The Amerigo Vespucci arrived at the port of Tokyo on Sunday on her first visit to Japan in her storied 93-year history. The visit is part of a world tour that will begin in Genoa in July 2023 and will take the ship to 31 countries and over 30 ports on five continents.
On the last leg, which was also the longest of the tour, the historic sailing ship and training ship of the Italian Navy sailed from Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands to Japan, covering 3,630 miles and docking in Tokyo on a hot and humid afternoon to the curious attention of numerous spectators.
“We are extremely proud to represent Italy in the world, both as a crew and as the entire Vespucci community,” Captain Giuseppe Lai told ANSA.
“We are in the 22nd leg of the world tour, 14 months after leaving Genoa on July 1, 2023,” he stressed.
“It is a much-anticipated stopover, the first for the Vespucci in Tokyo and Japan.
“We have very high expectations of getting to know a different and fascinating culture and of experiencing a warm welcome.
“These were intense days,” Lai added, “a long voyage across the Pacific that lived up to its name, with long periods of total calm and only a little more rough seas in the lee of Tokyo.”
“The 115 cadets from the Livorno Naval Academy who embarked in Los Angeles welcomed this opportunity with great enthusiasm and participation.”
At 2:40 p.m., in the August sun and with the proverbial Japanese organization, the Vespucci was greeted by a welcoming ceremony with the national anthems of both countries played by bands and a crowd of government officials and public officials. This testified to the extensive cooperation at the diplomatic level that led, in early 2023, to the governments of Giorgia Meloni and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida elevating bilateral relations to a strategic partnership.
The Italian ambassador in Tokyo, Gianluigi Benedetti, told ANSA that “the arrival of the sailing ship Vespucci in Japan is a historic event and follows the arrival of other ships of the Italian Navy, such as the aircraft carrier Cavour”.
Welcoming the naval training ship in the port of the Japanese capital, he said: “It is also a sign of greater value, multilateral, if you will, of global strategic value.”
“Italy’s commitment to the desire to contribute to peace and stability in the world by ensuring coordination in cooperation with other partners and countries in different areas, safety at sea and freedom of navigation, also in the Indo-Pacific, which, although it seems very distant, is in fact a continuation of the Atlantic-Mediterranean axis.” Strategic connotations, but also economic and commercial attractions, together with a growing and fruitful interweaving at the cultural level between nations that have always had an affinity with each other.
Hence the desire to repeat the success of the creation of the Villaggio Italia in Los Angeles, a successful international exhibition that brings together national excellence through creativity, research and innovation of Made in Italy, sustainability projects and the natural heritage of the Bel Paese.
Until August 30, the borders between Italy and Japan can be crossed more easily thanks to the Vespucci.
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