June 25th, 2009. Due in part to the lack of demand for new yachts in the current financial climate, and the relatively high prices of Japan built yachts, Nagoya based Tsuboi Yachts, one of the oldest yacht builders in the country, has closed it's doors for what may be the last time.
Founded in 1933, Tsuboi began with production of pleasure yachts. During the war years, they produced patrol boats, lifeboats and other utility vessels, but it was after the war when occupying U.S.officers placed orders for over 100 sailing cruisers for the export to the American market, providing much needed jobs for the decimated local workforce.
Tsuboi pioneered many construction techniques in Japan, most recently Carbon and kevlar prepreg builds and RIV construction.
Sadly, the demise of Tsuboi leaves a gaping hole in the Japanese yacht building community, their having been the only yard with the facilities and know-how to undertake these modern methods. It remains to be seen if anyone steps up to rescue the company or take over the facilities with a view to yacht production.

Cheers to Kim over at YachtPals.com who's just dropped me an email with the good news that Akio Yonago is safe and well having made landfall in Phuket, Thailand.
Seems like the pirates didn't nab him after all! Glad to hear it!
Read the post over at YactPals here.

Friends and supporters of Osaka round-the-world yachtsman Yonago Akio fear that he may have run afoul of pirates in the waters off the Seychelles, his last known location, having not been able to make contact with him since his departure April 28th.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it has not been confirmed whether he has been seized by pirates as reported or not.
ECOTERRA INTERNATIONAL reports in it's Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor update of may 10th: "According to statements from the Seychelles the sailor was guiding on 28th April one of four sail-boats due to leave in a convoy from Seychelles. Three left, with the third lagging somewhat behind, which then was stopped by the French Navy and advised to turn back to Mahe Island, as two vessels who had just passed before him had been pirated. Recent attempts to reach the sailor, who is known for his adventurous voyages, including sailing solo across the Pacific and the Atlantic in 1997, have been unsuccessful, which is why the alarm was raised. "We have sent an S&R alert to all our marine observers along the Somali coasts concerning the S/Y EMU II and a possible second yacht, but so far do not have a direct response" an ECOTERRA spokesperson stated and added "However, we found some information and have sent for clarification, if the sailor is already held in Somalia or together with one other hostage on the way to a Somali coast."

One of the best places to view the total solar eclipse of 2009 July 22 will be just south of Kyuushu, around Amami-O-shima. At least four yachts from the Kansai region are heading down there to see it. Wild Boar (ex- Melbourne-Osaka) and friends will be setting off this Golden Week and will spend the next few weeks moving down there in stages.
If you're in Osaka, you can expect an eclipse peaking at 87% and lasting for almost 3 hours. This is the LONGEST total solar eclipse in this century.
The coast guard have set up a web page telling people to be extra cautious and properly prepared if in the event that they are at sea and experience trouble during the eclipse.
There's another site with a lot of info in English here, and tours are being arranged here.

A list of locations and the times and degree of eclipse they can expect to experience can be found here.

112 Applicants from 30 countries are chasing 80 available places in the forthcoming 2009 Laser Radial Worlds (ILCA mini-site), to be hosted at the Saga Yacht Harbour in Karatsu, (Saga ken, Kyuushu) between Mon 3rd August and Mon 10th August 2009.
The race organizers have put up an excellent website, with details of the events, access and accommodation. Well worth a visit.
The organizers have done a wonderful job of attracting sponsors, and the city of Karatsu are apparently pulling out all the stops to help make this a successful event.
Performance Sailcraft Japan have built the majority of the charter boats for this event.
Saga ken is possibly my favourite prefecture in Japan. The coastline is positively spectacular. If you have a chance to go and cheer on the competitors, you really should. There promises to be some excellent sailing going on. Best of luck to all those involved!

The first of a production version GP 33 was just launched in Hayama Marina in Japan, the product of designer Akihiro Kanai. Kanai reports the project is a promising one for Japan, where larger yachts are often prohibitively expensive to keep due to limitations on space, and where this size is ideally suited for the size and style of racing in this area.

This is the second GP 33 to be launched in Japan, the first being the Nelson/Marek-designed Century First, which was built last year in New Zealand and has been racing under handicap in late 2008. Unlike the custom-built carbon-fibre Century First, the production Kanai designs are built in E-glass from tooling designed to mold several additional boats to save on production costs.

Kanai reports that the spar will be arriving soon, and this boat will be sailing in a few weeks time.

The Japan Times published an interesting article by CHRISTINE T. TJANDRANINGSIH (of Kyodo News) on Friday.

KAMPONG LAMBE, Indonesia — A Tokyo surgeon this week set off from Indonesia on a 100-day voyage to trace one of the paths believed taken by ancestors of the Japanese some 3,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Departing from Kampong Lambe, a small fishing hamlet on Sulawesi Island, on Monday, Yoshiharu Sekino is leading a 10-man team in two handmade sailboats from Southeast Asia along the Black Current. He plans to arrive in Naha, Okinawa, around July 20.

Four Japanese, including Sekino and two of his students, and six Mandar fishermen from a local tribe are taking part in the trip — five people for each boat.
Read the full article here: Link

Taipei, April 4 (CNA) Hualien City and Okinawa hope to build a "blue highway" on the Pacific Ocean that connects the two popular tourist destinations, the heads of Hualien and Okinawa said Saturday in eastern Taiwan.

Following a meeting with Hualien City Mayor Tsai Chih-ta, Okinawa Deputy Governor Katsuko Asato said Okinawa is promoting cruises to attract more foreign tourists, and the planned blue highway is the key element of this tourism promotion plan.

Asato said she hopes the planned blue highway will help increase the volume of tourist visits to the Japanese prefecture from the current 5 million to 10 million per year.

Tsai pointed out that because the blue highway passes through the national borders of two countries, its opening will involve different laws adopted by the different governments in various fields, including sailing rights and quarantine guidelines.

How to settle the legal problems will be the key to opening the blue highway, said Tsai, who suggested that only if Okinawa's government was willing to assist in resolving the problems could the marine road be created.

Asato arrived at Hualien Harbor in eastern Taiwan earlier Saturday on the Japanese luxury tour cruise liner, "Asuka II, " to study customs operations in Hualien and exchange views on the blue highway plan. Asato met with Tsai soon after her arrival.

(By Elizabeth Hsu)

Sail-World.com reports from the IFDS World Blind Sailing Championships sailed on Rotorua (NZ) this week.
Fumihiro Adachi (Team Toyota) placed 7th in the B1 Fleet, Takao Sugiyama (Team Flying Fish) finished 3rd in the B2 fleet, and Yuki Kawazoe (Team Yuki) came in 4th in the B3 fleet. Well done all. The next Blind Sailing International Championships will be held in Yokohama, Japan in 2013.

As a partner, BLISS has asked Sail Japan to be the distributor of its newly revised written materials to help folks sit for their JMRA 2kyu boat operator’s license. BLISS has updated all the earlier materials, The Manual, The Catalog, and The Practical, to reflect the results of the October, 2008 exam and repackaged them into four ‘Study Packs’. Each Study Pack speaks to one of the four sections of the written and technical exam through an essay on the subject matter and the associated Catalog of questions. Now you have the option of studying specific areas of the exam or to get the complete package.
Additional information is provided at the Bliss site (www.bliss-osaka.info), the 'Juku' section of which also gives instructions on how to make your application for the test.

The Study Packs can be seen here.

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