trash this huge? And it just suddenly appeared near my house one day! It’s nothing short of eerie. It’s been half a year since it washed ashore, but I’m absolutely furious to hear that a huge amount of taxpayer money is being spent to dispose of it,” said a local man in his 60s.

On December 25 of last year, a “giant black snake”—150 meters long, up to 2 meters in diameter, and weighing an estimated 300 metric tons—washed ashore in Shika Town, Ishikawa Prefecture, a small port town in the Hokuriku region with a population of 17,000, causing quite a stir.It is believed to be a dredging hose manufactured by the Chinese company “ZEBUNG,” used to remove sediment from the seabed or riverbeds.

While local residents expressed confusion, large numbers of onlookers visited day after day to catch a glimpse of the giant hose.A FRIDAY reporter visited the site several times in early June and observed about 40 people there every day, regardless of the day of the week. The area had become something of a tourist attraction, with couples walking on the “giant snake’s” back and families expressing surprise at how “impressive it is—more than I imagined,” creating a chaotic scene.

It is said that trash carried by the Tsushima Warm Current from the East China Sea is swept along by monsoon winds blowing from the mainland and gets caught on the Noto Peninsula, causing various types of debris to wash ashore in Shika Town, located in the central part of the peninsula.

Because the sea gets rough in winter, nothing could be done, so preparations for transport were made. Removal work finally began on June 24—six months after the debris washed ashore.

“The giant hose was cut into pieces less than 12 meters long using a cutting machine, hoisted by a crane ship, and transported via trailer from the fishing port to a recycling facility—a two-hour one-way trip—over multiple round trips,” said the person in charge of the cleanup.

The work was completed in two days, but preliminary estimates put the cost at approximately 50 million yen.

Moreover, this does not mean the problem has been solved. Yoshihiko Yamada, a member of the House of Councillors from the Democratic Party for the People and an oceanographer who inspected the site, states:

“To the best of my knowledge, this hose is the largest piece of drift debris ever washed ashore in Japan. On the Noto Peninsula, including Shika Town, the problem of drift debris from overseas has been worsening in recent years, and we cannot rule out the possibility that difficult-to-remove debris like this hose will wash ashore again.”

Days continue in which residents live in fear following the arrival of the “Second Great Serpent.”

From the July 17 & 24, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*