I was also very fortunate to be invited to help carry the ceremonial shrine...
This division goes back hundreds of years to the island's origins as a prison island, when different strata of prisoners ended up on the different halves of the island. Some of the animosity and negative rivalries from that time exist even today and are basically geographic in origin, based on which side of the island a person was born. As a non-Japanese outsider (read: foreigner with an ear-to-ear grin) I have special access to people on both sides of the island that a native islander or Japanese outsider from the mainland does not. Combined with Michie's work as a nurse serving the entire island, we are both able to concentrate our efforts on the island as a whole, bringing the two halves back together, meeting in the middle and becoming a peacefully unified island.
Another unique problem arose amongst the team of men meant to carry the shrine. Of the fourteen members, only one other guy and I actually live on Ajishima. All the rest live scattered about the mainland, and are friends or relatives of some islanders.
Even if I don't support the fishing practices I would never begrudge the fishermen their livelihood. And in the end that is was this is all about; assuring the future of Ajishima and its ability to provide for the people who make this island their home.