Japan for Island Hoppers & Ferry Travelers

About this book

Japan is an archipelago before it is a country, and its islands are joined not by bridges but by boats. This guide gives the island hopper and ferry traveller 200 complete journeys — not islands, not ports, but the crossings themselves: the dawn sailing to Rishiri's floating Fuji, the night ship down the Izu chain, the twenty-four-hour voyage to Chichijima, twenty-minute art-island hops in the Inland Sea, the Goto and Yaeyama chains, the Amami relay island by island to Okinawa, the great night ferries down three coasts, the international ships to Korea and China, and a full final handbook of timetables, weather, vehicles, manners and the missed boat. Every entry is built as a working method: the crossing itself, exactly how the day is built around the boat, its season and timing with its fallback, and the manners owed to the working ports and islanders who share the sailing. Times and fares change, so none are asserted as fixed facts; every entry names the official source for its own route — while the durable part, how to plan, connect, sail and behave on any Japanese ferry route, is guaranteed in full.