I've just hacked the planet

[Colin Rowat]

I’ve just sailed to Japan from Vladivostok to see my children.

 

It was a difficult trip to plan for a number of reasons:

1.       Japan is not issuing tourist visas, and is denying entry to tourists who’ve been in any country with a direct flight to Japan in the previous 14 days.  This therefore ruled out getting here by plane.

2.       Other countries in the region were similarly restrictive, making it difficult for me to find a starting point to sail in from.

3.       The US has been less restrictive on travel, so I could fly in to Guam.  I eventually got a quote from a charter operator there: at US$80,000, it was way too expensive for me.

4.       It is now typhoon season, making travel by sea around Japan hazardous.  In early September, a large cattle carrier sank in the Sea of Japan during typhoon Maysak, killing 40 crew and almost 6,000 cattle.

5.       When I did find a captain and yacht in Vladivostok, it wasn’t clear to me if this was a scam: 100% upfront payment to someone writing from a personal e-mail account.

Fortunately a couple of peculiar conditions worked in my favour:

1.       Japan has also suspended its visa waiver programme for most countries.  This programme allowed visitors not to apply for a visa in advance, but just to be cleared through customs.  Coupled with no longer issuing tourist visas, this means that visitors from most countries (inc. the UK) could not enter Japan as tourists even if they satisfied the 14 day condition.  However, the visa waiver programme is still in place for Canada (but not the UK).

2.       Russia has just begun to open up to tourists from a very limited set of countries, including the UK (but not Canada).

Thus, as a UK resident, I was able to travel to Vladivostok; then, as a Canadian, I was able to enter Japan.  At sea, I read Camus’ famous account of a plague outbreak, La Peste. 

One of the crew members, an electrical engineer, has worked on underwater robotics rated to 5km.  Recalling a conversation years ago at the LHS about controlling drill heads on oil rigs, I asked how he’d do it: he immediately guessed acoustic.  Some of his components may have been used in the Titanic exploration.  (A key technique, apparently, was not to use a PCB, but to directly connect components, saving space.)  During his military service, he’d maintained Soviet listening posts, so was introduced to western music by listening in on US Armed Forces radio in Hawaii.

Fishermen on squid fishing boats wear welders’ glasses to protect their eyes from the mini-suns that they aim down into the night water to attract squid.

 

Planet:hacked.

 

Colin

[Joe England]

Seriously?

That's all very well but we've spent the past year walking round supermarkets in the same direction :-)

Are you in Japan now?

Is it any different to pre-Corona, I understand they're not taking any particular measures.

[Colin Rowat]

Yes, I'm in Fukuoka now, self-isolating at an AirBnB.  I'd been out earlier in the year as well, flying out in March as soon as my UK university went virtual.

What surprised me at the time was how 'normal' life looked in Tokyo: street traffic, shops open, metro system in use.  It may have been that the incidence of mask wearing had increased.  Certainly face masks and hand sanitiser were stocked out in stores: getting supplies depended on knowing when they arrived, or ordering from China (which was beginning to get spare supply after its early peak).

Following that, a state of emergency was declared.  This seems to have been necessary to give companies cover for 'work from home' policies: Japan still has a very office-bound culture, reliant on physically stamping documents.  Even still, there was no legally enforced lockdown - partly as the post-WWII Japanese constitution made it difficult to restrict civil liberties.  Thus, while cafes were closed, I was still struck by the apparent normalcy.  Yes, supermarkets had more plastic screens in place, and hand sanitiser at the entrances.

I've yet to get out or about much now that I'm back, but even my self-isolation is not strictly enforced: no one has checked on me; I'm allowed out once a day to walk, and once a day to shop - but need to keep a paper list of where and when I go in case contact tracing is needed.

[Joe England]

Fascinating.

Will you be treating us to photos/video or a video made of photos (a ye-olde slide show - I watched one of those the other day about three guys who drove across Africa in an old RAF truck, https://youtu.be/PtG6niRiRXk)?

Your adventure would make a fascinating travelogue in any times but especially these.

[Matt Rutter]

I'm sorry, but all you've described just makes you come across as a total cunt with no care for the health of other people, and no care for the health of your children....

Feel free to better explain your quarantine steps at every border crossing......

 

On Monday, 19 October 2020 at 03:23:52 UTC+1 c.r...@espero.org.uk wrote:

[Colin Rowat]

Dear realnu...:

At every step of my trip, I've fully complied with the requirements of the countries I've been in and travelled to:

1. to travel to Russia, I needed a negative PCR COVID test within 72 hours of flying.  Thus, I obtained one.

2. to enter Japan, I needed to certify that I'd not been in any of their 'entry denial' countries within the previous 14 days.  I had not been.  Further, in those previous 14 days, I had been isolated aboard a sailboat with three other people.  None of us displayed at any point any symptoms of COVID or any other infectious disease.

3. now that I am in Japan, I am self-isolating for 14 days.  I have not seen my children nor anyone else socially.  No one is checking on my self-isolation, so I'm sure that I could leave if I wanted to: I am not.

Throughout, I have tried to exceed public health guidelines.  In Japan in the spring, I was very concerned with the lack of social distancing (people were still working in their offices, picnicking publicly, taking the subway/tube, etc.) so isolated myself before there were even suggested guidelines to do so.  Since late May until mid-September, I only had two (distanced) office days in London; I did not take public transport and only met others socially outdoors, at a distance and rarely.  I participated in an Imperial College COVID study earlier in the summer, in which I tested negative.  I have checked my temperature daily since March, and my blood oxygen occasionally.  Since late March, I have worn a mask when out of the house, having realised that I - as a fit adult - faced less of a risk from COVID than I posed to others.  In Vladivostok, I was surprised to see people shaking hands and not wearing masks in public: I didn't shake hands; I work a mask.  Throughout, I am not aware that I have been in contact with anyone who has tested positive.  Two close family members are doctors, so I am very aware of the dangers posed by COVID.

If there was anything in any of my messages suggesting that I have not fully complied with national public health guidelines and regulations, please let me know and I will correct it.

[Colin Rowat]

Thank you Joe - that's a good idea!  Give me a week or so?  I've got another suggestion to that effect, so may be working up something for that.

Best,

Colin

[Liam Kurmos]

great planet hack and post-covid travel adventure!

I'm a little envious. I think I might actually be more interested in travelling post covid than I was previously. It was all getting very convenient and overcrowded out there, I think I missed the pre-smart phone organic adventures.

I was thinking I'd like to get back to Japan sometime in the next 6 months, however from what you say this could be quite hard. I'm interested to hear what it's like traveling around once youre out of quarantine.

Liam

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[faissal bensefia]

That's hella based, and it's to see your children so that's fair and I
think any criticism leveled at you for that is unfair, I would do the
same.
t. Dude who's not even been to the shops in 8 months

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[Colin Rowat]

Thanks Liam.

From what I understand, once I'm out of self-isolation, the conditions are cautious, but not restrictive.  In the local supermarket, people have masks, some on their chins, some with the noses sticking out.

There are stories now about April being the month when Japan opens to tourism again.

Best,

Colin

[Colin Rowat]

Hi Joe,

I've now got a slide show ready to go.  I gave it on Wednesday night: with questions, it took about an hour.

I'm currently at GMT+9, so can do slots like 9-10pm UK time (6-7am here) or weekend mornings.  I'm happy to do whatever works best for yous.

C+

[Joe England]

Sounds great Colin.

Looking forward to seeing it. However, my schedule is a little too full for comfort at present so would it be possible for you to video/screencapture the next one that you give so I can enjoy it vicariously?

[Colin Rowat]

Thanks Joe - no worries: we should get a link to the slide show I've done already at some point.  When we have it, I'll forward it.

If other LHS members were interested in a virtual slide show, I'd be very happy to give one.

Stay positive and test negative, as they say,

Colin

[Joe England]

Cheers Colin, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

[Liam Kurmos]

+1 interested in virtual slide show

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[Colin Rowat]

Here's the link to the Zoom talk that Jordan Cornes organised for me at the end of October:

https://youtu.be/-QfLS_qeOPQ

I'm happy to field questions here about it.

[Andrew Morgan]

I tried to print with hull today and had various problems. Notably at
the moment hull can't seem to get 10m into a print without filament from
the nozzle no longer extruding. This occurs with both PLA and ABS. I
tried the pink PLA, and the large, white ABS.

Additionally, ABS doesn't seem to stick to the bed very well in the
center, I had to move my prints to the side before they would fully stick.

I also noticed some discoloration of the white filament halfway through
printing a raft. Not sure if the filament is getting stuck in the nozzle
and heating up more, causing the discoloration.

In the attached images you can see the discoloration partway through, as
well as extrusion failure. The ground out bit in the filament is due to
the gear trying to push it through with no luck.

I don't see the temperature of the nozzle or the bed changing during the
print, and am unsure why a potential blockage could occur. Heating the
nozzle up again to 240 and pushing filament through causes filament to
be extruded as one would expect.

Andrew Morgan

[Joe England]

Hi Colin.

Sorry for the late response, I was finally able to watch the whole thing last night.

Like the Japanese customs officer told you, a fantastic adventure!

I hope your lads greeted you as the Homeric hero you are, not 'huh, alright [electronic game sounds]' :-)

P.S. I asked my dad, a ship's engineer from the mid-60s to the early '70s, he's never heard of the Monday thing (Friday yes, but that was because everyone was out spending their pay, but not Monday) , so it's probably a local custom.

He also hadn't heard of the banana thing, as he pointed out, it would be a shock to all the banana boat crews!

[Liam Kurmos]

hey Colin,

It took me until now to catch up with this, but I much enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing your adventures!

Liam

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