THE M/V HIKAWA MARU was operated by the NYK Line (now Crystal Cruises). She was the only Japanese passenger vessel to survive WW 2. In her 30 years of service, the HIKAWA MARU crossed the pacific 254 times, carrying around 25,000 passengers and a great volume of cargo.
Cruise Ship History: JAPAN’S Trans-Pacific Liners – Were the fastest between the US and Japan prior to World War II.
In 1935, at the invitation of Waseda University, the Yale University Baseball Team came to Japan from New Haven, Connecticut on NYK’s Tatsuta Maru , and returned aboard Asama Maru. The team is seen with the captain and a ship’s officer. Six years Japan and the USA would be at war.
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), which literally translates to the Japan Mail Steamship Company, was first created in 1885, the result of a sensible merger between two Japanese shipping companies, Yubin Kisen Mitsubishi Kaisha (The Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company) and Kyodo Unyu Kaisha (The Union Transport Company). Two red stripes were adopted for the new company’s house flag, symbolizing the mutual goodwill of both companies and the hope that their combined fleets would one day serve the entire world.
