During the second weekend of July, Peter and Kim were invited to go sailing on the Sea of Japan in Sakata. The person who invited them was Kazuhisa sensei, who is a history teacher at Peter's school who speaks fluent English as well.

Our group consisted of 10 people so we took out two boats. This is a picture of the other boat which was a bit older than our boat.

Here's Sakata port from a distance. It's not very pretty but from the water it doesn't look so bad.

Here is the boat we were in and Otaki-san. He was one of the two men doing the actual sailing while the rest of us lounged, eating food and enjoying the ride.

Here is Kim and Shimaya sensei's brother, who was taking his turn at the wheel.

This was the main sail on the boat.

This is another picture of the front of the boat. There was a nice cabin below complete with bathroom, shower, kitchen, small fridge, and bunks for 3 people. This boat has been taken on multiple-day trips to Russia and other exciting places.

On the boat there was a traditional Japanese hat, so we all took turns trying it on. Peter looks pretty interesting in it!

Next was Shimaya sensei's turn. Shimaya sensei is an English teacher at Tsuruoka Chuou high school where Peter works. She went sailing with us and brought her brother along as well.

Here is Kim in the hat. It was too big for her head. Tired of the hat yet? Well, this is the last picture with the hat! Yeah!

Here is Peter steering the boat. Peter went out sailing the day before as well (Kim was busy) and knew a bit more than the rest of us so he was allowed to steer for quite a while.

Here is another close up of the other boat. We basically sailed together towards an island that is off the coast of Sakata. However, we didn't make it to the island and ended up turning around after two hours of sailing. It was fun but Peter neglected to use sunscreen, believing he was impervious to the rays of the sun, and thus was really crispy the next day. Peter no longer believes he can block the sun's rays by his mere thoughts. This is good.