When the whistle blows for the voyage to begin

Apr.8th

Traveling by ship around the world links port to port as the ship makes its way through its journey, and although every port and harbour is different, all ports await their new arrivals, and see off their departures. One feature of traveling by ship is the paper streamers thrown in celebration to see off the ship. Whilst less popular in other countries, this is quite common in Japan, where some say it’s a form of parting handshake. Our global voyage sets off from Japan, under blue skies with warm voices seeing us of, our journey begins.

Boarding the ship, many people eagerly make their way to the deck where their voices can just reach to the land-side, where people have come to see us off. In Peace Boat voyages, we have a “Departure Ceremony”, where land and ship come together to see off the newly departing voyage. The whistle sounds, the ship slowly separates from land, the paper streamers connecting land and ship are cut, and colours of the streamers fill the air with the colour of a fresh new start. Our long-awaited dream of a global voyage now begins.

Full-beating chests and happy smiles dot the decks.

In the terminal, everyone waves to see us off.

Bay Bridge marks the starting line of the voyage, as well as the finish line for when the voyage ends.