The Beautiful Scenery

I first arrived in Japan in the northernmost island of Hokkaido and then did a clockwise circumnavigation of the island. At the end, I said to myself, "There can't be any place with more beautiful and impressive scenery than Hokkaido."

Then I cruised down the Sea of Japan coast and said to myself, "There can't be any place with more beautiful and impressive scenery than the Sea of Japan coast."

That was repeated when I sailed in western Kyushu ... through the Ryukyu Islands ... around Shikoku ... in the Seto Inland Sea ... and up the Pacific coast.

The fact is that, contrary to general perception, Japan is a very big country. To put it in a North American context, its northernmost point is at about the same latitude as Montreal while its southernmost point is about the same as Key West, Florida. From west to east, it's about the same as going from Denver to Philadelphia or from Vancouver to Thunder Bay.

And with that size comes a tremendous diversity of scenery. One never gets bored with cruising in Japan.

Here is just a very brief sampling of the wonderful scenery you will see in Japan, going roughly from south to north.