Land of the Setting Sun
5/24/2007 - Miyazaki
Dr. Blythe had never led me astray, and I figured with his wealth of seafaring experience, he was a perfect candidate for knowledge on the subject. With my support, Ogasawara and eventually the rest of the crew were convinced to head west at a steeper angle to make up for lost time. The Jai Li sliced through the water like a butcher’s knife, splitting it into slabs as it turned for the mainland of Japan.
I spent my time on the deck of the ship, too antsy to rest. Laying myself on the ship's railing, I was able to get some cool shots of the deck alongside the current of the ocean. Resting only slightly above its depths, I considered how close we all were to death. The water seemed almost close enough to touch.
"James! Don't fall overboard!" I fumbled with my camera, barely snagging it by the strap before it left my grasp. I shot a murderous look behind me, and turned to find Qara. Her eyes were tinged with red.
"Hey, are you doin' alright?" I quietly questioned.
"Uh huh, I've just never actually, you know... seen someone die before."
"It was pretty fucked up. But what we're about to see might be way worse," I warned, "so I hope you're ready."
"Well, I was going to ask you... about handling it. You did pretty well back there." I smiled internally. I hadn't considered someone, let alone Qara, thinking what I'd done was impressive.
"I like to imagine my mind like the lens of a camera. You know how you can look at a picture of something horrible and feel less than actually seeing it? That's how I end up getting through things."
Mara and I sat on the edge of the the boat, exchanging notes and watching the water. For a moment, I almost forgot where I was, and I think she did too. Our minds sailed away from the death of the captain and onto new horizons. I asked her how she managed to become a part of such a weird and diverse crew, and she just shrugged.
"It's a long story. One that involves Aubrey, a small festival where I'm from, and a crazy coincidence with a serial killer." She winked at me, and I was completely unable to decide whether she was making it up or not.
Just as the sun began to set, we saw it. Land began to peek over the horizon. The crew jumped into action, taking positions along the left side of the ship as we drew closer to Japan. It didn't look at all what I'd expected Tokyo to look like, but I suppose it wouldn't after being obliterated 50 years ago. I could see a decent amount of small buildings littering the landscape, and one rather large complex to the right, like an arena. Exploring at night wasn't going to do us much good, so everyone gathered in the hold for one last good bout of sleep before any of us set foot on the island.
----------
It was a rough night. As the boat rocked back and forth in the frothy waves near the shore, I laid awake for a couple more hours, watching the rest of the crew sleep restfully with a little tinge of jealousy. The side of the boat seemed to quake from time to time, as if something was beating against it like a large drum. It was a long, long time until I found the peace necessary to sleep, and I couldn't help but wonder whether my body was trying to tell me something, warn me about some kind of danger.
Before we stepped foot on the mainland, Dr. Blythe and Aubrey handed out potassium iodide pills to our group, and the crew, in an attempt to block any radiation that might still be lingering around. As soon as I got mine, I took two and rushed on deck, eager to see the land of the rising sun for the first time. It sprawled like a massive labyrinth of stone and untouched rubble across your entire vision. Only a few structures still stood, and even they were massively dilapidated. I stood in awe of such widespread destruction, so distracted I almost didn't notice a few voices coming from land, near the ship.
They talked loudly in what I recognized as Chinese, and I listened close to see if I could make anything out of it.
"...brand new ship! ...I don't know..."
"...may have able people." It wasn't a lot to go off of, but I wasn't keen to be shot at by pirates or the like again. I ducked behind the upper deck again, peeking my eyes around the corner at them. They didn't look like pirates, but more like doomsday preppers. Both of them wore a large trench coat with a hood pulled up to obscure their face, and carried sharp, thick blades at their hips, probably machetes.
Before I could stop them, the entire rest of the crew came flooding on deck, and the two figures jumped in surprise. They pulled out their machetes defensively, and held out their other hand as if to tell us "stop". Our two groups were at a standstill, but slowly the figures dropped their weapons and got on their knees. Our crew put away their pistols. Ogasawara was the first to pull the two stragglers to their feet, and question them. With Ogasawara's hand so close to their throats, I imagined they were probably pretty quick to talk about who they were.
He came back to us, leaving them in a bit of a groveling heap on the ground.
"They said they'd been living here for about a year, and they've got a hideout with a group of survivors a couple miles away. Apparently they're defectors from Korea, so much for their anarchical society. They're offering us shelter and knowledge of the area for some of our rations, and honestly we could use a base of operations that isn't the ship." He paused, and hung his head slightly. "There's more news. This isn't anywhere near Tokyo, we're in a small town by the name of Miyazaki. What's worse, the ship suffered minor damage upon landing."
Itaki cursed and hit the side of the boat with an open hand. To take a detour only to be delayed again in reaching Tokyo, I knew he must've been pissed.
"Well, at the very least we can rest here for a couple days and begin our travels again when the boat's repaired." spoke Dr. Blythe. Everyone seemed to agree, and so we accepted the survivors' offer, lugging an entire barrel of rations with us as payment. The small town of Miyazaki was teeming with unseen life, lurking under various rubble and collapsed wildlife. I spotted a small green frog squatted amongst the remains of a torn up road, and snapped a quick picture. There were no remains of bodies anywhere, either completely vaporized or decomposed, and honestly, I was totally fine with that. What was most striking was the blackened shadows on the walls, stained into the rubble like they'd been sketched there with charcoal. Dr. Blythe commented that they were likely the result of the flash of a nuclear bomb searing and brightening all the stone around someone's shadow. They were quite literally the imprints of a human's last moments.
The large building I saw in the distance ended up being the hideout, not an arena like I'd thought, but the skeleton of a warehouse, patched up with random sheet metal and other garbage. It was fairly large and neatly put together, for a dump heap. One of the men opened the warped metal doors open, like the entrance to a shipping container. Inside the building, several rooms were constructed out of tarp and more sheet metal, separating into private spaces like cubicles. The back of the building was a rather open area however, and this was where our crew was to stay for a few days.
Dr. Blythe had never led me astray, and I figured with his wealth of seafaring experience, he was a perfect candidate for knowledge on the subject. With my support, Ogasawara and eventually the rest of the crew were convinced to head west at a steeper angle to make up for lost time. The Jai Li sliced through the water like a butcher’s knife, splitting it into slabs as it turned for the mainland of Japan.
I spent my time on the deck of the ship, too antsy to rest. Laying myself on the ship's railing, I was able to get some cool shots of the deck alongside the current of the ocean. Resting only slightly above its depths, I considered how close we all were to death. The water seemed almost close enough to touch.
"James! Don't fall overboard!" I fumbled with my camera, barely snagging it by the strap before it left my grasp. I shot a murderous look behind me, and turned to find Qara. Her eyes were tinged with red.
"Hey, are you doin' alright?" I quietly questioned.
"Uh huh, I've just never actually, you know... seen someone die before."
"It was pretty fucked up. But what we're about to see might be way worse," I warned, "so I hope you're ready."
"Well, I was going to ask you... about handling it. You did pretty well back there." I smiled internally. I hadn't considered someone, let alone Qara, thinking what I'd done was impressive.
"I like to imagine my mind like the lens of a camera. You know how you can look at a picture of something horrible and feel less than actually seeing it? That's how I end up getting through things."
Mara and I sat on the edge of the the boat, exchanging notes and watching the water. For a moment, I almost forgot where I was, and I think she did too. Our minds sailed away from the death of the captain and onto new horizons. I asked her how she managed to become a part of such a weird and diverse crew, and she just shrugged.
"It's a long story. One that involves Aubrey, a small festival where I'm from, and a crazy coincidence with a serial killer." She winked at me, and I was completely unable to decide whether she was making it up or not.
Just as the sun began to set, we saw it. Land began to peek over the horizon. The crew jumped into action, taking positions along the left side of the ship as we drew closer to Japan. It didn't look at all what I'd expected Tokyo to look like, but I suppose it wouldn't after being obliterated 50 years ago. I could see a decent amount of small buildings littering the landscape, and one rather large complex to the right, like an arena. Exploring at night wasn't going to do us much good, so everyone gathered in the hold for one last good bout of sleep before any of us set foot on the island.
----------
It was a rough night. As the boat rocked back and forth in the frothy waves near the shore, I laid awake for a couple more hours, watching the rest of the crew sleep restfully with a little tinge of jealousy. The side of the boat seemed to quake from time to time, as if something was beating against it like a large drum. It was a long, long time until I found the peace necessary to sleep, and I couldn't help but wonder whether my body was trying to tell me something, warn me about some kind of danger.
Before we stepped foot on the mainland, Dr. Blythe and Aubrey handed out potassium iodide pills to our group, and the crew, in an attempt to block any radiation that might still be lingering around. As soon as I got mine, I took two and rushed on deck, eager to see the land of the rising sun for the first time. It sprawled like a massive labyrinth of stone and untouched rubble across your entire vision. Only a few structures still stood, and even they were massively dilapidated. I stood in awe of such widespread destruction, so distracted I almost didn't notice a few voices coming from land, near the ship.
They talked loudly in what I recognized as Chinese, and I listened close to see if I could make anything out of it.
"...brand new ship! ...I don't know..."
"...may have able people." It wasn't a lot to go off of, but I wasn't keen to be shot at by pirates or the like again. I ducked behind the upper deck again, peeking my eyes around the corner at them. They didn't look like pirates, but more like doomsday preppers. Both of them wore a large trench coat with a hood pulled up to obscure their face, and carried sharp, thick blades at their hips, probably machetes.
Before I could stop them, the entire rest of the crew came flooding on deck, and the two figures jumped in surprise. They pulled out their machetes defensively, and held out their other hand as if to tell us "stop". Our two groups were at a standstill, but slowly the figures dropped their weapons and got on their knees. Our crew put away their pistols. Ogasawara was the first to pull the two stragglers to their feet, and question them. With Ogasawara's hand so close to their throats, I imagined they were probably pretty quick to talk about who they were.
He came back to us, leaving them in a bit of a groveling heap on the ground.
"They said they'd been living here for about a year, and they've got a hideout with a group of survivors a couple miles away. Apparently they're defectors from Korea, so much for their anarchical society. They're offering us shelter and knowledge of the area for some of our rations, and honestly we could use a base of operations that isn't the ship." He paused, and hung his head slightly. "There's more news. This isn't anywhere near Tokyo, we're in a small town by the name of Miyazaki. What's worse, the ship suffered minor damage upon landing."
Itaki cursed and hit the side of the boat with an open hand. To take a detour only to be delayed again in reaching Tokyo, I knew he must've been pissed.
"Well, at the very least we can rest here for a couple days and begin our travels again when the boat's repaired." spoke Dr. Blythe. Everyone seemed to agree, and so we accepted the survivors' offer, lugging an entire barrel of rations with us as payment. The small town of Miyazaki was teeming with unseen life, lurking under various rubble and collapsed wildlife. I spotted a small green frog squatted amongst the remains of a torn up road, and snapped a quick picture. There were no remains of bodies anywhere, either completely vaporized or decomposed, and honestly, I was totally fine with that. What was most striking was the blackened shadows on the walls, stained into the rubble like they'd been sketched there with charcoal. Dr. Blythe commented that they were likely the result of the flash of a nuclear bomb searing and brightening all the stone around someone's shadow. They were quite literally the imprints of a human's last moments.
The large building I saw in the distance ended up being the hideout, not an arena like I'd thought, but the skeleton of a warehouse, patched up with random sheet metal and other garbage. It was fairly large and neatly put together, for a dump heap. One of the men opened the warped metal doors open, like the entrance to a shipping container. Inside the building, several rooms were constructed out of tarp and more sheet metal, separating into private spaces like cubicles. The back of the building was a rather open area however, and this was where our crew was to stay for a few days.