This Christmas and New Year will be different because I’ll be in Fremantle.

 

In Japan we do not celebrate Christmas and it is not a holiday. We know about it and enjoy the festivity but as it is not a national holiday we are always working on Christmas day!

 

On the other hand the New Year (called "O-shogatsu") is a very important holiday for us and we look forward to it. New Year in Japan is very special with many traditions and dishes. We visit our family shrine and eat "Oseki Ryori" and "Mochi". New Year is a very important time to visit our relatives and make greetings.

I am looking very much forward to the stopover in Fremantle where my wife and daughter will come to visit me from Japan. Unfortunately they were not able to be at the race start in Bilbao, and with all the preparations this year with the boat in Europe I have missed them a lot.

 

This year my family and I will for the first time be able to enjoy a western Christmas, with a small Japanese touch - although it will be in the heat of Australia so not a white Christmas!

 

Hopefully I will arrive in Fremantle with not too big a work list so I can spend time with my family.

 

Koji

Local Initiatives

The VELUX 5 OCEANS is a global and a multi-local event. The VELUX 5 OCEANS field consist of skippers from three continents. Local initiatives have been made to back up the skippers and give them the possibility to compete in the race. Skippers become national heroes and local communities in three continents have been preparing for the same race.