Sunday, November 29, 2009

太平洋記念日(taiheiyo kinenbi): Anniversary of the Pacific Ocean

They say November 28 is the anniversary of the Pacific Ocean. In 1520 the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan first entered the South Pacific ocean. Since the weather had been very nice and the ocean was very calm, he named the waters El Mar Pacifico (Pacific Ocean). He was killed in Philippines but the rest of his crew sailed around the world and became the first people who proved that the earth is round. At that time it took about 3 years to sail around the world.
I have circumnavigated by the Peace Boat from Dec. 25, 2003 to March 31, 2004, that is it took 98 days.

According to the era, what the Seven Seas means are different, but in the modern days they are the South and North Pacific Ocean, the South and North Atlantic Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. They are minami taiheiyo(南太平洋), kita taiheiyo(北太平洋), minami taiseiyo(南大西洋), kita taiseiyo (北大西洋), nankyokukai (南極海), hokkyokukai (北極海), and indo yo (インド洋) in Japanese respectively.

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