Pre-arrival PaperWork for visiting yachts to Japan.

Noticed that a lot of links left and right to the 

JAPAN COAST GUARD

Pre Arrival PaperWork  have been broken.

This one still works:

http://www.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/ope/apply/hoan00-e.html

contact me if you need a fax/ mailing address.

Sailing to Japan

For you out there that are following this blog AND are thinking about sailing to Japan...:Hot and better news regarding the 

CRUISING PERMITS foreign vessels need.
 

Zoeff over 

http://boatingjapan.blogspot.com/

On an other note...

Mena is back in Town!
Well known to many overseas cruisers from the past.

Over the years, Mena has been helping out manymany  yachts that made a stop here in Fukuoka.

The last year she herself became a yachty...

all the way in Sunny and Hot Palau.

(we don't think she'll stay here for the winter....too cold to her liking)

Anyway, just to warm you up: The Why.....

Salute

Weather Links and Internet/phone info.

Here in Japan for weather info we use the following links: JMA, weather map. JMA, local wind situation. (from here it's easy to go to an other area). JMA, local weather warning ( same). JMA, local rain radar (same). WindFinder.com, local forecast, for up to 5 days. (also easy to move to an other area). Yes, you'll need internet on board. In this part of Japan: SailMail and Winlink connections are very poor! Once we got our internet going…we had coverage almost anywhere between Ishigaki and Fukuoka. BUT at this writing there is a catch: It's not easy to get that mobile phone/internet account. Officially, only those with a "fixed" home address can get a contract. So for short term visiting cruising yachts… You'll have to make deal with a helpful Nippon resident. The best mobile internet set-up is from DoCoMo. Mind you, here in Fukuoka and so in other BIG cities, (Ishigaki is a small town) you can get Prepaid Internet with-out that "fixed" home address thing. This internet connection is called B-Mobile. Pre-paid mobile phones are, same story, also only available in Big Cities. See SoftBank for this. Hope this might be of help. Salute

Position: 819-0013

Alishan arrived at Fukuoka. We are now at position: 819-0013 Ehhh, Yes, that's the Zip Code. Ehhh, No, we don't know how long we will be here , but for now the only Movement Alishan will make is Going Up and Going Down with the Tides. Wow, so great to see all our friends again. And all those familiar places. Remember, the first time we sailed into Fukuoka was 21 years ago, so this is indeed our place. And you should see Nori and Wakame, they went through the fly-screens to re-explore their play grounds where they grew up.   2 more bicycles were bought, so Melissa and Edwin have wheels. The calendar is fully booked with welcome-parties, sightseeing, hikes, visits to sento's and other things people do in Big Cities.(eating good food of course....).   Hmmm, when can i do the laundry....?   Salute

YOBUKO

Alishan found a nice possy along the wall in Yobuko, position: 33° 32' 589 N 129° 53' 499 E This town is know as Ika Capital. And indeed everywhere you look, there is squid; Drying and Flying. ?? Flying ?? Yes, they use a spinning set-up to dry the squid. But of course the best way to eat squid is....RAW = sashimi Now with Melissa and Edwin on board we decided NOT to go for raw squid: Sashimi ika is still tooo much for them ;-( So the menu for last nights dinner was "not fishy". Hmm, No Way. Our neighbor fisherman decided that we had to eat squid... And gave us a load life-ones! Yummy! Happy crew, there was enough for all of us, incl Nori and Wakame. And yes, Edwin loves it too. This is our last stop before Fukuoka...looking forward to see all our friends again. Salute

MADARA

Well, the JCG did spot us in Hirado, with a team of 4 they came to Alishan to..... right....: Haha, I had them fill out the forms for us ;-) Hirado is always nice, okay, a bit touristic, but there is a lot to see ; small streets, old houses, temples, churches, gardens, a castle, a great museum and not the least: A Superb Hot Bath, on top of one of the hotels, (boys 9th, girls 10th floor) The view is overlooking the Hirado Straits. You have to go there yourself and soak in the hot water to believe it. Anyway, we made a move again and are now at MADARA. 33° 33' 932 N 129° 45' 900 E A new place for us, so: Here we go and explore, Salute

HIRADO

Even before 7 am Alishan was making miles towards Hirado. As "ever" there was little wind, mostly on the nose... The seas were flat, so no complains. Now we are at: 33° 22' 278 N 129° 33' 281 E The`harbor has an unused ferry pontoon and visitors can stay here: For Free. The plan is to explore town and give the local hot springs and Sento a proper check;-) Entering the harbor, memories of 21 years ago came back. It was here in this port we experienced our very first serious typhoon.....At that time no fun , but all went well. It is definite PERFECT autumn weather, very unlikely we will meet a typhoon now. So, short for now, we go out exploring..... Salute

Cruising to and in Japan = PaperWork

Even before arriving at your first Japanese port, you'll have to do PaperWork. This is Only for your Port of Entry! This paperwork can only be done by FAX. No! Japan Coast Guard will not answer your initial emails. Once they know you from the FAX, email contact might be possible. Send me a note if you like info regarding these Pre Arrival Procedures. Then the cruising can start! Oops...just a moment: Japan has about 150 Open Ports. These are ports where foreign ships & yachts may go without prior permission. All the other ports you need a "cruising permit" for. That's easy to get: Make a list of ports with possible dates and find the office of Ministry of Transport. Each province has its office and you'll apply for that province. At your first Port of Entry you'll find that office building easy enough...Customs will inform you. Like for us, we got our first permit in Ishigaki: Good till Okinawa. In Okinawa we got the next permit : Good till Nagasaki. In Nagasaki we got the permit till Fukuoka. Fill out the request papers with the ever and always happy officer, who speaks enough English! Okayokay, some of these papers are the same and you already have filled them out at an other office. And yes, he has copies of previous papers in his file...but just do it again. They luff paper. Two days later, the Permit is ready and you can go. Arriving at a closed port, with this permit in the chart table...No worries. Arriving at a closed port without...... big change nobody= Customs and/or Coast Guard will show up. But if they do....very likely they will send you OUT. And correct. ( unless there is typhoon or other problem of course...) Now here at Fukue Port (=closed port), we were checked out by customs and Coast Guard. Ha, see the picture: It took them 48 hours to spot us! Their office is right next to us. Sadly enough, beside the Min of Transportation, there is zero communication between the different offices, even from the same department, so again...you have to fill out many=same papers. ( e.g., how much sugar, how much engine oil etc, where you have been and where you will go). Again, these officers usually will speak some English. And they always come with a smile. That's all. If you have any questions, drop us a note. Salute

Happy to be in Fukue

Alishan made a Move due WEST. We are now at the Port of Fukue on the East side of Fukue Island, one of the islands of the Goto Retto Group. Position: 32° 41' 788 N 128° 51' 018 E This location is alongside the ferry pontoon. All day long many ferries are coming and going, until 7PM: Then we have this place all for ourselves. To park here they charge us a whopping 2 Euro/day, so you won't hear us complain. While at Mie we had a few nice days for varnishing, so happy that is done. Today it is the official start of the autumn and yes: It blows half a gale and it's colder than cool we think. Even though the temperature in the cabin is around 25C.....we shiver. But it's great to go for bicycle rides and runs. Fukue island was a stop for us 4 years ago. At that time we were at Arakawa, on the West side. Salute

Moved to Mie

Alishan made a Move to Mie Town. Just North of Nagasaki. Position: 32° 48' 968 N 129° 46' 474 E This part of the harbor we are at is to be used by fishing vessels (only???) in case of a typhoon. And there is a Biggy Down Under ( SE of Okinawa) at the moment, but it looks like it will head for Taiwan. Dear friends, take care! So No fishing vessels now... We are all by ourselves. Sorry, no webcam here, you'll have to use Google Earth. And what a good place it is to do some varnish work. The great weather is also a good help: Blue skies, little wind and in the mornings...it's even chilly in my pyjamas. We met up with friends from 21 years ago when we first sailed to Nagasaki. Mr and Mrs Sawamura had adopted us that summer and we did all sort of fun things together with their .....12 kids!! It is so good to see them again and bringing back all those memories from those days. Once again we really realize why we like Japan so much, ESP when cruising around by yacht. Salute

Nagasaki

See if you can spot us.

Just click on ALISHAN , the webcam will

show you Nagasaki Port. You can operate the camera.

We are in the small marina

on the far right, parked in line behind a catamaran.

Salute

AA

Some of you might know what AA means to me. Well, in this case it also means: Alishan is in Akune. 32° 01' 281 N 130° 11' 523 E And it is good to be here. Typhoon # 7, with the sweet name of Kompasu was heading this way. Luckily for us "she" choose a course very far to the West and we had zero wind/waves from her. Mind you, the pontoon we are along side AND the solid concrete wall not far behind us should have given us plenty comfort. Let's not say that too loud, as there are more Ls and TDs down under.....Remember September About 15 years ago we did spend a night in this small town, but beside the harbor , the off-lying islands and the superb down-town 330 yen hot spring we don't recognize much about the place. Too bad, Akune has been hit hard by the economic downturn. The fishing fleet is having a hard time and so do the shops and stores. We met Mr Kiyota who is turning this place into a tourist attraction by his amazing wall and shutter paintings. Will post some pictures later. Meanwhile we will hang out here a few more days...... Guess why?? Salute

Just in Time

Alishan left Makurazaki early Friday morning before the wind picked up. Already a nasty swell was running at the entrance of M port, but soon we were able to run down wind and with the waves around the corner to Akasa Ebisu. 31° 24' 924 N 130° 08' 047 E The resort here in the bay has a nice pontoon and we are able to use it. Of course not for free, but hey....it's perfect to sit out this small typhoon. So far we had some nasty wind bullets, ( maybe 30~40 knots) but that's all. At night we soak in the resort's hot spring... So nice. Salute

Makurazaki

Alishan is in the fishy port of Makurazaki. Position:    31° 16' 126 N 130° 17' 607 E Fishy? Well, fish smoking !! it is. Due to the season there is not much Katsuo= bonito  fishing activity, but the cool houses are loaded.  Half the town consist of fish smoking factories, so that bizz goes on as usual. And can be smelled for miles.  Once smoked it is then shaved to very thin slivers for all sort of Japanese food toppings. Even PIZZA gets some.   The trip from Yaku Shima to here was NICE. We left the harbor just before sunset. The moon was up already, 95% full. No cloud in the sky and we had a great sail across. Of course there were the odd BIG containerships we had to avoid, ( Tokyo/Osaka~Hong Kong/SIngapore route), but with the perfect visibility all went well. There were enough hours in the night, so the little wind we had from behind gave us a perfect timing for the landfall.   Alishan will stay in this port a few days, until we ourselves get smoked out. It is still HOT, but the sea temperature!! is a few degrees down. And we found  a nice Sento=public bath house. Wow, it's so good to soak in such a bath.   Salute

Anbo, Yaku Shima

Alishan just found a possy along, yes again, a concrete wall at
30 degree 18.7N
130 degree 39.5E
The trip across from Koniya was with very little wind, from behind and choppy seas due to the ever running currents and counter currents in this part of the pond. We had a super view at 3 BIG thunderstorms forming to the west of us, joining each other and....never dropped a drip or a thunder on us.
As anywhere here in southern japan:It's Hot, extremely hot. So we keep it low key....
OR go up in the mountains here on the island. Top is 1900m above sea level...must be cool out there...
Tell you later.

Salute

Amami Oshima

We left Izena with a wind/weather/sea forecast that promised to be good. As we moved away from a lee-shore concrete wall, there was little wind. Out at sea, as soon as the sails were up...the bumping and jumping started. First due to a fat squall with some lightning and plenty of rain and then plenty of wind. Just on the beam, that was good enough so we could lay our course for Amami. BUT did the seas built up. Nasty 3~4 meter waves. With the cockpit curtains down we were mostly comfy, but the going became rough. Lots and lots a waves jumping on deck etc. Turned out that JMA issued a "high waves and thunder storms" warning for our area... And ...That weather system did develop into a TD ( early stage of a typhoon)..moving SW (away from us) and later in the week...it's coming back to us! Anyway, after 14 hours Alishan found shelter in the lee of Amami and we decided not to move further on..just let Alishan drift for the remaining nite-hours. Next morning with first daylight we moved on to Koniya. Where we first anchored for some R & R. Later in the afternoon we moved to: 28° 08' 720 N 129° 18' 600 N red circle is Koniya. Alishan found a possy for a night. Or two. Or three. Nice spot, next to a small park. Right downtown. Water for Alishan and us and trees and grass for Nori and Wakame. And what a timing, this weekend it is Summer Festival. And yes in the park is the stage for karaoke..... Oh No. Will let you know if and how we survived. There is also an hour fireworks display on the schedule...let's hope the weather will be fine. As said, it looks more like fat autumn weather, low fast flying clouds and by time nasty wind bullets...and rain. brrr Salute

Back to Cruising

Alishan made a Move. We are now at NAKADA KO on Izena Shima; 26 degree 55.6N 127 degree 67.0E And of course, after weeks of SW winds, the wind is now N. So we have to sit-it-out here until later in the week when the SW will come back ( so the weather maps tell us). Not a bad place, friendly people, slowww traffic and just big/small enough for running and cycling. And Nori and Wakame Luff it here. Green grass on the shore to play hide-and-seek and jumping fish (onto the deck) for breakfast. We (almost) did (all) the things we wanted to do in Okinawa. Thanx John and Naomi of sy HORIZON for the lend-a-car, your company and help. Ginowan Marina was indeed a good and safe stop. Great place to meet other cruisers, locals and overseas. AND of course we did like That Yellow Cord... with plenty of 100Volts streaming towards the Aircon and other electronica....(remember, Alishan is setup for 100 volt, a problem where 220 V rules the marina) Departure day was delayed by 1 extra day: we wanted to see Naha's Eisa Festival. We watched hundreds and hundreds of dancers and drummers doing the Eisa dances in Naha's main shopping street. Don't know why they do this festival at that time of the day; Start is 1400, temp is 34 degree C. But for us watching it from a possy in the shade it was a great experience. Thank you all! (pictures will follow). Salute

Ginowan Marina, Okinawa

Alishan found herself a possy in Ginowan Marina in Okinawa. Position: 26 degree 16.6N 127 degree 43.7E It's the 3rd time for us to make a stop in Okinawa..and yes we do have friends living here. Great to catch up again. We made the 25 mile jump from Kerama just in time as it has been Thunder & Lightning, Windy and Raining ever since we are here. The Marina is said to be a typhoon safe place...Well, we hope not to test it ourselves. But it is a peace of mind idea as Jaap will fly to Holland for a few weeks. Marijke and The Gang of Nori and Wakame will stay with Alishan. Now, Marijke has a few things on her To Do List. One of them is a new Q report for the Homepage. The pictures are more or less ready to be uploaded..so stay tuned. Salute

At Aka Shima, Also Known As...

Well, we had the best 24 hour sail since....leaving.... Japan..... about 4 years ago. Doing an average of 5 knots, not having to use the engine at all! And funny it was the same passage, but in the opposite direction. After a super time at Ikema Shima Alishan left Sunday morning for the 140 miles trip. Wind S, SE, course 060. Calm seas and a full moon at night. Now we remember how it can be ;-) It was so comfy that we even had a hitch hiker: Mr Booby travelled most of the trip "sitting" on the pulpit. But at one stage he was resting on the top of the mast! At sunrise he was gone but around coffee time he came back for a few more hours....but getting closer to the Kerama Islands...he decided to go back to sea. Aka Shima is one of the islands of the Kerama Retto group. It's not the first time we are here...and we love it. It is especially pretty now it is summer: the sea, the islands, the coral, the beaches..... Position: 26 degree 11.3N 127 degree 17.1E Later this week Alishan will move to Okinawa, a 25 miles trip from here. Salute

Ikema Port, a Juwel

It was so difficult to say Goodbye to our friends and to Ishigaki.
You made us really feel At Home Again.
But as it is, Alishan has made a Move to the East. We are now at Ikema Port, position:
24 degree 55.4 N
125 degree 14.9 E
We had one of the Best sails along the NW coast of Ishigaki, flat seas and a nice breeze from the SW. The sun was setting beautifully and the moon came out likewise. Too bad, around midnight it was the opposite: wobbly seas and very little wind from the SE..so Yanmar work. We had heaps of thunder to the North of us, but kept boat and ourselves dry.
Alishan will be here, for a short stop, again, and move on towards Okinawa.

Funny!

The Japan Coast Guards came to visit us here, and one of the senior! officers didn't understand what Country "DUTCH" was. So i showed him the flag we have waving at the stern.
Ahhh, he said: Dutch is French.... ;-)

Salute