Exciting Japanese Horse Archery - Yabusame

Had the amazing experience in Nikko, Japan of attending Yabusame; the famous horse archery tournament.  This is an exciting event!! A Yabusame course is 220 meters in length, with 3 simple wooden targets. The archer tries to hit all three targets while the horse is in full gallop. The arrows have a rounded head and make a big thwack when the target is struck.

The tournament took place at the World Heritage Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikko.

Three Japanese Ports via Google Earth

Overview of Japanese ports by Cruise Ship.
Part II Japanese ports

Vancouver to Alaska Fly-over Google Earth

Video overview of Trans-pacific voyage by Cruise ship.
Part 1 Vancouver to Dutch Harbor Alaska

Volendam Japan to Vancouver - greetings friends!!

Fushimi Inari shrine; Kyoto, Japan

We've just returned from a very special voyage on board the ms Volendam, from Kobe Japan to Vancouver Canada.  I want to thank all the very kind and supportive guests who attended my lecture series and made the crossing such a great experience for Jan and I.

I promised a link to a couple of the books I referred to:
"Stung! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean" by Lisa-ann Gershwin
"The Once and Future World" by J.B. MacKinnon (see a good review here...)

I also referred to the paper by economists Crow White and Christopher Costello, who examined the provocative idea of completely closing international waters to fishing.

My next big idea came from E.O. Wilson who wrote a provocative article in Smithsonian magazine in 2014: "Can the World Really Set Aside Half of the Planet for Wildlife?"


Thanks again!  Please keep in touch...if you have a chance, sign up for my future postings down below to the right - all you need is your email address.

Best regards, George

Japanese Crane near Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan

Crane chick - about 10 days old

Cherry blossom time in Kyoto, Japan