The wind is howling into the marina from the west and its pretty chilly but we do not care. We are here! We arrived Sunday, on schedule at 9 AM following a busy and wet night. We had to slow the boat down to keep from arriving too early given the sudden and unexpected north easterly that pounced on us in the rain Saturday night. After driving around looking for a parking spot, we ended up at the fuel dock to be met by a group of smiling officials. It took about an hour and a half to get through all those 39 forms (I lost count) but the process was so politely administered by all that it was almost a pleasure. The chief Coast Guard officer kept his smile throughout, spoke English well and made us feel at ease. Meanwhile, every square inch of Let's Go! was photographed, especially the safety, navigation and communications equipment. The door handles and other areas were swabbed for drugs or explosives by Customs. The good news was that they cared not in the least about any of the ships stores (like wine, beer and spirits). Once they all departed, we went to the marina office to be greeted by smiling and enthusiastic staff and assigned a berth at the far end of one of the main pontoons. A good location that is quite secure and private. Monday came and went in a flash as we attempted to find the "essential" small craft guides for the closed ports of Japan, only to find that the print version has been discontinued. Very fortunately, Rhapsody had provided us their list of closed ports that included the reference page of the small craft guide for their ports and we had similar information from other yachts that we had found on the internet. So a list was crafted that included this essential information and today I met with officials of the Ministry of Transport (and Infrastructure) to submit our list for approval. We have a list of 35 ports, way more than we have time to visit. But, you have to have fallback ports in case the weather deteriorates and right now it is still pretty volatile. The officials were once again incredibly accommodating. The process consumed a few hours because they must find each port in the small craft guide and then translate your list into Kanji. I was told to return at 1 PM on Thursday to receive my approval which will take us from Ginowan, Okinawa all the way to Fukuoka on northwest Kyushu. Until this was done, everything else was on the "back burner". I can relax a bit now and start fixing stuff. My favorite past time. Maybe actually take in my environment. I hope to be able to upload a few photos tomorrow when the marina office reopens and wifi is available. Don't expect anything very Japanese. The Naha area was rebuilt after being destroyed in the war and it carries a very western architectural style.xxx

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