Noboru’s disdain for fatherhood and procreation baldly contradicts his admiration for the sailor Tsukazaki and the cycle of life that he represents. The difference is that Noboru admires the sailor because he can imagine himself in the sailor place—unlike fathers and teachers, the sailor doesn’t have power over Noboru. Instead, the sailor represents the kind of masculine power that Noboru wants to have. In particular, the sailor’s connection to the sea represents Noboru’s attraction to exploration and discovery. It’s also a metaphor for Japan’s former global power, which was based around its navy. Thus, although Noboru cannot quite explain why, the sexual unity of his mother, the sailor Tsukazaki, and the ship’s horn appears to represent an alternative to the meaninglessness of Noboru’s life and the society in which he lives.