boat trip
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Miyazaki, 2008.08.25
We were invited to take a boat tour of the canals of Nichinan in southern Miyazaki. The boat is a restored fishing craft, and is powered only by an oar/rudder.
We toured the vestigal canals that remain from the days of the cedar trade, and then explored the inner harbour. As happens so frequently in this city, we saw magnificent wooden houses right next to the sort of ramshackle place that would be condemned and torn down in Canada (by the authorities if not by gravity itself).
I got a chance at the oar, and lemme tell you, I'm out of shape. Paddling that thing for ten minutes was about as much as my limp little limbs could stand.