BURA TORA

Stuck in Okinawa

It's strange how life turns out. I bought a sailboat last year with the full intention of enjoying life in the Caribbean, waking up with the sun and going to bed at 10pm, or sailor's midnight as they say. I bought a boat to get away from civilization, and away from Japan. To live deep and suck the marrow out of life.

Somehow, i've instead ended up back in Japan. Eating octopus balls at street side vendors, trying to avoid getting coronavirus.

I've been moving from one airbnb to another every month, taking me from Saitama, to Tokyo, to Osaka, to Fukuoka, and now, to Okinawa.

We're actually leaving next week to head back to Osaka. Japan is about to run head first into "Golden Week", which is a 10-ish day period of holidays that allows everybody in Japan to take a vacation without using precious paid time off.

Who knows how it will turn out with the mass movement of coronavirus-infected hoards, but hopefully I can make it out the other side unscathed.

We've had a lot of fun these last few months, visiting some famous Japanese sailing youtubers, most notably Omoi no Mama, and Adam in Okinawa. It's amazing what kind of interesting people you can meet when you have no destination, and a lot of patience.

I hope that we can get back to the states, and I hope that my boat doesn't die while it's left abandoned in the boat yard.

I find I'm so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at a start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

See you soon, Andy Dufresne!