THE FLOATING WORLD If that double-bolted land, Japan, is ever to
become hospitable, it is the whale-ship alone to whom the credit
will be due; for already she is on the threshold.-herman
melville, moby-dick (1851) Imagine the following scenario. Two
fatherless boys on opposite sides of the earth take to the sea
within days of each other, in search of adventure and a
livelihood. Their paths cross on an archipelago in the middle of
the Pacific Ocean, where they encounter some of the same
helpers, and hinderers. One arrives after years of wandering at
the other's port of departure. The other falls just short but
writes an extraordinary book that completes the journey. One
deserts a whaling ship while the other is rescued by one. One
discovers the joys of savage life while the other discovers the
ambiguous joys of civilization. Each dreams of "opening" the
other's country, and each is changed utterly in the process;
their reward is gloom and isolation. Now, let us give these lost
boys and Pacific drifters names a