Sailing Japan's inland sea

SHODOSHIMA, Japan -- I am peering over the prow into the cold placid water of Japan's Seto Inland Sea. My partner is at the helm and has his eyes trained on my back as we navigate out of the port of Omi on Shodoshima, an island in Kagawa prefecture where we had tied up overnight. It is a cool, pink-hued November morning and the sun has not yet fully risen. The motor of our yacht chugs sluggishly, reluctantly. We creep past seemingly endless rows of black fishing buoys bobbing in the sparkling water, marking hectares of nori seaweed nets that perform their function below the surface.