Sailing Japan round up

garymalmgren

garymalmgren

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 Jan 2017
Messages
432
Visit site
Here is a round up of my 2021 sailing season.
All the best for 2022.
I hope it turns out to be a better year for all.
gary
 
Did you spend all your season enjoying the hodpitality of the japanese or was this just one country in a long voyage. Where was this video taken. Reminds me of The Inland Sea.
 
Hi bilgediver.
I have lived in Japan for the past 35 years so this is my home (port) now.
Hope to do the inland sea in a couple of years when I circumnavigate the main island.

Gary
garyMatsu ukioe 1.jpg
 
I know very little about Japan in terms of cruising, although I hope to change that in the not too distant future. It strikes me as not having a highly developed cruising scene; ironic considering that practically all modern cruising yachts have an engine that is Japanese origin.
 
I remember Yamaha importing yachts into the UK a long time ago, don't recall ever seeing one though. Is Japan producing new yachts now, garym? Do you see many imported boats, or indeed visiting yachtsmen?
 
Elsewhere, Yamaha have sold their small fishing boats with their donks at discount prices.
On the Algarve, it drove out the trad wooden boats. OK, things move on, but I do like to remember the last of the sail only guys who stuck to his trade.
 
HissyFit said:
I know very little about Japan in terms of cruising, although I hope to change that in the not too distant future. It strikes me as not having a highly developed cruising scene; ironic considering that practically all modern cruising yachts have an engine that is Japanese origin.
Click to expand...


Japan is the last undiscovered cruising ground.
Of course the Japanese know about it but it is not on the cruising route for most foreigners.
There are not many Japanese cruiser/sailors, but they have a very tight network. Very often some one will sail south and someone will sail north and they will swap berths for the season.
There are very few marinas. Mainly in Tokyo/Yokohama or Osaka bay.
They are quite happy to jump on and off each others boats for sections of cruises.
The standard bucket list cruise is to circumnavigate Honshu (the largest island) and maybe extend to Vladivostok or even the wilds of Sakhalin.
More common is the Inland Sea (Seto Sea) with the hundreds of islands there.
From Tokyo bay there is a string of dramatic volcanic islands about 50 to 80 miles apart that stretch down south.
Hot springs , mountain hikes and amazing food (so I have been told) These are the Ogasawara Islands.
From the southern tip of the southern (big) island, Kyushu, there is another chain of tropical to sub tropical islands that lead down to Okinawa. Sailors on the west coast sometimes cruise to Korea.
You can check these places on Google maps if you have a mind to.
There is a boat in my harbor that has been to San Fransisco and Hawaii twice. He ended up 5 kilometers from the sea in the middle of a cedar forest in the 2011 big tsunami. ALMOST WITHOUT A SCRATCH!

There is one sailor who has extensively cruised and written a blog (in Japanese and a couple of blogs in English) of most of the stop over points and facilities available. He cruises almost full time and I will post one of his blogs to show you his details.


I am in Sendai with the port of Shiogama on the north east coast and some foreign (American) cruisers use this area as a jumping off point for Alaska.
That route is usually South Pacific, New Zealand , Guam, Philippines. Japan Alaska and down to California.
These are very rare. Two or three boats a year at the most.

Gary
 
Hi Gary,

I'd be interested in those blogs in Japanese. I'm only at level N5 of the JLPT, so something of interest to get my teeth into would be of great help.

Given the many islands, you'd think that the Japanese would be well into sailing. I'd hazard a guess that their reticence stems from the ban on anyone entering or leaving the country, apart from Dutch traders, during the Edo period, after the deaths of Tokugawa Iieyasu and William Adams.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top