When I was younger a friend of mine played in a band called The Japants. That name always stuck with me. Japants. What could it mean? Ants from Japan? Japanese pants?

Twenty years later and here we are in Japan!

We spent most of May hopping from port to port up the west side of Honshu Island. Some of our favourite experiences have been in the really small communities where foreign tourists are rarely seen.

Walking around these towns it’s common for someone to smile and say “Yachto?”, correctly identifying us as the visitors on the sailboat.

In a small community named Shibayama we arrived with two other foreign boats, which was enough to draw the local news outlet to do a story. Sarah and I missed the news crew, because a local gentleman walked up to the boat and invited us to tour the nearby crab processing plant. In that same community, a hotel owner offered us free use of their spa facilities. A young family came to chat and dropped off a bottle of sake. An anonymous visitor left us a bag of snacks with a nice note. A mechanic went out of his way to track down and deliver the engine oil we needed. Some fishermen gifted us a block of shrimp, and the coast guard stopped by for a chat, also dropping off some souvenirs.

In the tiny village of Awashimaura some locals invited us to something called a Noodle Slide, a local summer tradition where you attempt to chopstick noodles as they slide past you down a bamboo chute.

This was an amazing experience and must have taken hours to set up. When we left the next morning they all showed up again bearing gifts and hoisting large flags to wave as we sailed off.

The level of hospitality to strangers has been surreal. How can we ever live up to thes acts of kindness? We’re very grateful.

When we land in a larger city, we have two favourite activities. We look for conveyor belt sushi restaurants and Japanese second hand clothing stores. Both are affordable and full of wonders.

Mandolyn has spent the last three years in warm weather, but now that we’re planning on Alaska we needed to buy some warm clothes.

When you are 6’4″ it can be challenging to find that perfect fit in Japan. I wasn’t having much luck in the conventional clothing stores, but the thrift shops had some rare me sized items. West came up with a strategy where we look at the pants racks, then we look down low at the floor. If there’s a pair of pants dragging on the ground, I try them on.

With this technique, I found three pairs of japants!!

You can’t be choosy in my situation, so each of my new japants has its quirks. One pair look quite formal, but have fleece lining inside? Ideal for my Arctic business meetings.

One pair are really stretchy and much too long even for me. These will be my goto leggings should I consider leg extensions.

The final pair have kevlar reinforced patches sewn inside the ankles. Most manufacturers overlook this detail, but how else can you prevent rope chafe during long distance three legged races?

Having solved the mystery of the japants, we’re ready to take on Alaska in style.

Next stop: Hokkaido

Some photos…