Yoshikawa Landscape  | 吉川肖像画

Shigefumi Yoshikawa

Mr. Yoshikawa was very enthusiastic about sharing Ushibuka's history of ferries with me. So passionate, in fact, that we had to meet twice, first to go over photos and read stories about the ferries, and again to hear Mr. Yoshikawa's personal stories and take his picture. The ferries had run from at least the 1920s until the early 2000s after the new bridge made the last company unecessary. Mr. Yoshikawa told us his ferry story with pride and amusement. "In 1952, in my first year of high school, while traveling to town on a ferry from Rokogi, I recall our boat making contact with a mid-sized ship and capsizing. More than ten of us, young and old, men and women, swam out from under the ship. We confirmed our numbers, and not one person was missing. 'Of course, only islanders would survive so well,' I thought to myself."