Japan

Stretching the Fuel Range to Cross the Pacific 2-9-2011 REDUCE GENSET HOURS AND REDUCE RPM. When Starr made her run from Seattle to San Francisco and on to Honolulu we chose to run the Northern Lights 20 kw gensets only when we needed to make water and or the air conditioning. The total main engine hours for Seattle to Honolulu were 352hrs. Total Genset hours were 75hrs. (We needed A/C for the last few days...

09 March, 2011 /

GETTING READY FOR THE PASSAGE TO HONOLULU, HI January 2011 We are currently tied up in Ashiya, Japan (35 42.3N, 135 19.0E). Starr has been here for over ten months with the result that I’m ready to “set sail into the sunset” (sailor talk). The distance to Honolulu from here is 3768nm. Starr uses 1gallon of diesel per nautical mile so the the total fuel capacity of 3700 gallons seems to be cutting things too...

01 February, 2011 /

Nara: A Trip to Japan’s Ancient Beginnings 21-23 January 2011 Day Two: 22 January 2100 and 602 AD Horyuji, the oldest Temple in Japan and Yamayaki We met an elderly gentleman on the train from Ashiya to Nara; his name was Mitsui Maekawa and he was a 78-year-old retired school principal from Osaka. He was also a volunteer guide at Horyu-ji Temple in Ikaruga, three stops on the train in the direction of Osaka from...

28 January, 2011 /

Nara: A Trip to Japan’s Ancient Beginnings 21-23 January 2011 Day One – 21 January 2011 and (710-784 AD) Almost every morning I read various newspapers online on my computer; these usually include The New York Times, The Japan Times and The Asahi Shimbun. On Friday, 14 January, a short article in The Japan Times caught my eye: “Nara to set hill on fire for good harvest”. It started out “Even though Nara’s 1,300th birthday...

26 January, 2011 /

New Year in Kyoto The Temple Bells of Kyoto and the Rabbit in the Moon 30-31 December 2010 30 December 2010 A VERY large part of my desire to spend a year in Japan was my wish to experience all four of Japan’s very distinct seasons. At the center of my wishes was my desire to hear the temple bells ring in the New Year in Kyoto. This idea arose from reading the last novel...

04 January, 2011 /

Hiroshima Revisited (with Family) Who would have thought that you could have so much fun with family? 14-17 November 2010 Don’s oldest sister Donna, her husband Wayne, Don’s youngest brother Dan, and his wife Cheryl arrived in Ashiya on Friday, 12 November. The next day we took the train into Kobe and visited the Earthquake Memorial Museum. On January 17, 1995 at 5:46 am, the city of Kobe was hit by the Great...

24 November, 2010 /

Our time aboard Starr has been just fantastic. It has been a blending of intimate family time, new experiences, and old stories with a cultural voyage into the hearts and minds of the Japanese people and their rich cultural heritage. Sharry’s passion for Japan and her attention to detail made her the perfect tour guide. Armed with her bus schedule, just the right amount of yen, and six of us in tow, we made a...

22 November, 2010 /

MORE FRIENDS IN JAPAN: A Visit to Kyoto with our “Personal Guides”, Keuke and Teiko Maruyama4-6 November 2010We were introduced to Keisuke and Teiko Maruyama and their two daughters, Natsuki and Azusa, in Hawaii by our friend and Japan sensei Jack Peters. Kei is a professor at Doishisha Women’s College in Kyoto and the Maruyama family was living in Hawaii while Kei did research at the University of Hawaii.     Jack Peters     The Maruyama family on Starr in...

08 November, 2010 /

Part II - SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER 2010 FRIENDS IN JAPAN – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE You have to stay in one place long enough to become friends. We returned to Starr on 1 September, and have had guests from Hawaii (Kat & James Petron) in September, and from San Francisco (Shari Walker and Steve Leonard) in October. For each of these visits we have taken Starr cruising in the Seto Nakai (to Shodoshima, Takamatsu and Onomichi)...

01 November, 2010 /

Saturday, 30 October 2010 – 0800 Yesterday we added more lines in anticipation of Chaba arriving on Friday night and Saturday. Starr weighs 100 tons and the dock we are tied to is a Bellingham Marine float, with cleats bolted through a 3x10” wooden rub rail. These cleats can be torn off of from the rub rail, so it is important to spread the load to as many different points as possible. Our winter lines...

30 October, 2010 /
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