(Seychelles News Agency) - A Japanese Training Squadron on a friendly port call in Seychelles has been described as an interesting experience and having impeccable standards by Seychellois who visited the ships.

The two ships, JS Kashima and JS Shimakaze of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), organised an open day on Tuesday where the public could tour the ships as part of the activities during their time in Seychelles. 

Visitors walked around and asked the crew questions about different features of the ships such as the weapons and other equipment. There were also signs translated into English all around describing certain features as well as certain points of interesting history regarding the ships.

SNA spoke to several visitors who were touring the ship at the time.

Debra Denis said, "I was expecting something smaller, so when we arrived, we were impressed. Both ships are very large. Ever since my son was small, we've been going on visits on the visiting ships, so now we bring all the kids. It's not every day that we get this sort of opportunity to experience these kinds of ships."

An open day was organised on Tuesday where the public could tour the ships. (Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

Elna Fanchette said, "We heard that they would be allowing visitors on board today so we wanted to check it out, especially for the kids. It was a nice visit."

Another visitor Randolph Accouche shared that "It was a nice experience, especially for my son. It's not always that we have the opportunity to experience things like this."

Jude Marie said he was very impressed with the visit and he has "always been interested in experiencing new cultures and also infrastructure especially mega structures, my daughter also. Every time there's a new ship, we like to go see what it's like. I found the standards aboard the ship to be impeccable, even better than others that I've seen. And I've seen several different navy ships from different countries over the years. This one has by far impressed me with their standards."

Onboard the two ships are approximately 570 officers and crew members, including the 200 newly commissioned officers who recently graduated from the Maritime Officer Candidate School.

The visit is part of an almost six-month training cruise and the squadron experts to visit 13 ports around the world. The purpose of this Overseas Training Cruise is to develop the seamanship of the newly commissioned officers through various training at sea, as they foster their international perspectives, while at the same time promoting friendly relationships with port of call countries.

As part of their visit, the officers from the Japanese Training Squadron will also participate in visits to different Seychelles Defence Forces facilities as well as participating in cultural events.