The Japanese South Polar Expedition 1910 12

This publication is a translation from the original Japanese, a compilation of eyewitness accounts of the first exploration of the Antarctic by the Japanese from 1910 to 1912, led by army lieutenant Nobu Shirase. The expedition's small ship, Kainan-maru, sailed from Tokyo on Nov. 29, 1910, but met with bad weather most of the way, to the point that the ship could not land when it reached the coast of Victoria Land, forcing the crew to head for Australia to regroup. The expedition took off again the next season and, this time, was able to reach Antarctica. Indeed, at the Great Ice Barrier, they met up with Roald Amundsen's ship, Fram, which was waiting for the return of its South Pole party (p. [3] of the plates has an ill. showing both vessels moored together there). While in Antarctica, the Shirase party was able to explore the lower slopes of the Alexandra Range in King Edward VII Land and, though they never reached the Pole, they accomplished many of their other goals. The expedition returned to Japan on June 12, 1912 to great acclaim.