Life is Sailing

(September 2, 2025)

On this day in 1945, Japan publicly and completely surrendered to the United States of America atop the decks of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan. My family and I have stood on that very same ship, now docked on Oahu, HI, as tourists as well as guests at special events. We have woken to sunrises across Tokyo Bay during a family visit to Japan.

The Pacific Ocean separates our two countries, but at the same time unites them today. The Polynesian Voyaging Society, based in Hawaii, sent their Hawaiin voyaging canoe Hokule-a to Japan in 2007, as a goodwill gesture and cultural exchange. Victory, defeat. Relief and sorrow. Rebuild, regrow, move forward.

On this day in 2025, I paddled along a shore. I laid atop my board and watched the striated clouds above, then turned my gaze down into the murky waters. I paddled and drifted. We have been warned here of sting rays in the sand. “Do the sting ray shuffle,” locals urge. I have heard sting ray stings hurt a lot. Until today, I had only seen sting rays in aquariums. They were friendly and liked to be touched on their wings. Their barbs had also been removed, and they could not harm us.

Today as my black paddle sliced through the brown waters, a two-foot stingray darted away from me, startled by my board. How quickly it may have thrust its barbed tail into my body had I been in the water. Thankfully I was safe atop my paddle board. I am thankful to know these beautiful creatures without their barbs, to better understand their temperaments and how to interact with them in the wild.