Clam cram

"Where's Wally...?"

Why would anyone willingly put themselves in such a horribly over-crowded situation?

Natural resource management, Japanese style. Quotas anyone?

Anybody seen my £45,000 Rolex?

Well at least crowds in Japan behave. Been doing it on Sunday in Chiba with the kids it was quite fun and even though it was crowded it did not feel too bad

It isn't a 'natural resource'. The local tourist authorities seed the beaches early every morning with literally tons of (usually imported) shellfish. It's like a canned trophy hunt, but with buckets and spades and kiddies instead of rifles and macho men with small hands.

(There are a few beaches where the shellfish are natural; these are either 'secret' spots that don't attract hordes like in the picture, or the local authorities impose strict quotas.)

I don't eat shellfish anyway, but if I did I think it would be better time management to buy them from a shop rather than pay someone to hide them in wet sand for me to spend hours digging up with thousands of other people.

They seed the shellfish occasionally (once a few years?) not on daily basis as suggested thus the restriction of 2 kg and returning not grown species back to sea.

However I see everyday ojii-sans that climb down fences at low tide. They bring huge buckets and bags and most probably harvest for restaurants tens of kilograms!

Sometimes group activities aren't that fun!

Why would anyone willingly put themselves in such a horribly over-crowded situation?

Yeah true why anyone would choose to live in Tokyo?

That's down right nasty, just trampling the hell out of the beach's  wildlife, this is how resources are destroyed!

If that sole clam isn't caught by the end of the day, it'll be dead through lack of oxygen.

Need more people on this Clam dig!

Why would anyone willingly put themselves in such a horribly over-crowded situation?..

Many people actually enjoy being in a crowd. It's fun. Being alone is never fun.