Japan

March 21

We left Taiwan with a sea day to prepare for our much-anticipated visit to Japan, including six different ports.

Art Class

 

Our sea day allows us to absorb the journey so far and prepare for the future. I have been battling a heavy cold for the past week or so. I must see the ship's doctor if I can't shrug it off.

March 22

Finally, we arrive at Kagoshima, the south end of Japan's four main islands. Our adult Daughter Caroline would love to come here someday and will be looking forward to this part of the blog.

As we sailed into the harbor, we got a good look at the Sakurajima volcano just a few miles away.  What appeared to be a cloud sitting on top, we were assured it was the volcano letting off steam.  It has been active since 1955 to the present.  One school very near the base of the volcano requires its students to wear crash helmets as they arrive and leave school.

The Japanese authority notified the ship that passport control would be strict upon arrival. 100% of the passengers must leave the ship and be fully cleared by passport control, which took over three hours. We had an early tour and were on our way within an hour, by 11.00am. 

A bus took us to Chiran, a small town about one hour from the port. A charming Japanese tour guide introduced us to Japan's culture, brief history, and geography.

As we arrived at Chiran Gardens- [Chiran Samurai Lane], we were escorted to a group of houses that have been preserved and traditional Japanese homes so we could see how they lived and their culture.  Each home was elaborately adorned by traditional Japanese landscaping.  We even got a traditional Japanese hot tea treat.   We were blessed with very pleasant weather, about 70 degrees and sunny. 

 

Our second stop was a museum, but I was unprepared for what the museum had to portray.  Tokko Heiwa Haikan [Chiran Peace Museum] celebrates and is dedicated to the 1,000-plus Kamikaze pilots who were hand-picked to be trained and perform suicide bombing missions on Aisa and West forces.  While these missions happened before I was born, I grew up in a culture hating the Japanese for these very successful killing missions.  This is a lot to unpack for me, compounding on the American cemetery we visited in Manila.

Below is the sleeping quarters for the night before the deadly mission.

Back at the ship, my cold aggravated my asthma, and I visited the ship's Doctor.  The nurses and doctor were familiar with my symptoms from many recent passengers and the recent hot and humid weather.  I received great care.  A 101 temperature.  I was quickly tested for COVID-19, and it was negative.  The doctor was concerned with my breathing and ordered a nebulizer, which allowed me to breathe much easier.  My diagnosis was Bronchitis and Sinusitis and aggravated Ashma.  I was given an aggressive treatment of drugs to take over the next week, and I am finally on the mend.

I managed to catch up with Merry. She finished dinner in the Grand Dining Room.  We attended Brain Teasers [2nd place] and a great show by Becky Portera, a Welch Adele tribute act, which I surprisingly liked very much [I have never followed Adele].

March 23

Another sea day allowed me to take it easy, as the drugs made me dozy.  We attended art class, had a light lunch, and attended the lecture about where Technology is taking us “AI,” with a short nap between each.

 

March 24

On our cruise, we make many ports of call.  Some are places we have never heard of, and some have some point of interest.  Today was one of those days that many of the passengers anticipated.  You could feel a buzz in the air.

We pulled into the port of Tokyo, Japan, there was no doubt we were in a great place, worthy of all the excitement. As I have said, we are not city lovers, but we were eager to explore this city. The view from our window says it all. 

This city boasts a 13 million population, rising to over 20 million when counting neighboring cities.

We had a 3-hour city tour planned for the afternoon, so we decided to head out early on our own.  The city provided information maps and shuttle busses to the local train station and shopping mall.  We arrived at the mall soon after 9am and had been warned it would not be open until 10am, so we wandered around, looking in the windows, checking out the prices, and seeing what was familiar.  The mall had free Wi-Fi, and I could confirm that it was 150 yen to the dollar.  

Soon, the shops started opening, and a flood of locals came bustling in.  Many went straight to the food court or specialty fast foods.  All were polite, well-behaved, and very respectful.  Everything was clean and well organized.  The food court looked light; it had only been built yesterday.  It sparkled.

We picked up a few items and took a walk around outside.  The architecture is elaborate and modern.  The city was almost totally wiped out in the Second World War, and everything has evolved since then.  We took the shuttle back to the ship and had a simple lunch.

Our city tour took us first to the Tokyo Tower,

 originally built as a TV transmission tower,

 

but has since been replaced by a taller building,

 leaving the Tokyo Tower to enjoy the views of thousands of visitors every day.  And we certainly did enjoy the views.  A wonderful way to get acquainted with this model is a modern city with immaculate management and workers.

The rest of the tour took us through and around the major buildings and saw what would take a whole book to recant.

I spotted three Lambogini’s without even looking.

Olympic Stadium

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Baseball is the country’s biggest sport.  This is the entrance to the stadium.

 

March 25

Today marks the end of this segment. 206 passengers will leave, and 209 new passengers will join. Our new voyage will make several more stops in Japan and South Korea before moving to China, ending in Hong Kong.

While the ship’s crew was busy repairing the ship for our new guests, we took an excursion to Kamakura, a seaside town about fifty miles east of Tokyo along the coast. Kamakura was the original capital of Japan before it moved to Tokyo. 

The day was a steady drizzle, but we were well prepared for almost any weather. Our first stop was Big Budda, which is over forty feet tall and needs no further explanation.

Japan is famous for its cherry trees, and the season is just starting.

We then moved to the nearby Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, a religious pilgrimage for all Japanese.

We got to see very colorful couples.

After meandering around this special place, we looped  onto the main touristy shopping street.  The tour was over six hours, and this was our chance to grab local food.  We are not very adventurous, and egg sandwiches were strongly recommended. They boast the best apple pie in the world; sadly, we did not find either, and with almost nothing in English, the opportunity got away from us, and we ended up quite puckish all the way back to the ship at 4pm, only to find nothing open until 6.30 dinner.  Good job. I had a yogurt stashed in the fridge, and we found an old sandwich in the coffee area.

At dinner, we dined with another couple from Yorkshire, England.  Fresh new conversion with very interesting people.  The evening show introduced the whole production team for the new arrivals.  Always a lot of fun.

 

March 26

Our ship arrived in Shimzu to pouring rain, the type that soaks you.  This is the closest location to Mount Fuji, about 40 miles away.  We wrapped up warm with umbrellas in hand and set out on our tour.

From the ship, Mt Fuji should have been larger than life, but this was not to be today.  The clouds were low and it was misty.  None the less, we headed inland in search of the elusive mountain closeup.

Mt Fuji is the largest mountain in Japan at over 12,000 ft.  It is considered an active volcano.  It last erupted 300 years ago and has an average eruption every 30 years, so it is long overdue.  We stopped at a shrine ½ way up the mountain, a staging post for these pilgrims heading to the top.  The mountain was still shy. 

As a carpenter, I was more interested in the Japanese woodwork.

The public toilets are first class with heated seats.

After a walk around, dodging the downpours, we traveled back to the coast to view the Pine Tree Forest, a magical and mystical place.

It is supposed to have the best photo opportunity for the mountain in the background.  It was not to be.  I am suspicious that there is no mountain, so I will need to be content to view Google poses of the mountain and wonder.

 

From google

The evening show was a balloon artist, and it was not what you might be thinking.  A children’s party act on steroids.

March 26

Overnight was a very rough passage with winds rocking the boat at 65 mph headwinds.  The ship was tightly battened down.

The morning's arrival in Kobe, near Osaka was delayed an hour from 11 am to 12 noon.  This gave me plenty of time to start the new art classes with a hotshot with a fresh outlook on art.  We spent 90 minutes practicing pencil techniques with the goal of drawing a snow monkey.

We had an early lunch and headed out on the afternoon excursion to Osaka Castle, which is about a 50-minute drive from the center of Osaka. 

The massive stone outer wall and mote were impressive but similar to European castles.

Inside the wall, the inner building was where the similarity ended. A very impressive wooden palace in typical Japanese architecture almost defies the eyes.

Our second stop was the Osaka Tower.  It consists of two tall office buildings, connected at the top by a massive observation tower.

 

In the evening, we were giving a demonstration of historical Japanese dancing.

 March 28

We stayed overnight in Kobe so we could spend a second day.  When I checked our tour tickets, we had booked the same tour again.  It had a different title but the same destination, so we decided to go ashore alone.  This is not my favorite thing to do in a strange country with a different language, customs, and money, but we did a little research and bravely headed out.

We quickly found local shops that led us into a long covered street that spans the whole waterfront, about two miles long.  We picked up a few toiletries and personal needs from places that took credit cards.   We found one of the hundreds of 7-Eleven convenience stores.  It had been recommended to try their egg salad sandwich, so we did and WOW, what a wonderful delight.  The egg salad seems to have been whipped into a delicious filling and wrapped in a very fresh bun.  We were sold.

We headed deep into the city on foot, looking for a yarn shop for Merry.

We fund this 100-yen shop. The exchange rate is 150 yen to the USD, so 100 yen is about 66 cents.

Once the yarn shop was found, it did not have what she needed but she got good directions to a department store that had a better selection about ½ mile further.

Once in the area, we had to ask a lady with two small children on the street for help.  She eagerly went out of her way to lead us to the entrance of the shop.  Such wonderful, helpful people.

Merry found everything she wanted and more, and we started meandering our way back to the port.  We stopped in a café for a simple lunch [more egg salad as it happens] and then through China town and back to the port. 

We stopped at the last 7-Eleven and got some snacks for our two wonderful stateroom stewards.   A small gesture.     

We really felt we got to see and know Japan today and got 12,000 steps in.

 

March 28

Today we arrived in Hiroshima.  There was a quiet hush around the ship in anticipation of what we are about to see and hear on tour today.

Hiroshima is located on the smaller island of Honshu and has a population of 1.2 million.  The city has of course been totallyl rebuilt from the ground up over the last 78 years following the dropping of the Atom Bomb.

Our tour first took us to a lovely Japanese park Shukkeien Garden, a stunning, peaceful place with classical Japanese landscaping and lake.  We took many photos and everyone seems like a masterpiece. 

This was a nice prelude to our second stop, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum.  The stop started with a visit to the Atomic Bomb Dome, a public building almost directly below the bomb detonation, 600 meters in the air. 

This is one of the few buildings that was left standing but badly damaged and stands as a memorial and reminder of the devastation.

Next we visited the museum that has to be seen to understand the horror that occurred.  We can only hope it was not in vein.   The museum gets over 1 million visitors per year and was very crowded, but solum.

 

This visit has to be taken in context with the brutal bombing attacks Japan started in Asia and Hawaii.   

 

 

In the next post of this blog, you will read about our visit South Korea and back to Japan before visiting China.  It appears the subscribe system is not working so just revisit this site once per week and hit refresh.