Japan Passenger Ferries and the Joys of Boat Travel

“I sailed from one continent to another over open seas, yet the voyage was short enough that I barely slept. I experienced the progression of the ship eastward, rather than going to bed and waking up in a different place… I never felt far from the calming embrace of civilization.”

The more you travel, the more you need to become excited by the experience. Of the many places I’ve had the pleasure to visit on the globe, few have been as enjoyable as the joy of travel by water. Boats permit the traveler to feel the distance, an experience that has become lost in an age where airplanes can zip us to every corner of the globe within a matter of days and hours. Traveling by boat means that a journey can last days, weeks, or even months. Yet in this, the individual feels the distance, and in the quote above, Kaplan was writing about the joys of boat travel and the glorious new landscapes that can be experienced through this slow and steady travel.

I’ve had the pleasure to travel by ship to and from all parts of Japan—Shanghai to Osaka, Osaka to Beppu, Fukuoka to Tsushima, Shimoda to Kodzushima, Aomori to Hakodate, and many more. Boat travel is second to none when it comes luxury distance travel. You can enjoy the sites, feel the distance of the globe, and meet new and often interesting people. Plus it’s a great way to see a country and witness the landscapes.

International and Major Domestic Ferry Routes in Japan

The website Fune.co.jp (available in Japanese only) is the online resource for all information on passenger ferrys going to and from Japan, whether the trips be domestic or international. The domestic information is complete, with updated information on the hundreds of ferries that travel across the country, from Tokyo to Okinawa or from Ibaragi to Hokkaido, and to the smallest of inhabited islands (such as Toshima, part of Tokyo prefecture, which has just 309 inhabitants). The international information is also updated, but not entirely complete, missing such trips as the ferry between Tsushima island and Pusan, Korea. But it nonetheless shows the options available if one wishes to travel from Japan to visit China, Korea, or Russia.

I personally believe boat travel is an experience that can be appreciated even more by Americans. The United States is a continental country where cars and planes are the norm, and boats dock at ports to deliver goods instead of transporting people. For those experienced travelers, the joy of travel becomes harder to summon as one grows older. As more chapters of life accumulate, experience crowds out raw feeling, and even new experiences can feel recycled. Boat travel helps renew the joy of travel, and is strongly recommended by this blogger for anyone looking for a fun way to travel, or to make a familiar place feel new.