I never really had an interest in the ocean, but I was captivated by what I learned from the Coast Guard officers I met. Forced boarding, Large Patrol Vessel, Dive Officer, heli-rescue: these were new terms to me, but they were all tinged with excitement. If I had grown up with a love of the sea, perhaps my ocean trilogy of Umizaru (The Sea Monkey), Tokkyu, and Wa ga Na wa Ｕｍｉｓｈｉ(My Name is Sea Master) would never have been born.

There can be found more than ten thousand species of microorganisms in just a few liters of seawater. There is great diversity among microorganisms, with some species capable of producing organic material from carbon dioxide and others capable of chemosynthesis and photosynthesis. Microorganisms with genetic instructions capable of making heavy metals insoluble have been discovered in plumes from thermal vents: just another example of how discoveries of new bio-planetary chemical functions might be found among microorganisms in the marine environment in the future.

The sea route taken from India to China by Bodhidharma, the founder of Chinese Zen Buddhism, is not known in detail, but I would like to here offer my own theory regarding the possibility of his having followed the maritime Silk Road. The Indian Ocean was an active trade route between India and China long before the birth of Christ, and undoubtedly Bodhidharma traveled the same route. A new project honoring the great teacher is now being planned in India.