Alone on the Pacific (太平洋ひとりぼっち)

Winning nominee for the Geijutsu Sai (Arts Prize), 1963

Produced by Nikkatsu Ltd and Ishihara Promotions

Nikkatsu Productions Ltd

ALONE ACROSS THE PACIFIC

Produced by NAKAl Akira Based on the book by HORIE Kenichi

Screenplay by WADA Natto

Cinematography by YAMAZAKI Yoshihiro

Original music by AKUTAGAWA Yasushi and TAKEMITSU Toru

Cast

Horie Kenichi - ISHIHARA Yujiro

Kenichi's sister - ASAOKA Ruriko Master of shipyard - OSAKA Shiro

Kenichi's senior - HANA Hajime Carpenter - ASHIYA Gannosuke

Kenichi's mother - TANAKA Kinuyo Kenichi's father - MORI Masayuki

Directed by ICHIKAWA Kon

Lights!

MAY 12TH 1962 NISHINOMIYA HARBOUR

Under Japanese law, no small craft was allowed to leave the country.

The only way to do it...

...was in secret.

Hey, you're really going, no matter what?

Forgive me.

Let's go.

- Not a word to anyone about this. - You don't need to tell me that.

I don't want to make any trouble for you two.

Give it a week, then if anyone asks, just say I've gone.

Now I was totally alone.

I wasn't afraid... I felt good.

For five years, I'd been dreaming of this and now I was setting off.

My greatest fear was being caught In Japanese waters and forced back.

Those two had probably gone home.

All I wanted was to put Japan behind me, yet there was no wind!

10:00 pm. At last I had left Nishinomlya Harbour.

1 hour 20 minutes to get to the breakwater. Just 500 metres!

Slower than swimming!

Dawn arrived and still not the slightest breath of wind.

I was still in sight of the Nishinomlya lighthouse,

and it was really starting to get on my nerves.

Hey, is that yacht down there the same one we saw this morning?

What the hell's he doing?

Just bobbing along in the same place all day. He's in no hurry.

Yachts run on the wind,

so what's the point of fitting engines to them?

I built my yacht so that it couldn't take an engine.

Divine retribution for being so awkward.

As long as there was no wind, there was absolutely nothing I could do.

Even by nightfall, I was still in the middle of Osaka Bay.

I hadn't fitted any lights,

so I hung a lantern to warn any other boats that might collide with me.

But I was scared of getting caught,

so I was constantly hiding it every time a boat drew near!

What a palaver!

I'd been manning the rudder 24 hours and was exhausted and frozen.

My feet were wet in the long boots, but I just slept in the clothes I stood in.

I left the lantern burning.

As long as the authoritles didn't find my food supplies,

they wouldn't suspect anything.

I'm drifting eastwards.

11:00?

Right, then.

I'll catch up on my sleep.

Wind!

A northerly wind.

Let's go!

Thank you! Thank you!

I'd counted on reaching

the southern straits of Tomoga Island within 10 hours.

Now I was seeing them, 39 hours into my voyage!

...a south-southeasterly wind. Wind velocity: 6.

Rain. 1002 millibars. Temperature: 21 degrees.

For Tori Island...

Rain. 1000 millibars. 24 degrees.

At Hachijo Island, a south-easterly wind...

...1003 millibars. 28 degrees...

I was right, it's safer having no light.

Too many patrol boats in these waters. Thank goodness for the storm!

But really I was praying that somebody would come and rescue me!

Listen, I'm not telling you your business because you're the expert,

but this keel seems a little shaky.

Why don't you just wait until I've finished it?

- it's a bit loose. - Any complaints, speak to the guv'nor.

The Kingfisher hull is small but it's superbly designed.

These are the blueprints I bought in Yokohama for 10,000 yen.

It's no good if you don't follow the blueprints!

I am following the blueprints to the letter.

I've never heard of lauan-wood masts.

I promised you a hull for 200,000 yen, so a lauan-wood mast will have to do.

You're the one who came up with the figure of 200,000 yen!

I can't give you a penny more so please be fair with me.

You're always chopping and changing.

If you don't trust us, come in every day and supervise it.

I will, then!

Just look... it's seeping in from all directions.

Is there a single join that's safe?

Hey, look... there are gaps everywhere.

Every day I have to put up with this... Enough!

If you're only using 9-mm thick veneer, you've got to make sure it's a tight fit.

Boats absorb water when they're afloat.

Wood expands when it's in water.

I don't relish having to bail out bilge water from the ship's hull.

In a rocking boat, puking my guts up...

Give me some room, I can't do my work.

If a yacht takes on too much water, then it'll sink, simple as that.

I guarantee the boat'll be fine in the Seto Inland Sea.

As long as you bail out water faster than it comes in,

the boat won't sink.

Nine days into my voyage now.

Seems I've been drifting aimlessly in the seas around Shizuoka.

I'm halfway through my schedule already.

I allowed for being delayed near the Japanese coast,

but this was too much!

It rained almost non-stop every day, and pressure dropped in stormy seas.

What's the rest of the voyage going to be like?

Serves you right, leaving the country without permission!

Think bad thoughts and you'll be sent back home!

I don't care. Go ahead!

Japan is such a closed country.

I was fully prepared and confident in my skills,

but you wouldn't let me go.

But the law is the law!

It only allows things which are safe.

But nothing is totally safe.

Even battleships sink.

I started this and I'll see it through! I'll keep a watchful eye out!

I have to say, right, that you and me are the same person.

Can I trust you?

Just leave it to me!

Really?

You'll soon leave Japan behind you.

Stop weeping and start singing!

OK...

"Reef"? What's that?

Dictionary, dictionary...

"Hidden reef, shore reef..."

"To run aground on a reef."

That's something I'd better avoid.

"I shall walk with my head held high"

"So my tears won't fall..."

I discovered that crying can help to maintain mental wellbeing.

It feels good having a cry.

You can bawl your eyes out, no one's looking.

I wept as though I was utterly alone in this world.

If I say I'm not going, I won't go.

Where the hell is it? It should be put back where it belongs.

- Listen, Dad... - Go and ask your mother!

Mum just tells me to talk to you. I'm just going round in circles.

This is where it's been left!

Anyway, I've decided I'm not going to university,

but it'd make me feel better if I had your consent, Dad.

- Only because you want to go sailing! - Guess so.

Anyway, why can't you do both? That's what you've been doing so far.

I'll pay your tuition fees for you whatever happens.

Even if I wanted to go to university, I'd find a way of paying for myself.

Anyhow, I hate studying!

- I didn't even want to go to high school. - You can't sail yachts all your life!

- I'll work. - Where?

Here. I can work with you, Dad.

I don't want you to get into this business. Go back to school.

Doing the same as everyone else doesn't interest me.

Work isn't supposed to "interest" you, you stubborn fool!

You're the stubborn one!

Why do you say that?

I'm always easy-going, everybody'll tell you that.

You're going to university!

No way!

I'm just popping out.

Have you finished that work for Okazaki?

Not quite, but Yoshi said he'd finish it off.

- Off to Nishinomiya again? - That's right.

Your mother tells me you have a yacht now.

A mate invited me into part ownership with nine other guys,

so I own one tenth of the yacht.

A mate? What does he do for a living?

Runs a clothes shop, a shoe shop, a flower shop... This and that.

So the yacht's his pastime? He must be rolling in it, eh?

He's not rolling in it at all, that's why he asked me.

It's 100,000 yen per person to be paid in monthly instalments.

Since I earn only 10,000 a month, it's pretty tight!

10,000 yen? I'm paying you too much! I'll have to get you working harder.

You said you didn't want me working at the yard.

You came here of your own free will.

I never said that! I don't want to inherit this place off you.

I'm just hanging around here so you'll get rid of me.

Good-for-nothing!

I'm 20 years old now. I can take care of myself now.

If you did your job properly, I wouldn't have to discipline the others.

Just tell them to ignore me and get on with it. I'm off!

What?

Something you want to talk about?

So you're leaving and going to work somewhere else for a year?

- I was going to talk to you about it... - What's to talk about? You've decided.

If it was a regular job, fine, but it's only for a year!

- I don't want to be an office worker. - And after a year, then what?

A mate put a good word in for me, the salary's three times what I get here.

It's a travel agency, providing services for tourists travelling by boat or plane.

I'll be a driver, taking passengers' baggage to the airport.

You'll upset your mother even more.

Why?

You tried to hide it from her, but she realised all along

that all you want to do is sail off in your yacht.

Hanako said as much...