History

Crystal and Its Noble Parents:
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line)
O B S E R VA N T G U E S T S O N B O A R D
Crystal Harmony,
Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity will notice the thick red
lines painted on the radar mast. This marking carries on a proud
sea-going tradition, which goes back more than a hundred years.
Throughout this time, the ships of Nippon Yusen Kaisha, the
NYK Line, parent company of Crystal Cruises, have proudly
worn these same red stripes on their funnels.
History
1
HISTORY
Painting of Asama Maru in 1929 by Hayao Nogami
Nippon Yusen Kaisha, 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 (Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company)
and Kyodo Unyu Kaisha (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. In due course, NYK Line
became Japan’s national shipping company. Their subsequent
passenger ships were given government-authorized mail-carrying
status and therefore the highest priorities. The affixation was similar
to the designation R.M.S. (for Royal Mail Ship) used by the most
prominent British liners.
NYK Line grew and grew – their accomplishments, advances and overall
success have been nearly continuous. As a worldwide logistics company,
NYK Line now operates more than 800 ocean cargo ships including
large container ships, car carriers and huge tankers, warehousing
services and logistics, forwarders and consolidators, plus land and
air transportation services.
Historically, NYK Line opened the first regular Japan-U.S. service in
1896 (the first arrival was met at Seattle with a 21-gun salute). They
grew quickly. In 1901, just sixteen years after their formation, they
already ranked as the seventh-largest shipping company in the
world. A decade later, in 1911, an NYK freighter delivered the first
cargo of trans-Pacific cherry tree saplings, a gift from the City of
Tokyo to Washington, D.C. These same cherry trees line the banks
of the Potomac to this day.
Along with a steady stream of ocean liners, passenger-cargo
combination ships and freighters of many types, NYK built the first
Japanese “super tanker” in 1959, then some of the world’s first
container cargo ships in the 1960s, some of the first large car carriers
at the same time, and highly specialized designs like the world’s first
“wood chip carrier” in 1964. More specialized ships such as gas
carriers, coal carriers and heavy lift ships followed. The company
has pioneered in shoreside cargo handling systems as well.
One of NYK’s proudest periods in passenger shipping was the 1929
building of three of the finest and most luxurious ocean liners ever
to sail the Pacific – Asama Maru, Chichibu Maru and Tatsuta Maru.
They were Japanese-designed and built, coming from the renowned
Mitsubishi shipyard. At some 17,000 tons, they were then-traditional
The NYK Line seal proudly
graces the bow of each
Crystal Cruises ship
class-divided ships, and had provision for cargo as well as the
all-important mails.
They were routed on NYK’s premier express service, regularly sailing
between Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe,
Yokohama, Honolulu,
Los Angeles and San Francisco. Yokohama to San Francisco, for
example, took 15 days. Fares by the late 1930s started from $190 in
second class and from $315 in first class. Their passenger areas were
of the highest quality, much of it in traditional European style. There
were highly polished woods, stained glass skylights, fine dining
rooms, lounges, a library, a gift shop, hair salon, comfortable cabins,
and a swimming pool on deck. This was luxury cruising at its finest.
They were three stately ships, which had abundant Japanese
atmosphere. Their first-class accommodations were especially fine and
attracted such notable passengers as Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin
and his wife Paulette Goddard, Helen Keller and Efrem Zimbalist.
Within ten years, however, NYK decided on larger, finer ships for the
competitive Pacific run to California. In 1939, the company ordered
Poster art of Hikawa Maru
class liners, circa 1930s
– Bill Miller Collection
twin, 27,000-ton luxury ships, which would have been magnificent in
every way. Intended to carry as many as 890 passengers each, they
were to be exceptionally fast ships as well, with top speeds of well over
25 knots. Their keels were laid and their names selected: Kasiwara Maru
and Idzumo Maru. But then, as war clouds in the Pacific gathered,
work stopped. They were later bought by the Japanese Navy and
re-designed as the big aircraft carriers Junyo and Hiyo respectively. Both
were subsequent wartime casualties.
At about the same time, in the early 1940s, NYK was building a
handsome trio for their Japan-Suez Canal-Europe run. Cleverly, their
names began with the letters N, Y and K: Nitta Maru, Yawata Maru
and Kasuga Maru. However, as war in Europe had already erupted,
plans changed and they were to be used on the run to California.
But they too were later bought by the Japanese Navy, rebuilt as
aircraft carriers and also became war losses. In fact, war in the
Pacific rendered a heavy blow to NYK and its entire fleet, almost
all of which was lost – 172 ships totaling 1,028,000 gross tons. But
in the late 1940s, restoration and rebuilding became high priorities.
NYK was left with one passenger ship, the 11,600-ton Hikawa Maru.
She would be the company’s ship for resumption of liner services.
In 1986, just after its centennial anniversary, NYK implemented
NYK 21, an upgraded management vision for the 21st century. In
his NYK Group New Millennium Declaration, NYK Line President
Takao Kusakari announced that the expansion of cruise ship
operations was one of the four “core” businesses in the NYK group.
NYK, having managed to be stable for 35 years after its revival,
showed its ambition to diversify into various fields, mainly related to
transportation. Cruising was one of its primary goals. Others included
air cargo carriers, logistics service, finance, real estate, freight
forwarding and warehousing. NYK retains its ultimate policy to
maintain the highest quality in all its operations.
Almost a half-century after NYK’s wartime losses, the gleaming,
all-white Crystal Harmony arrived in New York for the first time in
August, 1991, having been delivered at Nagasaki, and christened at
Los Angeles on July 20, 1990. Amidst the festivities and formalities of
the occasion in New York, there was also a historic notation to her
visit: she was the very first Japanese luxury liner to visit New York in
forty years, since the early 1950s. Actually, Japanese companies
have never maintained a passenger service to the U.S. East Coast
NYK Line baggage tag,
circa 1930s
– Bill Miller Collection
Painting of Kasiwara Maru in 1939 by Hayao Nogami
“NYK gained prominence
much beyond 12-passenger freighters.
Instead, their passenger interests were
always toward West Coast ports.
In 1953, the 536-foot-long Hikawa Maru
had been restored as a full passenger liner,
but for trans-Pacific service, sailing between
Yokohama, K ōbe, Seattle and Vancouver.
There were occasional stopovers at Honolulu
en route. Fares in first class for the 17-day
voyages started at $350.
She was retired, however, at the age of thirty,
as Japan’s lone surviving passenger ship from
the 1930s, and was made into a museum,
restaurant and entertainment center at
Yokohama. She remains there to this day.
And while the NYK Line actually planned a
replacement liner, the idea never left the
drawing boards because, in the end, company
directors felt “airline supremacy across the
Pacific was imminent.”
When the 790-foot long, 940-guest
Crystal Harmony was completed at Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries’ Nagasaki shipyard in 1990,
she was the first large passenger ship to have
been built in Japan in fifty years. She was
also the largest Japanese-owned cruise ship
to date.
At New York, during her inaugural, 12-hour
call, Crystal Harmony was greeted by
fireboats, tugs and overhead helicopters, and
then a welcoming delegation of port, cruise
and other travel officials. Sitting alongside
several other cruise ships, Crystal Harmony
proudly flew the flags of Crystal Cruises and
NYK Line.
Like the Hikawa Maru some forty years
before, her visit marked a “Japanese return.”
in the North American
cruise market by building
Crystal Harmony in 1990.
We are pleased with what
Crystal Cruises has become
and accomplished in the
market. We understand
that the cruise population
has tripled since the time
when we started our study
on cruise business back in
1988. NYK firmly believes
in the continuous growth
of the cruise market and
therefore, we are committed
to increase our presence in
the cruise industry.”
— Mr. Takao Kusakari,
President, NYK Line