February 28 1933
On Board SS General Lee

We arrive in Shanghai tomorrow noon. Seems that the trip is almost over. Believe me it is about time. I sent my last letter from Yokohama, by U. S. postage because the President Jefferson was sailing for Frisco the day we arrived. I had to use U. S. stamps and send the letter over to the boat to make the connection. We sailed from Yokohama at two P.M. The trip to Kobe is beautiful. The ship winds through the islands and the inland sea. You can't imagine the picturesque ness of the island--they are lovely. I described them quite lyrically in a letter to Jeannette which she will be glad to show you.

We were fortunate in Yokohama. We arrived there late at night and anchored in quarantine. Six-thirty A.M. we were mustered for medical and immigration inspection. The sun was just rising and there behind the city rose Fujiyama white with snow. It was a beautiful sight. Of course you have seen hundreds of pictures of Fuji and so have I, but in the flesh it is quite different. If you can imagine this, the mountain gives an impression of slenderness and grace. Not a broad based triangular gently shaped peak. Rather it rises abruptly with steep slopes almost like a tower, and with it all perfect symmetry. Not a bump or gash on or in its smooth sides. It seems that Fuji is modest and usually hides her face in clouds. We were lucky to see her as we did. I had no passport so could not get off the boat, but as much as I could see the city seemed very modern and like any American port. Shipping is heavy and there were hundreds of boats in the harbor. Rickshaws and native dressed women were certainly a foreign touch though."

We sailed from Yokohama for Kobe at 2 P.M. Just outside the harbor was literally hundreds of junks, fishing boats. With their queerly shaped hulls and ponderous square sails they presented quite a picture to my foreign eyes. And the jellyfish--the waters were filled with them. Look for them when you go through.

Our course to Kobe takes us between the islands and through the inland sea. I spent most of the afternoon on deck.

Japan is beautiful. The islands are rugged with hardly a level spot of ground. The hills and mountains are covered with trees that soften their angles. The sea is a deep sparkling blue. The coast is submerged with trees and greenery growing at the very waters edge. Once in a while a tiny cove will show a thin crescent of sand. The islands look as though they had sprung fully matured from beneath the indigo sea.

The coastlines are a maze of indentations and tiny coves with little fishing villages in each nook. Some of the houses are on the tiny level spots but many hang precariously upon the sides of the mountains, which spring from the waters edge. I am told that generations live and die in these villages without ever seeing another village.

We arrived at Kobe at night and of course stayed on the boat as usual. The next day, yesterday, we continued to thread our way through the islands. The fishing boats, junks, simply fill the sea and make navigation precarious. Vessels often ram and sink them. They say that it is often deliberate on the junkman's part. Of course the company has to buy them a new junk.

Last night we came to the last narrow channel between us and the yellow sea. It was six o'clock and the channel was filled with junks! We were proceeding with whistle screaming when sure enough the junks closed in, one right in our way. To miss it we headed for the shore-- engines reversed full speed. We missed the junk by 10 feet but it seemed that nothing could keep us from going aground. The Captain had the anchor dropped, but we dragged it. Finally it caught and we stopped within 2O feet of the shore. Too close for comfort.

Today we are on the open sea and making knots on a sea as smooth at glass. I have been on this boat so long that I wont remember proper land conduct. I am very anxious to arrive and see what it is all about. Well in four more days I will be at my journeys end. My letters are sadly lacking in information but I am as much in the dark as ever. I think of you all and wonder what you are doing! It seems ages since I left though it really hasn't been long. It seems that hundreds of things must have happened and I want to know what they are.

I expect to be pretty busy for a while after we arrive, but you can be sure I will give you all the information I can immediately. Until I have some startling information--

All my love, Stu.