A wall of Hammerheads & 100s of Houndsharks (Mikomoto & Bommie Shark Scramble) - JAPAN

Lying just off the southern coast of the Izu peninsula (3.5 hour drive south west from Tokyo) is the island of Mikomoto and its schooling hammerheads. The hammerheads are there in large number, although you have to be lucky to be in the right place at the right time to see them. The visibility wasn't at its best when I was there, but I managed to get that all important view of a wall of hammers.

A 1.5 hour drive south from Tokyo, through the Chiba Prefecture, takes you to the small town of Ito where you can go diving with hundreds of banded houndsharks.

For years, local fishermen at Ito had problems with banded houndsharks damaging their nets and stealing fish.

An avid diver named Kan Shiota came up with a conservation solution. He began luring the sharks away from the fishing grounds with bait to a site called Ito Bommie, where he could bring divers to see them. This addressed the fishermen's problem while simultaneously creating a new ecotourism opportunity.

It took years to habituate the skittish sharks, but the effort paid off. The site, also known as "Shark City" or "Shark Scramble," now attracts hundreds of houndsharks and red stingrays that are comfortable swimming among large groups of divers.