The Fuji at dock in Nagoya Port

Sitting in the Port of Nagoya’s Garden Wharf, opposite the Nagoya Aquarium, is a large, bright orange and white ship with a large Sikorsky Sea King helicopter riding piggy back. This is the Japanese Antarctic survey ship, Fuji, a retired ice breaker that plied the South Pole for 18 years starting it’s first journey in 1965.

100 meters long, 11 meters wide and 22 meters high with a displacement of 5,250 tons, the diesel electric powered Fuji boasted a speed of 17 knots, (about 35 kilometers an hour) and carried a 245 capacity full crew and research team. The Fuji could break through ice as thick as 80 Centimeters. After many successful missions, Fuji was finally retired, and the fate of the icebreaker was in doubt.