| Subject: he regrets he couldn't sail, but W3445 Robert Mosher
does share a beautiful Japan trip with us -----
Original Message -----
From:
Robert Mosher W3445
To:
Al Schonborn
Sent:
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 7:17 AM
Subject:
Chasing Bunnies
Dear
Al:
Sorry I missed the Wayfarer Midwinters, but I went chasing Bunnies in the Land of the Heated Toilet Seats. Found a great cruising area, the problem is how to get 12 Wayfarers and boats there. ... Robert W3445 |
|
In the
Land of the Heated Toilet Seats
I recently escorted my 93-year-old Mom
to visit my brother in Hiroshima, Japan. It's about the latitude
of Florida where I was missing the Wayfarer racing. Hiroshima is,
however, very mountainous and the temperature fluctuates so that we had
snow one day and cold most of the days. It should have been
warmer. We spent almost a month in Japan.
  We visited Miyajima the world heritage
site and home of the large Torii gate in the water. I did not have connections to go sailing unfortunately. So taking the
ferry to and back from the Island is the closeclosest I got to boating.
 I eventually fixed up my brother's bike
and did a 6-hour ride from busy city to countryside homes and fields,
and back on a two-track with trees down across the road. A few
days later, my nephew and I took a short ride. We visited a
Shinto Shrine way off the tourist route. We had the place to
ourselves and we played Indiana Jones. We checked out every nook
and cranny, being careful not to touch scared items or the very old
smaller shrine housed within. The sacred area had a side door
that was unlocked. We looked over the three portable shrines, and the
sacred objects that attract and give a place for the Kami to
reside. We certainly were blessed as these are things one can not
usually see.
  Two local brothers had a picture painted
of their capture of a tank in 1943, and a print hangs in the Shrine.
  My nephew saw a shack down the hill
which I declared was just shack, but remember, I know nothing. Upon
checking it out, we found it housed all the Buddhist items remove from
the Shrine in 1851. That's when the Meiji Emperor required the
separation of Buddhism and Shinto. We had an absolute blast.
  We finished the day off by going up the
mountain to an forest area and set to work changing the course of a
small steam. After much stone throwing, we saved the entire
valley below by changing the water course from the right to left side
of the stream bed.
Before:
 After:  Mom and I finished up with 3 days in
Urawa, north and part of the Tokyo sprawl. We stayed with my
niece. Erica's apartment is so small: a living area, kitchen/hallway,
and bathroom. We all slept in the living room, with Mom getting
the bed. Erica and I slept on the floorboards Wayfarer
style.
  To be kept in line, I was assigned my
own corner. Near
her apartment is a rare Shinto Shrine in that it is guarded by
Bunnies. (Not that kind, Uncle Al!!)
 a serious moment with the author, Robert Mosher W3445  This is a trip I hope to repeat in the
next couple years. I need to look for small boat sailors I can
meet up with in Hiroshima. The Inland sea is ideal for small boat
cruising, and nobody seems to be doing it.
... |