More than a hundred years after a Japanese expedition received a chilly welcome in Sydney following a failed Antarctic mission, the icebreaker Shirase has docked here to something of a hero's welcome.
The two events are not disconnected.
The Shirase is docked at Garden Island this weekend, 105 years after its namesake, Nobu Shirase and his crew, were forced to find refuge at Parsley Bay, Vaucluse. 
They camped there for six months, arousing much suspicion in Sydney.
The Shirase today is welcome with open arms, especially after its rescue of 66 Australian Antarctic Division expeditioners stranded at Mawson Station a month ago.
The Australian icebreaker, Aurora Australis, ran aground in   February attempting to resupply the Antarctic station. The Japanese ship Shirase diverted its mission to rescue the Australians, transporting them to Casey Station from where they flew home.
The director of the Australian Antarctic Division, Nick Gales, told the ABC in   March that the offer of support showed the Antarctic Treaty system works well.
"Japan have been fantastic in letting us know that their icebreaker was in the area," Dr Gales said.
At a reception on Thursday on board the Shirase, Japan's consul-general to Sydney, Masato Takaoka???, said the ship's welcome is a sign of strong relations between the two countries.
In 1911 Lieutenant Nobu Shirase did not receive such a warm welcome.
Most are aware that Captain Robert Scott died in his failed attempt to beat Norwegian explorer Roald??? Amundsen to the South Pole. However, few know there was a third Antarctic mission in the race.
Aboard the Kainan Maru, Lieutenant Shirase's crew left New Zealand in   February 1911, but poor weather prevented them establishing a base on the Antarctic. They retreated to Sydney.
The reception was at first hostile. 
On its front page on   May 15, The Sun said: "The Mysterious Japs: Vaucluse Camp Deserted: Supineness of the Government: Shirase Still in Australia."
The Shirase mission was suspected of espionage. 
"A spying expedition would not focus the eyes of the whole world on its movements by pretending to be a band of polar explorers," read one sceptical response in The Sun newspaper on   May 15, 1911.
"The suspicions that the party consists of secret service agents is plainly ridiculous - but that it consists of Antarctic explorers certainly needs further confirmation."
It wasn't until Tannatt Edgeworth David, professor of geology at the University of Sydney and renowned Antarctic explorer vouched for Shirase's bona fides, that Sydney embraced Lieutenant Shirase.
Before leaving Sydney in   November 1911, Shirase gave Edgeworth David his samurai sword. This was an unheard of act for a Japanese officer to gift his sword to a foreigner.
On   November 20, 1911, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Shirase's departure.
In stark contrast to the icy reception they received in   May, the Japanese expedition left Sydney with "a hearty send-off from the various boat crews who witnessed their departure", the Herald reported.
On departure, Lieutenant Shirase handed Professor Edgeworth David a letter.
"We cannot go without expressing our heart-felt thanks to you for your many kindnesses and courtesies to us during our enforced stay in this port...
"You were good enough to set the seal of your magnificent reputation upon our bona fides, and to treat us as brothers in the realm of science....
"Whatever may be the fate of our enterprise, we shall never forget you."
While that expedition failed in its attempt to reach the pole first, Shirase received a hero's welcome on his return to Japan.
And his pursuits in "the realm of science" continues. While some fleets attend the Southern Ocean to pursue Japan's deeply controversial whale hunt, the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition continues a more noble scientific pursuit.
The 57th JARE expedition is led by Akira Kadokura???, a magnetospheric physicist. He leads a scientific team of 62 on the Shirase, including Hideaki Motoyama???, who is studying Antarctic ice core. Other research involves the impact of absorbed oceanic carbon dioxide on zooplankton.