Pacific Odyssey - Leg 5

Most of the day has been sunny and cold.  The rain started about an hour ago, in the middle of a group discussion on deck about our visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.   Everyone had a chance to talk about initial expectations, impressions, what they learned, and thoughts they had on how the experience changed them and how that might look.   We talked about the objectivity of the Japanese people in their explanations and descriptions of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima.  There is no blaming, finger pointing, or antagonism.  We decided that this is how they have decided to move forward and change a natural course of action, which may have involved retaliation.  They made a conscious decision to not repeat what happened to them, to ´turn their cheek,´ and to make a step toward a peaceful change.  It is very admirable and gives us guidance in how to move on with what we´ve learned.  . . . Tony talk . . .  Jose read John 15: 9-13 and Jordan read Matthew 5: 38-48 out of Eugene Peterson´s “The Message:  The New Testament in Contemporary Language.”   Bonice read the quote of the week:  “Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I´ll meet you there.  When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase ´each other´ doesn´t make any sense.”  I think all of us will continue to process our experience over the next while; there is no way it cannot affect you. Kohno, our shipping agent, came to the boat at 0730hrs this morning to clear out with Skipper.  They had a wonderful final visit.  We untied lines at 0830hrs, motoring on a glassy sea towards Miyajima. Miyajima is a small island that is well known and well visited, and has on it the 3rd most photographed spot in Japan, a shrine that is surrounded by water at higher tides. Jordan and Skipper have entertained ideas about filming the Grace in full sail behind the shrine for at least a year.  Weather conditions were perfect and Jordan and Antony were sent with their cameras and the video camera, to the island in the zodiac.   There were many people visiting the many temples and shrines, and as well, there was a traditional wedding going on.  Jose, Karen, Sarah B, and Skipper lead and helped the trainees raise all the sails; even the fisherman sail went up, perhaps for the first time this offshore.  It was fun to have everyone on deck, raising and lowering sail together for a final time; it was energizing.  Antony and Jordan took some great photos and video footage. Yesterday Joel, Chase, Amanda, Sean, Chris Ilya, Kara, and Robyn took the fast boat to Miyajima and visited the shrines and temples and hiked 2 hours up several valleys to a summit that overlooked the area. The weather was gorgeous, possibly the warmest and clearest so far in Japan.  Gillian went to Miyajima the day before and encouraged trainees to go.  The architecture is extremely intricate and traditional.  In one Buddhist temple, hundreds of little Buddha´s lined the stairways and terraces.  Raven visited the
Prefectural Museum of Japan while Ilya, Sean Chase, Chris, Scott and Raven (on another day) visited the Mazda Museum and had a tour of their factory. They said the tour was very interesting; they saw the last part of the assembly line where the car is put together.  Nearly everyone returned to the bathhouse last night for a final clean and soak. Wonderful.  In the grocery store, our family was trying to ask for sushi, a California roll with only cucumber and wasabi.  We pointed to the cucumber pieces in the mixed sushi tray and tried to convey that we wanted an entire tray of just cucumber.  I think she understood after a few minutes, but she kept trying to repeat our wish in English, ensuring she understood.  It was quite amusing and we were all laughing.   After 6 or 7 minutes she told us to return in 10 minutes and she would have one ready, freshly made . . . it was delicious. Osaka is our last place where we experience a different culture, language, currency, lifestyle etc. We will miss these interactions with the local people; they are simple, yet they bring people together.  We have 150nm to travel until Osaka; we will enjoy our final night run together. Until tomorrow, good-bye, Bonice.(EL)