Makurazaki
When we managed to pull ourselves away from the fairytale forests we sailed to the main island of Kyushu and landed in the town of Makurazaki, Kagoshima. The winds were light, but from the south and we could sail a long way. Wow, Ohisashiburi! After years of motoring nearly every single mile this was nice.
Makurazaki Harbor
It was a bit shocking at first to be in a city again, but the place was fairly quiet and the cycle trips were great. Some people stopped by the boat and we met Yoshie Kominato, a lady photographer who took us on a sunset tour and a drive to Minami Statsuma. And Mitsuyo Ibusuki, a sailing club member who also took us for a ride, this time to Chiran, a samurai town, followed by stop at a noodle restaurant and a hotspring.
Sunset at Bonotsu.
No, not Mt Fuji, we’re not that fast. Kanondake in the south of Kagoshima
Left a Japanese garden at Chiran, Right a tea
plantation. The fans on poles move the air in winter, so the frost won’t get a
chance to settle on the delicate leaves.
Jaap with Mitsuyo in a noodle restaurant
Nomaike
When we moved a few miles north to a more rural location both ladies stopped by and Mi-chan even stayed overnight. It’s good to meet people who can tell us about their customs and traditions, show us places of interest and introduce us to local products. It’s even better that we can talk to them in their language. It was a bit hard at first, but our Japanese is now back to where we set off 4 years ago.
Terraced ricefields on the slopes of Nomadake
Who ever isn’t a farmer works as a fisherman, who also need space to work on nets.
More nets, not used for fishing but to protect the roof from taking off in a typhoon.
Whatever the occupation, everybody is too busy to clean up this mess.
Visiting yachts can stay at
the little pontoon of the Kasasa Ebisu resort, where a little museum shows
fotoos of famous Japanese seafarers and overseas visitors like… Harry Heckel!
Jaap mailed Harry who replied right away and greetings were exchanced. A couple
of yachts were on display, one belonging to Kyoko XXX who solo circumnavigated
in XXX and showed up in person for a weekend sail.
We talked about our passed and discovered we’d both done the same Yamaha Cup Yacht race from New Zealand to Japan in 1989. What a small world.
Kasasa Ebisu
Akune
Planning our trip towards Nagasaki we put down the town of Akune. We didn’t know much about it, but had stopped there once during a drive around Kagoshima 14 years ago and Jaap remembered its hotspring. Scanning the town on google earth he came across some photos of the local shopping street. Many shutters were painted with colorful, interesting and even funny images.
After a pleasant daysail from Kasasa Ebisu we found an unused pontoon to tie onto and went to sleep. The next morning a local yachtsman stopped by and when he asked why we’d come to Akune, we mentioned the painted shutters and he promptly introduced us to the artist who was at that time working on a shutter a mere 100m uproad.
That was the beginning of a very nice friendship with this yachtsman, Mr Matsunaga and his family, Kyota sensei, the painter and his assistant Mr Uenohara, The people at Harmonikan, Emi, the mayor’s sister and many others. Even the mayor himself dropped by for morning coffee.
Mr Matsunaga took us to several scenic places, wonderful lunches and unique hotsprings.
Kyota sensei, Emi, Jaap and Mr Matsunaga warming their feet in Kirishima.
We also had several parties in the evening and were allowed to admire the beautifully decorated residence upstairs from the caffee, full with antique furniture in a warm rural style. It looked like a feature in one of those glossy interior magazines.
Some of Noriko’s treasures
The few times we were not out somewhere with Mr Matsunaga or on our own bikes, people stopped by at the red pontoon to chat all day long, starting at 6:00 am. Just as well we tend to rise early. So we got to know the Shimizus and enjoyed a meal at their house. Yuri, living in Ireland, home on vacation, speaking perfect English. Yuri’s brother and his friends who brought us fish and lots of other goodies. It was overwhelming, too much!
Countryside just south of the city, a mere 15 mins on the bicycle.
A scarecrow contest near Izumi, east of Akune
Akune’s busy fishmarket
In the south, east of the Philippines TDs were forming one after the other, darting north, deepening on the way. One of them developed in a proper typhoon came heading our way, but changed course to the west just before reaching Kyushu. We did get some wind, but no waves and it didn’t do much harm anywhere. However, it happened just after new moon and the springtides became fenominal, flooding the docks and the parking lot.
Dinner with Katsuko and Mitsuo Shimizu
Akune held us in its grip for many days, however on September 10th our friends got up early to see us off, so we had to go.
Farewell!
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