Overlooking Tsugaru Channel between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan – one of the Oceans Seven channels – is a large stone monument that pays tribute to a song by Ishikawa Sayuri called Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyugeshiki (津軽海峡冬景色 that means Tsugaru Winter Scene in English).
Ishikawa is one of the most-recognized and successful Japanese enka singers in history. The English-language translation of the lyrics of her hit song of 1977 are etched into the stone and are as followers:
Since I stepped off the night train departing from Ueno, Aomori Station was within the snow In the crowd of people returning north, everyone is silent.
I hear only the rumbling of the sea I, too, ride alone on a connecting ferry. I gazed at the seagulls that seemed like they would freeze and cried.
Ah, the Tsugaru Strait winter scenery…
Look, that is Cape Tappi, at the outskirts of the north. People I do not recognize point their fingers.
I tried wiping the window glass that my breath clouded up, But I see only haze in the distance.
Goodbye, my dear. I am going back.
The sound of the wind shakes my chest, and all I can do is cry.
Ah, the Tsugaru Strait winter scenery…
Goodbye, my dear. I am going back.
The sound of the wind shakes my chest, and all I can do is cry. Ah, the Tsugaru Strait winter scenery…
In contemporary times, now marathon swimmers from around the world – like Mark Sowerby – swim across the channel, at least in summer.
Successful Tsugaru Channel Swimmers
1. David Yudovin (USA) 13 hours 10 minutes (1990)
2. Steven Munatones (USA) 6 hours 11 minutes (1990)
3. Steven Munatones (USA) in 6 hours 39 minutes (1990)
4. Chieko Osako (Japan) 12 hours 28 minutes (1994)
5. Miyuki Fujita (Japan) 11 hours 36 minutes (2005)
6. Miyuki Fujita (Japan) in 200
7. Miyuki Fujita (Japan) in 2006
8. Miyuki Fujita (Japan) in 2006
9. Masayuki Moriya (Japan) 11 hours 55 minutes (2011, wetsuit)
10. Penny Palfrey (Australia) 14 hours 30 minutes (2011)
11. Darren Miller (USA) 15 hours 55 minutes (2012)
12. Stephen Redmond (Ireland) 12 hours 45 minutes (2012)
13. Michelle Macy (USA) 8 hours 55 minutes (2012)
14. Forrest Nelson (USA) 9 hours 26 minutes (2012)
15. Craig Lenning (USA) 10 hours 44 minutes (2012)
16. Pat Gallant-Charette (USA) 19 hours 36 minutes (2012)
17. Anna-Carin Nordin (Sweden) 19 hours 11 minutes (2012)
18. Kenichi Setsumasa (Japan) 7 hours 30 minutes (2012)
19. Adam Walker (Great Britain) 15 hours 31 minutes (2013)
20. Kimberley Chambers (New Zealand) 9 hours 38 minutes (2014)
21. Attila Mányoki (Hungary) 7 hours 29 minutes (2014)
22. Guy Moar (Australia) 11 hours 32 minutes (2015)
23. Daniel Curtis (USA) 13 hours 39 minutes (2015)
24. Antonio Argüelles (Mexico) 12 hours 38 minutes (2015)
25. Rohans More (India) 10 hours 37 minutes (2015)
26. Abhejali Bernardova (Czech Republic) 11 hours 7 minutes (2016)
27. Stephen Junk (Australia) 11 hours 2 minutes (2016)
28. Honoka Hasegawa (Japan) 8 hours 31 minutes (2016)
29. Toshio Tominaga (Japan) 9 hours 58 minutes (2016)
30. Elizabeth Fry (USA) 15 hours 48 minutes (2016)
31. Ion Lazarenco Tiron (Moldova) 11 hours 20 minutes (2017)
32. Jorge Crivilles Villanueva (Spain) 8 hours 28 minutes (2017)
33. Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey) 14 hours 2 minutes 9 seconds (2017)
34. Prabhat Raju Koli (India) 9 hours 52 minutes (2017)
35. Cameron Bellamy (South Africa) 11 hours 7 minutes 28 seconds (2018)
36. Ryan Utsumi (USA) 8 hours 46 minutes (2018)
37. Nora Toledano Cadena (Mexico) 6 hours 20 minutes (2018)
38. Mariel Hawley Dávila (Mexico) 6 hours 20 minutes (2018)
39. André Wiersig (Germany) 12 hours 55 minutes (2018)
40. Andrew Hunt (Australia) 10 hours 52 minutes (2018)
41. Tomonari Ogino (Japan) 12 hours 5 minutes (2018, wetsuit)
42. Thomas Pembroke (Australia) 15 hours 1 minutes (2018)
43. Lynton Mortensen (Australia) 9 hours 34 minutes (2018)
44. Masaki Sugita (Japan) 13 hours 18 minutes (2018)
45. Simon Olliver (New Zealand) 11 hours 58 minutes (2018)
46. Bogusław Ogrodnik (Poland) 12 hours 30 minutes (2018)
47. Jonathan Ratcliffe (UK) 11 hours 0 minutes (2019)
48. Claire Faranda (France) 9 hours 51 minutes (2019)
49. Kieron Palframan (South Africa) 8 hours 41 minutes (2019)
50. Nathalie Pohl (Germany) 10 hours 9 minutes (2019)
51. Marcia Cleveland (USA) 10 hours 11 minutes (2019)
52. Dina Levacic (Croatia) 7 hours 13 minutes (2019)
53. Matthias Kaßner (Germany) 9 hours 45 minutes (2019)
54. Emre Erdogan (Turkey) 7 hours 36 minutes (2019)
55. Luca Pozzi (Italy) 8 hours 20 minutes (2019)
56. Herman van der Westhuizen (South Africa) 10 hours 22 minutes (2019)
57. Mitsuru Okazaki (Japan) 9 hours 57 minutes (2021, wetsuit)
58. Caitlin O’Reilly (New Zealand) 11 hours 37 minutes (2022)
59. Tariq Qazi (USA/Japan) 11 hours 20 minutes (2022)
60. Ayaka Matsushita （Japan) 10 hours 59 minutes (2022)
61. Andrew Donaldson (Scotland) 13 hours 4 minutes (2023)
62. Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Chile) 11 hours 40 minutes (2024)
63. Mark Sowerby (Australia) 10 hours 6 minutes (2024)
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