When we think of the great voyagers of the world, names like Columbus and Magellan come to mind. Here is a good opportunity to think about what I call the "niche" voyagers, explorers who went where others didn't think to go. One of my favorite niche voyagers is Takadaya Kahei.Takadaya Kahei was born in a land of mild waters, in a part of Japan then called Awaji, near what is now called Kobe, in 1769. He found work as a fisherman, and as soon as he could afford it, he bought his own ship. It was a ship unlike any the western world has ever used. Why? Because in those days, Japan was a closed country and ships were deliberately built to be unfit to go very far: no sturdy sides to keep out wild waves, no protected cabins for shelter on long trips, no Viking dragon-boat sort of industrial strength steering system.
Still, Takadaya Kahei went as far as he could make his boat sail: to Hokkaido, a huge northern territory not yet incorporated into Japan. What did Hokkaido need? Rice! Salt! Sake! Takadaya had those. What did Hokkaido have to sell? Marine products like salmon and edible seaweed. Takadaya Kahei had a ready market for all of them.
There is a lot more to tell about this intrepid merchant seaman. If you go to Hakodate, a port city in Hokkaido, by all means visit the Takadaya Kahei museum where the tools of his trade are on exhibit. Takadaya Kahei was a man who made boatloads of money in the kinds of trade we today call "win-win" transactions. He was a merchant who not only did well but also did good. Hakodate became a wonderful place to live, largely because of the efforts of Takadaya Kahei.
