For those swimmers who have attempted a crossing of the Tsugaru Channel in northern Japan, they know well the unpredictability of the 19.5 km stretch between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. What can start off as warm, smooth waters under calm conditions can transform into cold, turbulent waters with swirling winds and swollen seas. While the winds over the ocean surface can undeniably play havoc on a swimmer’s direction and progress, the underwater flows can have even more powerful impact on a swimmer’s progress.

The strength and direction of the Tsugaru Current is always an unknown in northern Japan, even for the Japanese fishermen who fish daily throughout the year.

The topography of coastline in Aomori (in the south) and Hokkaido (in the north) can create currents that flow up to 0.3 meters per second (see here). For each swimmer who aspires to cross the channel, the Tsugaru Current is the dominant eastward flow that meanders – seemingly randomly – during the summer months.

Back in August 1988, I understood why.

It was the first time that I had visited Tappi Misaki on the northernmost tip of Aomori Prefecture. I had the unexpected and unplanned opportunity to share a small inn at the tip of the cape with the engineers and hard-hat divers who had years working on the Seikan Tunnel. They shared with me the nuances of the water flows across the strait. Day after day, week after week, the divers and engineers went to work while I swam off the Aomori coast – both studying issues that were important to all of us.

The idea to connect the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido was proposed in the late 1920s and was opened in 1988 following decades of planning and construction.

Two years after the opening of the tunnel, the history of swimming across the Tsugaru Channel began [see list of swimmers below].

This AI-generated video [see here] presents a brief history of engineering and building the Seikan Tunnel that runs far below the Tsugaru Channel:

For swimmers and their support crew who stay at Hotel Tappi – that was build directly above the tunnel – there is a display in the hotel lobby that commemorates the Seikan Tunnel that passes deep below the surface. When a train travels through the underground Seikan Tunnel directly beneath the hotel, a display in the lobby lights up. The hotel is also located a short walk from the Seikan Tunnel Museum visitors can ride a cable car down 140 meters below sea level into the actual service and construction tunnels

History of Swimming Across The Tsugaru Channel

1. David Yudovin (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 13 hours 10 minutes (July 1990)
2. Steven Munatones (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 6 hours 11 minutes (July 1990)
3. Steven Munatones (USA) Hokkaido-to-Honshu in 6 hours 39 minutes (July 1990)
4. Chieko Osako (Japan) Hokkaido-to-Honshu in 12 hours 28 minutes (August 1994)
5. Miyuki Fujita (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 36 minutes (2005)
6. Miyuki Fujita (Japan) Hokkaido-to-Honshu on 31 August 2006
7. Miyuki Fujita (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido on 2 September 2006
8. Miyuki Fujita (Japan) Hokkaido-to-Honshu on 4 September 2006
9. Masayuki Moriya (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 55 minutes (2011 in a wetsuit)
10. Penny Palfrey (Australia) Hokkaido-to-Honshu in 14 hours 30 minutes (2011)
11. Darren Miller (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 15 hours 55 minutes (2012)
12. Stephen Redmond (Ireland) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 12 hours 45 minutes (2012)
13. Michelle Macy (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 8 hours 55 minutes (2012)
14. Forrest Nelson (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 9 hours 26 minutes (2012)
15. Craig Lenning (USA) Hokkaido-to-Honshu in 10 hours 44 minutes (2012)
16. Pat Gallant-Charette (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 19 hours 36 minutes (2012)
17. Anna-Carin Nordin (Sweden) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 19 hours 11 minutes (2012)
18. Kenichi Setsumasa (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 7 hours 30 minutes (2012)
19. Adam Walker (Great Britain) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 15 hours 31 minutes (2013)
20. Kimberley Chambers (New Zealand) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 9 hours 38 minutes (2014)
21. Attila Mányoki (Hungary) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 7 hours 29 minutes (2014)
22. Guy Moar (Australia) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 32 minutes (2015)
23. Daniel Curtis (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 13 hours 39 minutes (2015)
24. Antonio Argüelles (Mexico) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 12 hours 38 minutes (2015)
25. Rohans More (India) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 10 hours 37 minutes (2015)
26. Liz Fry (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 15 hours 48 minutes (2015)
27. Abhejali Bernardova (Czech Republic) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 7 minutes (2016)
28. Stephen Junk (Australia) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 2 minutes (2016)
29. Honoka Hasegawa (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 8 hours 31 minutes (2016)
30. Toshio Tominaga (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 9 hours 58 minutes (2016)
31. Elizabeth Fry (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 15 hours 48 minutes (2016)
32. Ion Lazarenco Tiron (Moldova) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 20 minutes (2017)
33. Jorge Crivilles Villanueva (Spain) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 8 hours 28 minutes (2017)
34. Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 14 hours 2 minutes (2017)
35. Prabhat Raju Koli (India) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 9 hours 52 minutes (2017)
36. Cameron Bellamy (South Africa) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 7 minutes 2(2018)
37. Ryan Utsumi (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 8 hours 46 minutes (2018)
38. Nora Toledano Cadena (Mexico) Honshu-to-Hokkaido with Mariel Hawley Dávila in 6 hours 20 minutes (2018)
39. Mariel Hawley Dávila (Mexico) Honshu-to-Hokkaido with Nora Toledano Cadena in 6 hours 20 minutes (2018)
40. André Wiersig (Germany) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 12 hours 55 minutes (2018)
41. Andrew Hunt (Australia) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 10 hours 52 minutes (2018)
42. Tomonari Ogino (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 12 hours 5 minutes (2018 in a wetsuit)
43. Thomas Pembroke (Australia) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 15 hours 1 minutes (2018)
44. Lynton Mortensen (Australia) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 9 hours 34 minutes (2018)
45. Masaki Sugita (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 13 hours 18 minutes (2018)
46. Simon Olliver (New Zealand) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 58 minutes (2018)
47. Bogusław Ogrodnik (Poland) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 12 hours 30 minutes (2018)
48. Jonathan Ratcliffe (UK) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 0 minutes (2019)
49. Claire Faranda (France) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 9 hours 51 minutes (2019)
50. Kieron Palframan (South Africa) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 8 hours 41 minutes (2019)
51. Nathalie Pohl (Germany) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 10 hours 9 minutes (2019)
52. Marcia Cleveland (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 10 hours 11 minutes (2019)
53. Dina Levačić (Croatia) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 7 hours 13 minutes (2019)
54. Matthias Kaßner (Germany) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 9 hours 45 minutes (2019)
55. Emre Erdogan (Turkey) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 7 hours 36 minutes (2019)
56. Luca Pozzi (Italy) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 8 hours 20 minutes (2019)
57. Herman van der Westhuizen (South Africa) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 10 hours 22 minutes (2019)
58. Kieron Palframan (South Africa) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 8 hours 49 minutes (2019)
59. Mitsuru Okazaki (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 9 hours 57 minutes (2021 in a wetsuit)
60. Caitlin O’Reilly (New Zealand) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 37 minutes (2022)
61. Tariq Qazi (USA/Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 20 minutes (2022)
62. Ayaka Matsushita (Japan) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 10 hours 59 minutes (2022)
63. Andrew Donaldson (Scotland) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 13 hours 4 minutes (2023)
64. Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Chile) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 11 hours 40 minutes (2024)
65. Mark Sowerby (Australia) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 10 hours 6 minutes (2024)
66. Zach Margolis (USA) Honshu-to-Hokkaido in 10 hours 13 minutes (2024)
67. Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria) Honshu-Hokkaido in 9 hours 30 minutes (2024)
68. Paul Georgescu (Romania) Honshu-Hokkaido in 7 hours 31 minutes (2024)
69. Steven Leitch (USA) Honshu-Hokkaido in 10 hours 3 minutes (2025)
70. Eduardo Collazos Valle-Guayo (Peru) Honshu-Hokkaido in 12 hours 11 minutes (2025)
71. Rob Woodhouse (Australia) Honshu-Hokkaido in 11 hours 50 minutes (2025)
72. Andreas Waschburger (Germany) Honshu-Hokkaido in 8 hours 43 minutes (2025)
73. Alessandra Cima (Brazil) Honshu-Hokkaido in 13 hours 39 minutes (2025)
74. Bengisu Avci (Turkey) Honshu-Hokkaido in 14 hours 30 minutes (2025)
75. Joanne Norman (Australia) Honshu-Hokkaido in 13 hours 17 minutes (2025)
76. Paul Leonard (Great Britain) Honshu-Hokkaido in 11 hours 45 minutes (2026)
77. Gráinne Moss (Ireland) Honshu-Hokkaido in 12 hours 39 minutes (2026)
78. Karen Ennis (Great Britain) Honshu-Hokkaido in 13 hours 14 minutes (2026)
79. Rob Lea (USA) Honshu-Hokkaido in 11 hours 44 minutes (2026)
80. Anshuman Jhingran (India) Honshu-Hokkaido in 12 hours 39 minutes (2026)
81. Joe Zemaitis (USA) Honshu-Hokkaido in 11 hours 51 minutes (2026)
82. Sandra Ramírez Vinay (Mexico) Honshu-Hokkaido in 10 hour 6 minutes (2026)
83. Andrey Bozhko (Russia) Honshu-Hokkaido in 8 hour 20 minutes (2026)
84. Toni Enderli (Switzerland) Honshu-Hokkaido in 9 hours 40 minutes (2026)
85. Aysu Türkoğlu (Turkey) Honshu-Hokkaido in 13 hours 44 minutes (2026)
86. Sarah Poplar (New Zealand) Honshu-Hokkaido in 9 hours 14 minutes 48 seconds (2026)
87. Josef Köberl (Austria) Honshu-Hokkaido in 10 hours 25 minutes (2026)
88. Jaime Lomelín Gavaldón Honshu-Hokkaido in 10 hours 38 minutes (2026)
89. Michael Payne (Australia) Honshu-Hokkaido in 7 hours 46 minutes (September 2026)

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