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Mutant Frog Travelogue: An Aging Island Embraces Japan's Young Dropouts (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21) |
 | | HATOMA ISLAND, Japan - For the children new to this tiny subtropical island, population 58, it was the magical time of the day - after the school bell had set them free and before sunset would summon them to their foster parents' homes |
 | | Here is the travel log of a girl named Akiko, who's family name curiously seems to be Hatoma, the same as that of this island. |
 | | The first entry is an account of how the tiny community of Hatoma Island is supported by daily (except sunday) trips by the mail boat (Fusakiya-Maru, which Maru being a traditional boat-name suffix) from the larger Iriomote Island to the south. |
| www.eden.rutgers.edu /~royb/2004/06/aging-island-embraces-japans-young (532 words) |