Author Topic: Another trip to Japan  (Read 10938 times)

Offline lappino

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Another trip to Japan
« on: October 17, 2018, 07:54:03 AM »
Greetings to all,

These are some notes from my short recent trip to Japan.

This is an example what can be accomplished (ship spotting wise) during a two day trip to Japan.
The starting point was Mihara, a town in Hiroshima prefecture, accessible from Fukuoka (where I arrived by plane from Korea) by a bullet train. I bought a five-day JR rail pass ticket for the area I was interested in (the price of about 120 US$ is more than acceptable, even if I only got to use it for less than 48 hours). I have arrived at night, so the first thing to take care of was to spend the night in a cheap hotel, booked online for a whopping 40 US$.
Then, the next morning a took a local train for a short ride to Onomichi, the starting point of a ferry ride to Tsuneishi shipyard in Fukuyama. Onomichi itself is the home of Mukaishima Dock shipyard, where I noticed this weird floating object:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2923989

For the trip to Tsuneishi, I took this ferry:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2506412

While Mukaishima is mostly involved in ship repairs, Onomichi Dockyard builds more serious ships:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2923996

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2924525

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2924523

Tsuneishi shipyard was not too busy; here

Offline lappino

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Re: Another trip to Japan
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2018, 08:15:20 AM »
Then I took another ferry from Okunoshima back to mainland, the small place of Tadanoumi, where I was supposed to take a train back to Mihara again, to catch a bullet train to Hiroshima. My trip was very tightly scheduled, so it almost fell apart when I realized that there were no trains running on the coastal line, and buses were used instead; their schedule, however, threatened to derail my plan for the rest of the day. So, I took a cab for a nearby

Offline Phil English

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Re: Another trip to Japan
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2018, 10:55:14 AM »
Vlad,

Many thanks for your wonderful photos from Japan. I had always assumed that your shipspotting was a by-product of business trips made to Japan and Korea where you are perhaps a class surveyor or newbuilding supervisor. Seems I am wrong on that score!

Anyway, as well as being good photos, they are tremendously informative and help no end in my very real business of tying up ship names to hull numbers and IMO numbers. Keep up the fanstastic work!

Brgds
Phil


Offline lappino

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Re: Another trip to Japan
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2018, 11:22:13 AM »
Thank you for your kind words, Phil.

As a matter of fact, I am a class surveyor currently working on newbuilding projects in Korea, and my job did get me on some business trips that would otherwise be very difficult to arrange (like that one 4 years ago, when I went to Bangladesh), but my shipspotting hobby is a passion in itself. You could say that it started as a byproduct of my work, but then expanded far beyond.
So, I usually go to Japan (or some much more distant destination) on my own time and money... :)

Cheers

Vlad

Offline Phil English

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Re: Another trip to Japan
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2018, 11:54:01 AM »
I must have known something, Vlad, as I wasn't too far wrong :-)

My shipspotting is largely confined to cruises these days. Most of my time I sit here in an office of a large shipping services company, researching and compiling maritime data, some of which (in an indirect way) is provided by class surveyors!

Brgds
Phil

Offline lappino

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Re: Another trip to Japan
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2018, 01:54:00 PM »
So, let's finish the story of my Japan trip.

After checking out the ships at Marugame, I took a train back to the mainland (I call Honshu island "mainland", as the other main Japanese islands are smaller) to see the gas carriers under construction at Kawasaki Sakaide shipyard:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2924200

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2924554

Then I returned back to Takamatsu on the Shikoku island, a busy ferry port with plenty of ship spotting opportunities:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2828170

(OK, that one was taken last year.)

I took a ferry to Uno, to see if I could catch any traffic during the crossing. There was not a lot of that, just maybe this one:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2925106

...but I got to see the new reefers fitting out at Takamatsu Dockyard:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2924176

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2924181

Then I added another shipyard to my Japan database, Mitsui in Tamano, with some navy refits, as well as some bulk carriers:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2925108

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2925082

Then I took a bullet train back to Kokura, and then a local train to Moji, of Kanmon Strait fame:

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2925117

And that was it, a train to Fukuoka, and a short flight back to Korea.

Thanks for your attention! :)

Offline davidships

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Re: Another trip to Japan
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2018, 10:18:02 PM »
Thanks Vlad for the tour.
The precision you need professionally certainly pays in your travel planning and execution!

Offline Brent

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Re: Another trip to Japan
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2018, 06:10:00 AM »
Enjoyed the travelogue, appreciate you sharing.
The first "ONE" containers have only recently arrived in our part of the world, not sure when any of their cherry blossom magenta ships will get downunder, certainly won't be the size category you reported. Presence currently maintained by MOL Delight and NYK Futago. 

Cheers
Brent
...

Offline MS3866

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Re: Another trip to Japan
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2018, 12:33:40 PM »
Hi Vlad,

Thank you again for reporting of visiting Japan for taking photos of ships.
I often visit these areas too, so your report is very real to me.
If I meet you by chance, let me say hello to you.

Best regrds,
MS3866
« Last Edit: October 18, 2018, 12:46:52 PM by MS3866 »

 

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