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
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.

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Robert
W3445
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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.
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