sy Alishan Files: Q1 2011 part 4

January 26th, Marijke’s birthday. We had a meal at ‘our’ Taiwanese restaurant in Meinohama. The owners know us quite well and treated us with the cake.

Marijke with Pam of s/y Tweed

Pam and Jon spent the winter in Odo Yachtharbor, the municipal harbor of Fukuoka. It is only a 10 min bike ride from our harbor, so we saw them often.

Jaap with Jon on one of our walks, roaming the beaches, always looking for washed up styrofoam fenders.

The winter was unusually cold and the mountains south of Fukuoka were covered in snow for a long time. It brought the Tanuki down to lower elevation. We saw some around a farm (right) looking for shiitake (left) perhaps.

Another visiting Yacht: s/y Kauana with Helene and Remi. Matsunaga-san and his mates happened to visit Fukuoka that very same day. They had met Kauana’s in the summer when the boat stopped in Akune during their cruise in Japan (like us). Good reason to party and we all had a merry night out in Nakasu, Fukuoka’s nightlife center.

From right; Kyota sensei, Jaap, Shoji Matsunaga, Remi, Helene, Mena, Uenohara-san and Marijke

Mena is our Odo based yachty who recently did her first off-shore sail to Ishigaki on s/y Searover from South Africa. She had anticipated this trip for many weeks, living on board in the cold winter while the captain was back in S.A. I think she found the sailing hard, getting seasick quite often, but she is now a real salty and has gained some respect in the yacht harbor.

In Japan Fukuoka is famous for yatai, small food stalls that line the street in Nakasu at night.

Here we are eating fish dishes like herring with mentai (spicy fish row) and noodles.

Despite the near-freezing temperatures these “ladies” from Okinawa sing their “dirty” songs on the street to whoever want to hear them. Another street performer, the living statue in gold, also seems oblivious to the cold.