The Ikkatsu Project has been a bit of a whirlwind since it began last January. What began as a simple trip idea based on the possibility of finding Japanese tsunami debris on west coast beaches has turned into a mission to raise awareness about marine debris in general. We’d love to say that we had it planned from the start, but we didn’t.

We didn’t plan on being featured on news outlets from CNN to the Times of India. We didn’t plan on being chosen to be the keynote presenters at next month’s Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium. And we didn’t plan on having the third-highest number of views on Canoe & Kayak’s site for 2012.

This is an interesting story, this tale of debris. It’s not just trash, or plastic, or even a story about pollution. The real story is one of how we, as a species, are choosing to interact with the basic forces of the planet we live on and the consequences of those choices. Marine debris provides us with a glimpse of some of those unseen forces and gives us the opportunity us to ask ourselves some fundamental questions about the world and our place in it.

Thanks to all who have come along with us this year as we have discovered what the Ikkatsu Project is really all about. We hope you’ll continue to join us in 2013 as we take the journey further, and see what more there is to learn from the ocean and how we can begin to clean up the environment that we depend on for our very survival.

The word Ikkatsu means “united as one.” With each new step the project takes, the word takes on even more meaning.