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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 1, 2006
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| June 12, 2006 |
Portrait of a Peace Boat participant |
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| Ichiro at Ground Zero in New York City. |
Ichiro Miyura, from Nikko city in Tochigi-ken, Japan, dreamt of joining Peace Boat for the past six years. Working in the product quality control industry for 45 years, his job didn't leave him much time for travel. At 61 years old, he traveled only on business and then mostly within Japan. He happened upon a Peace Boat poster in his hometown, which sparked his interest in traveling around the world. Instead of traveling by plane, he wanted to take his time, so he thought that by traveling by sea would be the best way to see the world.
Ichiro boarded Peace Boat from Yokohama Port on April 5th,2006. Not knowing a single soul before boarding, Ichiro immersed himself in onboard activities. He spends his free time singing karaoke, playing Mahjong, learning to dance, exercising at the gym and practicing Tai Chi. He is a student of Peace Boat's Global English Training (GET) program and attends the onboard Guest Educator lectures. At port of calls, Ichiro varies his time from venturing out on his own with friends or going on educational tours. |
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| Ichiro posing with his GET Teacher Levi Jacobs and Web Writer Megumi Nishikura |
Ichiro decided to take GET because he wanted to have every day conversations with locals as he traveled around the world. In London, he attended the GET challenge program and participated in a homestay with a local English family. Before taking GET, Ichiro felt like he didn't have any confidence speaking English but he took the opportunity to practice his skills and talk with his host family. Over a three hour long dinner of roast beef, salad, and drinks, Ichiro realized that he had slowly gained the confidence to communicate. They exchanged stories about their lives and families late into the night. |
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| Ichiro in London with his host family and fellow GET classmates. |
Attending various lectures and workshops, Ichiro remembers Guest Educator My-Doan Takaski from Vietnam leaving a strong impression on him. Hearing her personal experience during the Vietnam war and learning how second and third generations still suffer from the effects of Agent Orange disturbed him. Ichiro realized that he wasn't getting the full picture of the situation there by just reading newspapers and watching television. He felt that his understanding of world issues were expanding from the lectures, films and workshops he participated in.
Thus far on this voyage around the world his favorite places were Taormina in Sicily, Italy. There, he spent the day walking the small picturesque town, enjoying good food and wine in the company of his new Peace Boat friends. His visit to Libya surprised him. Assuming that he would dislike it because of its conservative laws, he had put Libya low on his list of places to visit. However, his visit to the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna and the Mediterranean sea coast far exceeded his expectations. |
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| At the Tikal Mayan Ruins. |
Sure enough, Ichiro misses his six grandchildren. He gives them a call as often as he can to shares his latest adventures. He's also been on a hunt for unusual gifts to take back home. Every day, he religiously takes photos of the beautiful sunrises and sunsets that he plans on sharing with his friends and family. “The best sunset I've seen so far was about four or five days before arriving in Dublin. The sky was mostly dark and cloudy but I could see the sun setting through a sliver in the clouds.”
“My journey on Peace Boat is a present to myself because I have worked hard for 45 years and raised my three children by myself,” says Ichiro. He felt that in just two months his perception of the world has changed. “I've learnt a lot of things I didn't know before, I've now visited a lot of places I had never been to before. I have met many young people and made friends with them regardless of age. I'm going around the world the best five friends that I could possibly have.” |
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