Just One More Loop : Can You Run 342km In 51 Hours?

 

Joshua Toh after completing 342km.
Photo : Singapore Army via FB

Just One More Loop. That's the slogan of Backyard Ultra, where competitors run loops of 6.706km on the hour with the winner being the last person who can still finish that extra lap after everyone else has given up or failed. 

In the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship event held concurrently in 37 countries on 15th Oct 2022, special forces officer Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Toh emerged the winner in the Singapore chapter of the race, after completing 51 laps in as many hours, for a mind boggling total distance of 342km. In the process he had also rewritten the national record which stood at 34 laps and his own previous personal record which was 23 laps.

Read on to find out why his feat was so remarkable.

Backyard Ultra World Team Championships Logo. Image : Backyard Ultra

Backyard Ultra

Ultra as in ultramarathon, defined as any running distance more than the standard marathon distance of 42.195km. The rules of Backyard Ultra are simple. Runners have to complete a 6.706km ( 4.167 mile ) loop within one hour and begin on the next lap at the start of the next hour. The runner who can outlast all other competitors with an extra lap will be declared the winner and all the other runners would be considered DNF ( Did Not Finish ). So essentially, this is a race without a definite finish line. How far the winner has to run depends on how far the next best runner can run. 

And why does each loop or yard measure exactly 6.706 km? It is because the original idea of the Backyard Ultra was to have runners complete 100 miles in 24 hours. That will be 4.167 miles or 6705.6 m every hour. Rounding up, we get the distance of 6.706 km per yard. It takes 7 yards to reach ultramarathon territory.

The Backyard Ultra World Team Championships did not take place in 2021 due to the Covid Pandemic but it is back in full swing this year. In all, 37 countries participated including Ukraine, Belgium, Finland, Japan, Singapore and even Malaysia. Notably absent were Russia and China, terrorists, cheats, liers and bullies which nobody would miss anyway.

The races were held in each individual country and had began concurrently on 15th Oct 2022. Each country would field a team comprising 15 of their best endurance runners and the team which accumulated the most yards would be the winner.

Joshua's Remarkable Feat

To achieve Joshua Toh's 342km in 51 hours is a Herculean task with many obstacles standing in the way. The runners would obviously have to be physically very fit in the first place.They have to constantly maintain proper nutrition and hydration while on the move. They would have to manage sleep deprivation as the race would likely last for at least 2 if not 3 days or longer. Then there would be climate and weather issues to contend with, especially in tropical Singapore where daytime temperatures can reach 90F or higher and relative humidity can be as high as 90% or above. Besides these, having the mental strength to self-motivate and run repeated loops of monotonous track is also a necessity.

Firstly, running speed. If you are required to complete a 6.706 km loop in an hour, you must achieve at least 7kmh or faster so that you can have some time for a short break before the start of the next loop. That may not sound like a big deal but I can tell you it is not easy because I have timed myself running 6.7km. It took me about 49 minutes, meaning I would have about 11 minutes to eat, drink, have a toilet break or just rest, until the next round begins. Repeat that 50 more times and you get the idea. In case you are wondering, I had just completed a 100km ultramarathon in Dorset ( D+2200m ) and a 75km ultra-trail in Salzburg ( D+4000m ) this summer.

Next, runners have to be constantly eating to fuel the run, about 300 calories worth of food every hour, in divided doses. Without the regular supply of food, the body would deplete its glycogen reserves within 2 or 3 hours and running speed will be greatly reduced ( hitting the wall ). Joshua would be eating during the short interval between the loops and perhaps also during the run itself. Some runners view an ultramarathon event as a grand eating contest and that has a lot of truth in it. He who eats the most ( and could digest it all ) wins! Fortunately, since the race tract is in the form of a loop, the logistics to supply the runners with food should be quite straight forward.

Joshua Toh and Deric Lau drenched in perspiration
at start of the 41st yard. Photo : Naresh kumar via FB

Maintaining adequate hydration is another crucial aspect of ultra-running. Dehydration of just 2% ( losing water equivalent to 2% of body weight ) can already cause a significant degradation of physical performance. In the hot and humid climate of Singapore, many runners are just drenched in sweat and all that water and mineral loss has to be replaced precisely. Again, a relatively short looped tract meant supplying iso-tonic drinks and water was less of a logistic problem and runners would not have to carry a hydration pack on their backs. 

30 year Climate Mean. Data : Meteorological Service Singapore

The climate was perhaps the most difficult to manage problem for the Singapore chapter of the Backyard Ultra Team Championships. Where as teams from temperate countries like the USA and Japan are currently enjoying the cool autumn temperatures with low humidity, tropical countries like Singapore and Malaysia are hot and humid year round. The daytime outdoor temperatures can be 90F or higher and coupled with the high relative humidity of 65% to 90% can cause heat cramps, heat stress or even heat stroke which can be potentially fatal. Apart from these, runners will also have to shield their eyes from the ultraviolet rays and protect themselves from sunburn. 

Cooling down with sponging. Photo : Singapore Army via FB

Then there is sleep deprivation to deal with. To run for 51 hours meant going without sleep for more than 2 days. That is really difficult even with the help of the strongest coffee or caffeine infused sports gel. I was struggling to keep myself awake after running for 20 hours at a 100 mile race which I DNF 2 years ago. This year the same thing happened in Dorset and I found myself periodically drifting towards the bush after running for about 18 hours and 90km. I was running / walking like a zombie! With fatigue setting in and the darkness surrounding everything except the tunnel of light from the headlamp, the pre-dawn hours were the hardest to stay awake!

In addition, Backyard Ultra is one where neither the duration nor distance is pre-determined and it is this type of race that requires the participant to have the strongest mental resilience to achieve success. How would you motivate youself to keep running, kilometre after kilometre, under the hot sun, in the driving rain, in the darkness of the night, with seemingly no end in sight. How would you force yourself to continue moving in the same boring endless loop repeatedly, for the nth time? This backyard ultra format is possibly the most punishing form of ultra-marathon, and possibly one with the highest percentage of DNFs. *

support crew at work : fan, wet towels, massage, fluids. 
Photo : Singapre Army FB

And finally, there is the stupendous amount of ground to cover in 2 or maybe 3 days, depending on how long your strongest opponent cum team mate could last. Imagine pounding the trail or road for more than 300km within less than 3 days, your muscles, bones, joints, tendons and ligaments would have to withstand the repeated impact of your feet striking the ground and that is not for the faint hearted. At a cadence of 180 steps per minute, assuming the average runner completes each yard in 45mins, Joshua Toh would have 180x45x51 or 413100 ground strikes running for 51 yards. Fortunately he seemed to have a large support crew who could tend to his sore calves in between running the loops. 342km is  equivalent to the distance between Tokyo and Nagoya or exactly twice the distance of Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc ( UTMB ) without the altitude gains.

World Team Championships 2022 rankings

Team SG

Achieving The Seemingly Impossible

At 45 years old LTC Joshua Toh is not exactly young, but endurance athletes tend to peak in their performance in the thirties or even forties, with experience being just as important as physical strength. He is a Singapore Armed Forces ( SAF ) officer with HQ Special Operations Task Force and he attributed a large part of his success to his military training and had this to say. " I strongly believe that training such as the SAF Ranger Course and Special Forces training have strengthened my resolve, mental resilience, and contributed towards my success in the race. This race is a combination of both physical fitness and mental resilience, the latter being much more crucial in this race as compared to a regular race". While one does not have to be a SEAL or equivalent to win the Backyard Ultra, it goes without saying that after surviving Hell Week, anything else can be possible! 

Helping him achieve the impossible was his training partner, team mate and competitor, fellow SAF reserve officer Major Deric Lau. Deric is 46 years old and completed 50 yards, pushing Joshua to keep on running that one extra loop. It can be said that without the assistance of Deric, Joshua probably would not have done 51 yards. Both deserve our greatest respect.

A jubilant Joshua Toh with fellow team mates and support crew
Photo : Singapore Army via FB

His team of support crew would have been crucial too, to give him the best chances of success in this race with no definite finish line. 

As the winner of the Singapore Backyard Ultra 2022, Joshua gets the chance to compete with elite runners from all over the world next year in the World Championships held in the USA. We wish him success.

Backyard Ultra's Official Teaser for World Team Championship 2022. You can also watch it here

* Footnote : This year 2 Belgians, Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert, broke the magical ceiling of 100 yards and created a new world record of 101 yards ( yes, that's 4 days and 5 hours ) and ran an astounding 677km each. After that, they hugged and both refused to continue on the next yard though they could have. Since neither ran an extra lap more than the other, no winner was declared and both runners technically DNF! This created a very unfamiliar situation, where there were not one but two champions in a record breaking tie and both, together with every other runner in Team Belgium, DNF. And both will be invited to the 2023 World Championship. Go figure!

FFM-4 JS Mikuma's Ship Crest : Legend Of The Sun And The Hawk

FFM-4 JS Mikuma's Logo Mark. Image : JMSDF

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ( JMSDF ) had just unveiled the ship emblem of its fourth Mogami-class multi-mission stealth frigate the JS Mikuma ( FFM-4 ). It was the result of a design competition which was open to the public from 6th Jun to 5th Jul 2022. Out of a total of 157 submissions, the winning piece was selected by the pre-commissioning ship crew themselves and it featured a mythical hawk known as the Hitaka, the sun, the moon, a star ( Polaris ) and the Big Dipper. 

Apart from Polaris and the Big Dipper, all the above entities are key characters in the Legend of the Sun and Hawk ( 日と鷹神話 ) recorded in the ancient text known as Toyonishi Manuscript ( 豊西記 ). It is the story of the creation of the Mikuma river and the three hills around it.

In Japanese, the ship's crest or emblem is known as the logo mark ( ロゴマーク rogo maku ). My previous articles on the JS Mogami and the JS Kumano's logo mark can be found here, JS Noshiro's here and that of the JS Ise's possibly plagiarised logo mark here. 　

Manga rendition of the Legend of the Sun and the Hawk
 by Kuze Mizuki. Image : yamataikoku9.web.fc2.com

Sun and Hawk Legend

The Mikuma River ( 三隈川 mikumagawa ), namesake of the multi-mission frigate JS Mikuma , refers to the section of the Chikugo River that flows westward through the city of Hita right in the heart of Kyushu. The Hita Basin ( 日田盆地 Hita Bonchi ) is located just north of one of Kyushu's most active volcano Mt Aso and it is surrounded by mountains. It lies within the boundaries of Oita Prefecture, an area known in the past as Bungonokuni ( 豊後国 ).

Legend had it that a long long time ago there was a gigantic lake in the Hita Basin. One day, a humongous bird known as the Sun Hawk ( 日鷹 Hitaka ) flew across the lake from the east, dipped the feathers of its wings into the water and then flew north as the sun rises and disappeared. That immediately triggered off terrifying earth tremors and suddenly turned day into night.

The huge whirlpools formed and monstrous waves battered the cliffs on the western banks of the lake for three days and three nights. The cliffs eventually collapsed and the water gushed out and formed the westward flowing Mikuma River. As a result of the outflow, the lake was completely drained. The torrent also created three knolls which are known as the Hill of the Sun ( 日隈 Hinokuma ) to the south, Hill of the Moon  ( 月隈 Tsukikuma ) to the north and the Hill of the Star (星隈 Hoshikuma ) to the west. 

Collectively these hills are known as the Three Hills of Mikuma ( 三隈三山 Mikuma Sanzan ) or the Three Knolls of Hita ( 日田三丘 Hita Mitsuo ). These geological features still define the terrain where the Mikuma river flows through today.

Hita City, Mikuma River and the three hills

Could this ancient foklore have a possible scientific explanation? Absolutely! Japan has numerous active and dormant volcanos and many of these have caldera lakes. The rims of these crater lakes are subjected to weathering and erosion and can obviously be destroyed by subsequent seismic activities or even an eruption. Mt Aso, located just south of Hita City, has a caldera with a circumference of 120km, one of the biggest in the world, and that could have once been filled with water. Satellite imagery even showed a breach over its western rim from which a river flowed.

Aso Caldera NS 25km, EW 17km. Circumference 120km. Wikipedia

JS Mikuma's Logo Mark

The ship's crest of the JS Mikama takes a pentagonal shape with the silhouette of the mythical Sun Hawk in black prominantly featured at its centre. Its wings are spread and stretched right across the entire crest with the wingtips extending a little beyond the geometry of the crest. Superimposed on the hawk are the silhouettes of water in light blue and that of the warship in grey. They signify that the JS Mikuma will have the power of the water to move forcefully forwards.

Above the hawk is the sun, which represents Hinokuma, the hill of the sun. It is positioned above all perhaps because in Shintoism the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Okami is regarded as the supreme deity.

The moon at the lower left represents the Tsukikuma, the hill of the moon. According to JMSDF, the star at the lower right of the crest is Polaris ( 北極星 Hokkyokusei ), the north star. It represents the Hoshikuma, the hill of the star. Next to it is the asterism known as the Big Dipper ( 北斗七星 Hokutoshichisei ) with its seven stars in its familiar inverted ladle configuration. Interestingly, these stars are orientated in the correct position as they would in the night sky, with the two stars of the Big Dipper's bowl pointing towards Polaris. Kudos to the designer for getting this right! Together, Polaris and the Big Dipper would herald safe navigation on the high seas.

The crest is framed by a perimeter of dark grey within which the words Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is written at the top and FFM-4 JS Mikuma is written at the bottom. Lastly, the words みくま, the ship's name in hiragana, is placed in front of the silhouettes of the hawk, water and warship. 

JS Mikuma's ship crest was designed by Sasaki Ruri ( 佐々木留理 ) from Nara Prefecture.

Stars of the Big Dipper's bowl points towards Polaris ( top right )
Image : Miguel Claro via Space.com

Note : The Japanese kanji character 三 ( mi ) means three while 隈 ( kuma ) means corner or nook. In combination 三隈 ( Mikuma ) literally means three corners or three nooks. However, in this case we know that it means the three hills of Hita.　

Third Taigei-Class Submarine JS Jingei Launched

 

SS515 Jingei Launched in MHI's Kobe shipyard

The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force ( JMSDF ) had launched its third Taigei-class submarine on 12 Oct 2022 at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Kobe shipyard. It was named the Jingei, meaning swift whale. This came almost one year since the launch of the second-in-class the Hakugei which means white whale.

The Taigei-class submarines are advanced designs with lithium-ion batteries instead of the tried and proven lead-acid batteries. In Japanese, taigei means " big whale ". It is now almost certain that the entire class will be named after whales.

This will be the second Japanese naval vessel to bear the name Jingei, the first being the Imperial Japanese Navy ( IJN ) submarine tender which was launched in 1922 and saw service in World War Two. In kanji ( Chinese characters ), Jingei would be written as 迅鯨. In hiragana it would be じんげい.

Since the IJN warships always had their names in kanji, in order to distinguish their modern warships from those of the IJN's WWII vessels, JMSDF deliberately avoids expressing the ship's name in kanji and officially uses the hiragana form instead.

According to the JMSDF ship naming convention, submarines would be named after maritime phenomenon, marine animals and auspicious creatures. The name jingei conjures a majestic whale, King of the Ocean, streaking through the waves at breakneck speeds ...

The Jingei will be commissioned around March 2024.

The Jingei is the 1330th ship built by the MHI Kobe shipyard. JMSDF

The Jingei all dressed up for the launch and naming ceremony. JMSDF

I name thee ... Jingei. JMSDF

SS515 Jingei ( じんげい ) name revealed. JMSDF

View from VIP stand with naming documents. JMSDF

Cord cutting with sacred ship launching silver axe followed. JMSDF

Sacred silver axe for launching the JS Jingei. JMSDF

The Jingei is launched. JMSDF

Ribbons flutter amidst the lively tune of the Gunkan March. JMSDF

Watch the Video below :

Shachihoko : FFM-3 JS Noshiro Selects Mythical Tiger Fish For Ship's Emblem

 

JS Noshiro's ship crest or logo mark. Image : JMSDF

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ( JMSDF ) had just unveiled the ship emblem of its third Mogami-class multi-mission stealth frigate the JS Noshiro ( FFM-3 ). It was the result of a design competition which was open to the public from 24th Feb to 25th Mar 2022. The winning piece was selected by the pre-commissioning ship crew themselves and it featured a mythical creature known as the shachihoko which has the head of a tiger and the body of a fish. 

The shachihoko is a well known cultural entity in Noshiro City, Akita Prefecture. It is found adorning the top of gigantic castle floats which are lighted up at night and paraded in the streets to celebrate the Tanabata Festival which is usually held in early August every year.

In Japanese, the ship's crest or emblem is known as the logo mark ( ロゴマーク rogo maku ). My previous articles on the JS Mogami and the JS Kumano's logo mark can be found here and that of the JS Ise's possibly plagiarised logo mark here. 　

Noshiro

The JS Noshiro was named after the Noshiro River ( 能代川 noshirogawa ) in Akita Prefecture. For most of its 136km course, this Class A river is actually known as the Yoneshiro River ( 米代川 yoneshirogawa ). It has its source in the Ou Mountains of the Hachimantai Plateau and flows westwards to the Sea of Japan. 

At the end of its journey to the sea, the Yoneshiro River reaches the city of Noshiro and that last section near the river mouth is commonly known as the Noshiro River.

Noshiro City has a population of just under 50000 and is most famously known for the way its people celebrated the Tanabata Festival with giant lantern castle floats that seemed to reach up to the summer night sky. These humongous structures are assembled with the help of construction cranes and the biggest ever built measured 24.1m in height. Their sides would be painted with pictures depicting anything from fauna to flora, folks going through their daily chores such as fishing, farming and wood cutting, battlefield scenes and the top of the structures would invariably be adorned with several prominent pairs of shachihokos - the fearsome looking Japanese tiger fish that is commonly found on the roof top of a castle's main keep. 

Noshiro City's Lantern Castle with Shachihoko.
Photo : Noshiro City Official WP

Tanabata has its origins from the ancient Chinese Cowherd and Weaver Girl folk tale. It is said that a long time ago, on the eastern bank of the Celestial River lived Orihime ( 織姫 ) a talented weaver girl who was the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor. She would create colourful fabric for the clouds in the skies day in and day out. However, she eventually got tired of this monotonous life and the Emperor, having taken pity on her, married her to Hikoboshi ( 彦星 ) the cowherd from the western bank.

The cowhead and the weaver girl loved each other and lived a blissful marriage life. With their new found happiness Orihime subsequently neglected her weaving duties and Hikoboshi stopped tending his herd. That angered the Heavenly Emperor. He separated the couple and confined them to the opposite sides of the Celestial River and only allowed them to meet once a year on the seven day of the seventh month. It is said that the magpies are so touched by the loving bond between the cowherd and the weaver girl that they would form a bridge across the Celestial River on that evening for the annual reunion of the couple over the river.

Tanabata : Orihime and Hikoboshi on magpie bridge.
Image : Anhellica

Today, we can still see the characters of this ancient legend immortalised in the summer night sky. The Celestial River is the Milkyway Galaxy which stretches across the sky like a silvery flow of water. The cowherd is represented by the bright star Altair in the constellation of Aquila on one side of the Milkyway while on the other side lies the even brighter weaver star Vega in the constellation of Lyra. The Chinese believed that if a woman prayed to the Weaver Star on that night, she would receive wisdom and also agility and dexterity, characteristics that could go a long way in maintaining a blissful marriage.

Vega and Altair and the Milkyway ( light blue zone ) in the
 summer night sky. Image : In-the-sky.org

In Japan, Tanabata ( 七夕 ) which literally means the evening of the seventh, is at times celebrated on the 7th of July ( Gregorian calendar ) but traditionally it would be the seventh day of the seventh month on the Japanese lunisolar calender which meant that day would be some time in August. It is also known as the Star Festival ( 星祭り hoshi matsuri ) and is observed not just in Noshiro City alone but everywhere across the country. However each region has its own way of celebrating this festival, like Sendai City with its Tanabata decorations made from paper and bamboo hanging in the streets and fireworks show. 

Tanabata decorations of Sendai City. Photo : Rakuten Travel

Noshiro's unique towering lantern castles was an age old tradition that dated back to the Edo period. During the Tenpo era ( 1830 -1844 ), a lantern float was made in the image of the Nagoya Castle and it proved to be popular. It had been created almost every year since then. There is photographic proof that during the Meiji era, there existed a lantern that measured 17.6m in height and 5.4m in width. However with the rapid industrialisation and electrification of Japan, street level electric cables limited the height of the lantern castles to about 7 to 8m. In recent years, the electric cables along Noshiro City's Route 101 were buried underground and the city started on a project to restore the gigantic castle floats to their original size in 2012 with the aim to promote tourism.

The following year, a castle float measuring exactly 17.6m was crafted based on the Meiji era photo and was named Karoku, in the memory of an Edo period carpenter Miyakoshi Karoku ( 宮腰嘉六 ) who had worked on the lanterns, thus reviving a century-old tradition. In 2014, an even taller record breaking castle float was created measuring 24.1m in height. It was named Chikasue, after the Sengoku era warlord Ando Chikasue ( 安東愛季 ) who ruled northern Dewa Province from the Hiyama Castle located at Noshiro.

Revived after more than a century :
Lantern Castle "Karoku" 17.6m
Photo : noshirotanabata.com

Tallest in Japan : Lantern Castle " Chikasue " 24.1m
Photo : noshirotanabata.com

When night fell, the lantern castles were lit and paraded in the streets and the people chanted, danced and sang amidst the sound of taiko drums, cymbals and flutes as they pulled the floats around the city. These visually stunning illuminated floats are known as the Sky Castle That Never Sleeps ( 天空の不夜城 tenku no fuyajo ).

You can watch Noshiro's 2015 Tanabata Festival from demonstration footage used on Sharp's Aquos 4K TVs here or below.

This video here or below by Akita Shirakami Tourism shows the entire assembly process of castle floats " Chikasue " and " Karoku " in time lapse.

The Shachihoko

The shachihoko is a mythical animal that has the head of a tiger and the body of a carp. It is almost always depicted facing the sky with its tail curled above its head. It is believed to have the power to cause the rain to fall and is therefore frequently found as a roof ornament on top of temples and castles which are mainly constructed of wood to protect them from fire. 

The kanji or Chinese-styled character for the shachihoko is 鯱. It is made up of two distinct components 魚 ( fish ) and 虎 ( tiger ). So even in kanji it means tiger fish. We also frequently encounter it written in katagana form as シャチホコ. 

Shachihokos are found all over Japan and not just in Noshiro City alone. Some shachihoko installed on a castle's tenshukaku or main keep can be huge, like those of the Nagoya Castle in Aichi Prefecture which inspired Noshiro's lantern floats. The shachihoko on top of the Chikasue lantern castle has a length of 5m while that of the Karoku measured 3m which means they are absolutely massive, making them instantly recognisable motifs of Noshiro City.

Multiple shachihokos on top of lantern float Chikasue's tenshukaku.
Photo : noshirotanabata.com

Four days ago a life-sized replica of Nagoya Castle's golden shachihoko or kin shachihoko was displayed at the central plaza of Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport Terminal 2 ( domestic terminal ) in a publicity blitz for tourism. It stands at more than 3m in height and is covered with more than 1800 pieces of gold foil! You can have an idea of its size when you compare it with the cabin attendents standing next to it. The kin shachihoko will be on display until 19th Aug 2022. 

Life-size replica : Nagoya Castle's Golden Shachikiko at
Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport T2. Photo : Kyodoshi

JS Noshiro's Logo Mark

According to JMSDF, the sachihoko is undoubtedly the guardian deity of Noshiro City's lantern castles. By incorporating it in the emblem of JS Noshiro, it is hoped that the shachihoko will similarly watch over the safety of the frigate and by extension be the protector of the entire Japanese nation and its people as well.

The rim of the emblem is supposed to represent " team effort " as the multi-mission frigates go on a crew-based manning system. JMSDF plans to rotate four teams of crew for every three frigates.

It was designed by Tadokoro Toshitake ( 田所俊威 ) of Saitama Prefecture.

JMSDF launches Multi-Mission Frigate JS Yahagi FFM-5

 

Launch of JS Yahagi ( FFM-5 ) at MHI's Nagasaki Shipyard

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ( JMSDF ) has launched its fifth Mogami-class multi-mission frigate at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard this morning 23rd Jun 2022. The ship launching and naming ceremony was officiated by Deputy Defense Minister Iwamoto Tsuyohito ( 岩本剛人 ).

The frigate was named the Yahagi ( やはぎ  ). Its namesake the Yahagigawa is a Class A river that flows from the Southern Alps of Nagano through Gifu and Aichi. This is in accordance with the usual JMSDF tradition of naming its destroyers and frigates after mountains, rivers, localities and natural or meteorological phenomenon. 

It would be the third Japanese naval vessel bearing that name with the first being the Chikuma-class protected cruiser IJNS Yahagi ( 1911 ) and the other the Agano-class light cruiser IJNS Yahagi ( 1942 ).

In kanji characters Yahagi would be written as 矢矧 where 矢 means arrow and 矧 refers to the feather of the arrow.

You may watch the video of the launching ceremony courtesy of the JMSDF below :

Deputy Defense Minister Iwamoto naming the vessel

The ship naming manifesto signed by Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo.

Yahagi written in hiragana form

Sacred silver ship launching axe 

Cord cutting with silver axe by Minister Iwamoto

Launch of JS Yahagi ( FFM-5 )

Launch of JS Yahagi ( FFM-5 )

The Yahagi was launched when the deputy defense minister cut the cord with the sacred silver axe that is supposed to help ward off evil for the ship and its crew. A flurry of confetti and balloons were released and the band started playing the Warship March.

The cost of the 3900 ton frigate was estimated to be JPY43billion. After being launched, the Yahagi will undergo system integration and sea trials and will be commissioned sometime in December 2023. It is the fifth out of a total of 22 frigates in the plans which Japan is managing to adhere to, so far. Ganbatte JMSDF!

Ukrainians Go Nuts Over Special Postage Stamp : Puchin ... Go Fcuk Your Mutter

Russian Warship, Go Fuck Yourself Stamp. Image : Ukrposhta

On 24th Feb 2022, the day when the illegal fullscale invasion of Ukraine by Russia had began, a small detachment of Ukrainian border guards stationed on the tiny Zmiinyi Island ( Snake Island ) in the Black Sea openly defied a call to surrender when confronted by the Russian missile cruiser Moskva and instead told the warship to go fuck itself. In doing so, they bravely risked death and destruction and the entire garrison was subsequently captured by the Russian forces.

The audio clip of that radio transmission was later released by a Ukranian government advisor and the courageous resistance of the soldiers in the face of an overwhelming enemy force quickly became known worldwide as the Snake Island Incident.

Now the Ukrainian Postal Service ( Ukrposhta ) has issued a special stamp showing a Ukrainian soldier giving the finger to the Moskva. It became an instant hit with the Ukrainians with tens of thousands forming long queues at post offices just to buy this stamp. 

Just a day after the stamp release, the Moskva would be severely damaged after being hit by Ukrainian shore-based anti-ship missiles ( ASM ). It eventually sank one day later with an untold number of casualties ...  

President Volodymyr Zelensky with his stamp sheets
and autographed first day covers. Photo : Ukrposhta

Most Extraordinary Stamp Issue

This " Russian Warship, Fuck You ...! " stamp issue is highly unusual. In my close to five decades of pursueing stamp collecting as a hobby, I must confess I had never seen anything like this. It is by philatelic standards exceedingly obscene.

As most of us know, the postal authorities are usually some kind of government controlled or affiliated organisation and they are mostly conservative when it comes to postage stamp designs. Common themes include plants and animals, important landmarks and scenery, famous people, historical events, artistic and cultural stuff ... all very prim and proper, sometimes to the point of being boring! They hardly ever contain offensive words or pictures. All that changed with the release of the Ukranian special. This is a watershed moment in the history of philately, make no mistake.

The profane hand gesture by the soldier is boldly illustrated in the stamp design and it was officially sanctioned by the postal service! Allowing a obscene image to be in public circulation on a stamp is simply unheard of in the past! Despite the indecent nature of the stamp design, the Ukranians embraced it and many rushed to the post offices to purchase this stamp on the first day of issue. 

Just a million copies have been printed, a very small quantity for a country of 40 million people. Having said that, the normal print run for Ukrainian Post's special stamp issues typically range from only 20000 to 130000 copies. Despite a six fold increase in production, stocks of the " Russian warship, fuck you ... ! " were exhausted at the post offices within a few days and the Ukranian Postage Service's home page declared the stamp only available from online sales thereafter. However, till this day since the stamp release, the Ukrposhta online shop would never load when you clicked on the link, having fallen victim to Russian DDoS cyber attack. 

The stamp issue comes in two denominations, F and W. Interestingly, the letter F did not stand for what I initially thought it could be. The F denomination has a face value of 23UAH ( Ukrainian Hryvni ) which is about USD0.77. It is used for domestic postage. The W denomination has a face value of USD1.50 and is used for international postage.

For those lucky enough to have laid their hands on this stamp, they will likely reap a tidy profit should they choose to resell. Prices are already quite wild on Ebay. Enterprising Ukrainians are listing the single W denomination stamp at US$75 and the entire block of six at US$445, shipping not included!

The winning design, number 3 in a list of 20.
A gesture is worth a thousand words. Ukrposhta.

The Winning Design

Slightly more than a week after the Snake Island Incident on 1st Mar 2022, Ukrposhta announced a public contest for the sketch of a special stamp issue " Russian Warship Fuck You!". There were a total of more than 500 submissions and twenty designs made it to the final round. These were then put to the vote online on 12th Mar. The Ukrainians overwhelmingly voted for design number 3 by artist Boris Groh. It garnered 1756 out of 8000 votes from Facebook and Instagram users. You can see all of the 20 illustrations that made it to the final at the end of this article.

Boris Groh profile photo from Youtube.

Boris Groh is a professional artist who used to live in Yevpatoria, Crimea. When Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014, he was forced to leave home and initially moved to Kyiv. He is currently based in Lviv. He mostly specialises in dark science-fiction and fantasy art and quite a number of his illustrations feature giant skeletons and monsters. Some of his previous works can be seen here and here.

According to Ukrposhta, when Boris Groh heard of the heroic defense of Snake Island by the Ukrainian military on the first day of the Russian invasion, he was so impressed that he decided to paint a picture to raise the morale and spirits of fellow Ukrainians as well as to draw the attention of foreigners who follow his art work on social media. It was completed in about 3 days and would have only taken 5 hours had he not been distracted by the news. He promptly submitted his artwork when the competition for the stamp design was announced and the rest, as they say, is history.

Roman Hrybov receiving an award for his bravery 29 Mar 2022.
Photo : Ukraine Defense

Now Hear This ...

The transcription of the exchange between Moskva and the defenders of Zmiinyi Island goes something like this :

Moskva : I am a Russian military ship. I propose you lay down your weapons immediately, to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary deaths. Otherwise you will be bombed.

Moskva : I repeat. I am a Russian military ship. I propose you lay down your arms or you will be hit. Do you copy.

Ukrainian : This is it. 

Ukrainian : Or do we need to fuck them back off?  

Ukrainian female : Might as well.

Ukrainian : Russian warship, go fuck yourself.

End of transmission

The original exchange was in Russian and can be heard in the video created by The Independent below.

Contrary to what was erroneously reported initially, the thirteen soldiers on Snake Island were not killed by the bombardment which occurred after the ultimatum was issued. They were captured alive by the Russian Navy and were brought to Sevastopol in Russian controlled Crimea. Roman Hrybov, the soldier who uttered the now famous phrase, had to endure a month of imprisonment at an unknown jail where he was constantly starved and beaten by the prison guards. He was eventually repatriated to Ukraine via a prisoner swap but had lost 10kg of his body weight. On 29 Mar 2022 Hrybov even received a medal for his bravery, though he insisted that he is not a hero.

Stamp sheets and first day covers autographed by Roman Htybov and
the director general of Ukrposhta Igor Smelyansky. Photo : Ukrposhta

Russian Warship Go ... ! Glory To Heroes

The official title of the special stamp issue when translated to English is " Russian warship go ... ! Glory to heroes! ". The title is printed in both the Ukrainian and English language on the margins of the stamp sheet together with stylised illustration of a voice transmission. Of course all the " traffic light " sheet markings used by the colour printing process are also there, except that they take the form of the Ukrainian Crest and are not in the usual round shape. 

The colour scheme of the stamp design closely resembled the state colours of Ukraine with the soldier standing on a yellowish looking ground and the warship off-shore with the blue sea and sky as the background. From the point of finalising the design, Ukrposhta had exactly one month to get it ready for release. The stamps are printed in sheets of six and a first day cover bearing the same design as the stamp is also on sale for 6UAH. A special postmark depicting the outline of Snake Island was commissioned for use on the first day of stamp issue on 12 Apr 2022.

Special first day of issue postmark depicting outline of Snake Island

Smelyansky (L) and Hrybov autographing first day covers.
 Photo : Ukrposhta

On the first day of issue at Kiev's Central Post Office, Ukrposhta's director general Igor Smelyansky could be seen autographing first day covers with Roman Hrybov. There were long queues at post offices all over Ukraine as the ordinary folks just wanted to have the stamp that mocked Russia. 

Long queues at Kyiv's Central Post Office to buy
the Russian Ship Special. Photo : Ukrposhta FB

Here's what Smelyansky had to say about the " Russian Warship, Fuck You " stamp issue. "Ukrainian philately during war is a reflection of the events experienced by our state and our people. The phrase that inspired us to create the postage stamp has already become a symbol of indomitability of the AFU, the volunteers, the territorial defense, all Ukrainians in the fight for their land and the independence of Ukraine. I am sure that Ukrainians and our friends from abroad will be pleased to receive letters with such a postage stamp. And today in this postal way we once again remind the invaders that they should immediately get off our land and follow their ship." 

Demonstrators at Helsinki 26th Mar 2022. Wikipedia

Already, people all over the world are picking up that phrase and giving Russians the verbal abuse that only they deserve as invaders, murderers, barbarians and mother fuckers. 

You might have heard of the Georgian maintenance ship whose first mate not only refused to provide fuel but told the requesting Russian ship to go fuck itself. Fucking invaders, added the captain. When the Russian asked what happens if he ran out of fuel, he was told to use his oars! This incident likely inspired stamp designs Number 15, 17 and 20. ( See end of article for illustrations ) 

Stamp and first day cover auction on Prozorro. Image : Ukrposhta

Real Benefits For The AFU 

Even before the dust had settled from the stampede for the Russian Warship stamps, Ukrposhta had already conducted an auction for the first day covers autographed by Roman Hrybov and Ukrposhta Director General Igor Smelyansky. It was conducted through the Ukrainian government's online public procurement / tender platform Prozorro on 22 Apr 2022. After several rounds of contested bidding, the winning bid, submitted by a certain Luis Perez, was 5 million UAH ( US$165300 ) and all proceeds would go to the Armed Forces of Ukraine ( AFU ) to fund the war effort.

More autions have been planned for the future with first day covers autographed by the Commander-In-Chief of the AFU General Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

The Moskva in a 2012 file photo. Wikipedia

The Moskva Fucked

The Moskva is a guided missile cruiser of the Russian Navy commissioned in 1983. It was previously known as the Slava but was renamed Moskva ( meaning Moscow ) in 1995. It was the flag ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Only three such cruisers had been built and they are monstrous with a full load displacement of 11490 tons and a complement of 510 officers and enlisted personnel.

Late on 13th Apr 2002 just a day after the special stamp was issued, the Moskva was at a location 180km south of Odessa when it was hit by two, possibly more, land-based Ukrainian RK-360MC Neptune ASM. The missile strike started a fire which could not be controlled and could have caused secondary explosions involving the ship's ammunition stores. The Moskva subsequently sank the next day while being towed to port.

The Moskva burning and listing to port. Photo : Wikipedia

Russia never wanted to admit that its cruiser was hit by missiles. It claimed that an ammunition fire onboard had damaged the ship and it could not be contained. The cruiser sank in stormy weather when being towed. Casualty figures were not released by the Russian Navy until 23rd Apr 2022, almost 10 days after the incident, with 1 dead and 27 missing. 396 sailors were rescued. 

The leaked photograph of the burning and heavily listing Moska was consistent with the damage that one would expect from missile strike(s), according to expert analysts such as H I Sutton of the CovertShores fame. This was later corroborated by a senior Pentagon official who said that the cruiser was hit by two Ukranian Neptune missiles. 

Ukrainian RK-360MC Neptun ASM at a glance.
Image : @Capt_Navy via Twitter

The Neptune ASM is a Ukraine designed and manufactured subsonic, sea-skimmimg anti-ship missile based on the Soviet-era KH-35 missile ( NATO reporting name AS-20 Kayak ). The KH-35 is also known as the Harpoonski as it resembled the US Harpoon ASM both in external appearance and functionality. 

It was developed by the Kyiv based Luch Design Bureau from 2013 and was problematic as it suffered from chronic lack of funding. Despite these hurdles, the first successful flight tests were conducted in 2018 and the Neptune coastal defense system was officially accepted for service in late 2020. The missile has a maximum range of 280km and has radar-homing for terminal guidance. It carried a 150kg warhead and was designed to defeat frigates and destroyers up to 5000 tons in displacement.

Neptune ASM USPU-360 mobile launcher with quad canisters. Wikipedia

That the Ukrainian Armed Forces could have conducted a successful missile strike on the Moskva already defied comprehension as the Russian cruiser was supposed to have a multi-tiered air defense system to protect not only itself but other friendly naval assets in the immediate area of operations from aerial threats. It had the long range S-300F Triumf surface to air missile in 8x8 cell VLS, the short range OSA-M ( SA-N-4 Gecko ) missile and 6 x AK-630 CIWS as the last line of defense. 

With sometimes less than a minute of warning from the discovery of an inbound ASM to the warhead striking home, defeating such hostile threats required the immediate execution of preset missile drills that had been rehearsed countless times in the past. There is simply no time to think. Speculation is rife that the Russian sailors were either caught napping or were just not prepared or trained well enough for this type of attack.

Having said that, a warship as large as the Moskva could probably survive one or two hits from anti-ship missiles provided the missiles did not strike any critical infrastructure and that the damage mitigation effort is excellent. The rapid sinking of the Moskva was really unexpected and could be due to a combination of bad luck such as the missile striking ammunition stores and poor fire fighting and damage control. 

In fact, before this incident the Russians had believed the Moskva was unsinkable so much so that the Russian Orthodox Church placed a relic of utmost importance, a fragment of the True Cross, within the ship's chapel. Whether this ancient artefact made it out with the survivors of the doomed cruiser remained to be seen.

The loss of the the Moskva which bears the name of the Russian capital city to puny Ukraine was a tremendous humiliation for Putin. It is a BIG deal as the last time the Russian Navy lost a flagship in battle was in 1905 during the Battle of Tsushima ( 対馬沖海戦 tsushima oki kaisen ) where the battleship Knyaz Suvorov, flagship of the Imperial Russian Navy's Second Pacific Squadron was destroyed by Japanese torpedo boats. 

It was estimated that the Black Sea Fleet had lost a third of its combat capabilities with the Moskva gone. Currently its biggest surface combatants are 3 frigates and with the Bosphorus Straits closed to the Russian Navy there would be no immediate replacement possible for the sunken crusier. Forbes Ukraine had estimated the value of the Moskva at USD$750 million. That price obviously did not include the cost of the yet untold number of Russian lives lost with the ship. With such a calamity befalling on the Black Sea Fleet, Putin as the commander-in-chief did not bother to visit Sevastopol where the Fleet HQ is located to check on the survivors. He does not even pretend to show concern for the well being and the lives of his own soldiers. It's probably only a matter of time before he is, uhm, fucked out of office. 

Nobody fucks with the Ukrainian farmer. Image : Ukrainian Farmy.

What Ukrainians Really Wanted To Say

When the 2022 invasion of Ukraine began 8 weeks ago, no military analyst worth his salt or any of the major Western powers had given Ukraine any chance of resisting the Russian troops for more than a few days at best. The Americans even offered to evacuate Volodymyr Zelensky from his capital but the resolute President of Ukraine refused and instead said that what he needed was ammunition, not a ride. The will of the Ukrainian people to defend their homeland and the strong leadership by the Ukranian government ensured that the Russian invaders got bogged down and were inflicted with heavy losses. They had overcome all odds to have not only fought and survived for 2 months but to counterattack and drove the Russians out especially in the vicinity of Kyiv and northern Ukraine.

Ukrainians take great pride in defying the Russians in everyway possible and have embraced heroes like the fabled MiG-29 fighter pilot only known as the Ghost of Kyiv who had supposedly shot down quite a number of Russian aircraft and ordinary soldiers like Roman Hrybov who valiantly stood up against tyranny in the face of adversity, in the process becoming a national sensation. It is always a pleasure to show the Russians the Middle finger.

This " Russian Warship .. Go Fuck Yourself " phrase had caught the attention of the entire world and had immediately become the rallying war cry for Ukrainians in their fight for survival and freedom. The issuance of the special stamp further consolidated the global awareness of this unusually defiant statement which came from a small group of Ukranian defenders of an island in the Black Sea that nobody had heard of before.  

The fact that the Moskva had been sunk barely two days after the stamp issueing was most probably coincidental, but it was payback time for the destruction of the facilities on Zmiinyi Island and the ill treatment of the captured border guards. Ukrainians are now clamouring for Ukrposhta to issue Putin stamps, with the hope that a similar prophecy can be fulfilled. I believe Ukrainians are just too restrained to put it down in ink or print but what they really wanted to say is Puchin ..... Go Fcuk Your Mutter.