On my planet, the U.S., people change things at the grassroots level. In Japan, the root of the blade is often an "obaa-san" or "ojii-san," a single person out to change things. You can find these individuals all over Japan, conjuring up their own ways of making a difference in this country. I ran into such a person just the other day as I was cruising in a yacht along the coast of Kyushu.

We had pulled into Shibushi Bay in Kagoshima Prefecture, the southernmost on Kyushu. Meeting us at the port was the root of the blade, Kunihiko Tsuchiya. Mr. Tsuchiya lives on Shibushi Bay, a huge bay on the Pacific Ocean that brews perfect winds for sailing and is big enough to hold yacht races. He was dressed in khakis, a safari vest and a Chinese wicker helmet. He looked more like he was off to shoot an ad for Banana Republic than change the yachting world.

"This I am preparing as a guest berth for visiting yachts," he said, pointing to the pontoon dock where the yacht I came in was tied up. Shibushi Bay usually deals only with cargo ships, but Tsuchiya-san hopes to make the bay more yacht-friendly. If there are enough visiting yachts, he hopes the government will fund the guest berth. This is the beginning of the Shibushi Marina of the future.