Day 19 Disembarkation/Tokyo

We arrived at Yokahama and got our suitcases to the tour bus. The bus ride to Tokyo was about an hour. Tokyo is a big modern city with a lot of tall buildings. Surprisingly, it’s not madly crowded and the traffic was also very civilized. We drove through the Ginza district with its high-end shopping and luxury hotels. Many well dressed women (saw 3 in traditional kimonos), but men were mostly wearing their work uniforms – either dark pants and a white shirt or a dark suit and a white shirt. We stopped at the imperial palace, which is located in a huge park-like setting in the middle of the city, which somewhat resembles Central Park. Then we went to visit a famous Buddhist temple, which has an adjacent shopping area. The guide told us that this shopping street is the most crowded street in Tokyo visited by 100,000 people each day. It sure was crowded. From there to Narita airport and back home. Overall, the things that impressed us most about Japan were the toilets (Japan has the best women’s toilets in the world. You can regulate the temperature of the seat, select music to play, control water temperature when you turn it into a bidet, etc). They are also spotlessly clean – everything in Japan is. Things also run on time. The famous bullet train between Osaka and Tokyo, which is now 50 years old and runs with the speed of 300 km/hr is on the average no more than 36 seconds late. Another impressive thing are their vending machines. They are everywhere. There is one vending machine for each 27 people. And they work!

Day 18 Cruising

Al played ping pong

Day 17 -- Aomori

Started the day with a tour to Hirosaki castle. Nice bus ride through countryside – a lot of rice paddies and apple orchards. The tour guide told us that this area, Aomori prefecture, produces about 50% of all fuji apples in Japan. The harvest is in October so we saw lots of big, red apples on all the apple trees. Hirosaki castle was built in the 17th century by a powerful feudal lord Tsugaru, but in the 19th century the castle was struck by lightning and only a tower, 5 gates and 3 moats remain intact. Walked around the castle grounds, which include 2,600 cherry trees. It’s a major cherry blossom viewing site in the spring. Then we went to a Nebuda festival hall to look at floats. The festival is held during the first week in August and supposedly each year 3 million tourists descend on this town (Aomori) of 300,000 to participate in the festivities. We were disappointed in the floats and in the displays. They also gave us a demonstration of very loud drumming and a great mini-concert by 3 male shamisen players. Back to the ship for lunch then into town on our own. The town is fairly unremarkable and the most striking structure is the triangular building called ASPAM. Another interesting modern building is the Nebuta House with its façade made of red iron bars, which houses the best floats from the Nebuta festival. We walked around and spent quite some time trying to find an ATM that accepts foreign cards (most ATMs in Japanese banks don’t), which we eventually found. We bought a few little things and bumped into our British table mates and our Polish friends.

Day 16 -- Hakodate

We took a shuttle to the center of town and went to the morning market. Aisles and aisles of fresh fish, crabs, and squid, which is a big specialty here. Some are alive, but also a lot of dried fish. Generally overwhelming and unbelievably expensive. (2 crabs $50, a large peach $5, a melon $30). From there we walked to the area where several huge brick warehouses from the late 1800s were converted to a shopping and restaurant zone. Then, we walked up the hill to the foot of the Hakodate mountain to an area called Motomachi, which is where a lot of old colonial buildings are located. We strolled this lovely area and visited a Russian Orthodox church, the old British consulate and some old government buildings. We then took a tram across town to the Goryokaku fort. It is an impressive pentagonal structure with a moat all around it. It was a place where the last battle of the shogunate took place in 1869 and ended the feudal period. The park around the fort has thousands of cherry trees and it’s supposed to be spectacular during the cherry blossom season. From the fort we walked to a department store where Bo bought a Japanese style bathing suit. We got back to the ship at 4 and rested until 5:30 dinner. We were scheduled to take a tour at 6:15 for the night view of Hakodate, which is considered one of top 3 night views in all of Japan. It is so spectacular because Hakodate is located on an isthmus. The English language tour was booked so we signed up for a Japanese language tour, which also happened to be $20 per person cheaper. The bus took us to the base of the “ropeway” which we would call an aerial tramway. The place was mobbed, but our tour guide somehow maneuvered her way inside and we were one of the first groups to get in. A 5 minute ride to the top of Mt Hokadate yielded a spectacular view of the city. The top was even more crowded than the bottom, but we had an hour so we finally got to all the best view points. The tour guide was great again getting us all down without a wait. She didn’t speak a word of English, and even though we did not understand a word of what she was saying, she managed to communicate the essentials.

Day 15-- Otaru

We started the day with immigration. What a pain. Before we entered Korea or Russia we had to go through Japanese immigration to remove the entry card we received when we entered Japan. Then we had to go through Korean or Russian immigration before we left the ship. And we had to do the reverse when we came back. Japan requires you to be fingerprinted and photographed before entering. We had that done 3 times. Otaru is a very pretty city We took a cable car to the peak of Mt. Tengu overlooking the city. There is a great view from there on the whole city and the surrounding mountains. There is also a ski lift there and it’s a very popular ski area in the winter. Otaru is only about 50 miles from Sapporo where the winter Olympics were held years ago. Then we went to the preserved mansion of a local herring millionaire. The old Aoyama family villa was built in 1917, at the height of Otaru’s prosperity when it was a huge center of herring fishing and coal industry. The villa was one of the most lavish home built in Japan at that time. While we were there, we saw a traditional Japanese wedding party taking pictures in the great hall. Then we walked through the town and its famous canal district till we dropped. It is Sunday so in addition to the 2000+ people from the ship there were also a lot of locals strolling and eating in the multitude of sushi and other, mostly fish, restaurants. Back to the ship for late lunch and a rest. Then out to a nearby shopping mall.

Day 14 -- Korsakov

Korsakov is a small town on the tip of the Sakhalin island (part of Russia). We had to go through Russian immigration (on the ship) then take a tender to the port. From there a bus took us to town. Quite a bit different from Japan. We had to walk to Lenin’s statue and a gift store. The town is pretty drab with communist era blocks of flats and crumbling sidewalks, but people seem well dressed, well fed and not lacking anything. We broke from the group and walked on our own. We went into several stores and finally found one that had vodka. Fortunately, they accepted Visa (most stores only accepted rubles) so we bought a small bottle and poured its contents into a plastic water bottle so we can smuggle it on board. We found a pastry shop that took a $1 bill for a pastry. We walked through several other stores, including two toy stores and were surprised how high the prices were. A container of Pantene conditioner was almost $10 and prices of toys were about the same as in the US and the assortment was similar too with most “made in China” toys. In town we met a Polish couple from California and upon return to the ship we spent 3 hours chatting with them.

Day 13 -- At Sea

Today we were cruising north along the island of Hokkaido towards Sakhalin via the Sea of Okhotsk. The most scenic part was around the Shiretoko Peninsula and the Shiretoko National Park, which is the wildest and most remote national park in Japan. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and misty and we couldn’t see very much. Other than that, Al played about 3 hours of ping pong and Bo did trivia and read. The composition of passengers on this part of the cruise has changed considerably and according to our unscientific assessment it’s about 70% oriental and 30% western, still dominated by the Australians, but maybe not as much. It also seems to be a younger crowd with a lot of young (20-30 stg) Japanese. Too bad most of them don’t speak English.

Day 12 Hokkaido-- Kushiro

We left the port in a shuttle bus to town. Not a booming metropolis but OK. Their main claim to fame are two national parks (Shitsugen wetlands and Lake Akan), the largest population of Japanese cranes and the fresh fish and crabs. We walked towards the Washo fish market and on the way we found the 100¥ store. Not as good as our dollar stores. The fish market had lots of fish and crabs. You could buy whole fish, fish fillets and also cut up pieces of sashimi. It was right after breakfast so we didn’t feel like eating. Then we walked to the bus station and took a bus to the crane preserve. The bus was very crowded and the ride took 50 minutes through unattractive suburban sprawl and the airport. The preserve was somewhat disappointing, but we did see several cranes. Since the returning city bus was not for 2 hours we did not know what to do. We bumped into our tablemates from NZ who were on a tour and told us their bus was about to leave and there was plenty of room. It was a Japanese tours, which our NZ friends took because all the English tours were sold out. We totally confused the poor Japanese guide who kept counting and recounting the number of people on the bus and always came up with two too many. Finally, she called for help and an English speaking guide came. We tried to explain to him that we were not part of the tour and just wanted a ride back to town, but his English was so bad that he couldn’t understand what we wanted. Finally he gave up and said OK so we managed to get a ride on the tour bus back to the fish market. Now it was lunch time so we (Bo) followed the local protocol – bought a bowl of rice for 100 yen and then picked 5 different kinds of raw seafood (sashimi). It was fresh and delicious. We also sampled some of the famous local crab. When we got back to the ship we had to go through Japanese immigration again in preparation for our visit to Korsakov in Russia.

Day 11 -- At Sea

The cruise line is Princess and the ship is Diamond Princess and the entertainment is terrible. It is hard to even call it entertainment. It’s boring and very amateurish. The sea was very stormy all night and most of the day. In the evening we had Captain’s party again with lots of champagne. We gained an additional couple at our table without an increase in affability (Al’s opinion). They are English from some place near Manchester.

Day 10 -- Yokohama

The first part of the cruise is over and many people left. We had a full day here. We left the ship at about 9 am intending to take a circular hop-hop on tourist bus, but at the bus stop we found out that this first bus was at 10:15 so we decided to walk. We walked through downtown Yokohama to a famous shopping street called Motomachi, a long street full of stores, many upscale. Most did not open until 11am, but some were open and Bo managed to buy two dresses. Yokahama is a very pretty, modern city. After Motomachi, we wanted to get to Yokahama station, which is also a large shopping area and go to our favorite store UniQlo. Yokohama station is on the opposite end of the city and we tried to ask people how to get there, but nobody spoke enough English to give us directions. Finally we found a bus stop and a nice lady who studies at the University of Oregon in Eugene who not only told us which bus to take, but also where to find UniQlo. We did find it and bought a lot of clothes. Then we ate in a local restaurant where the menu had pictures of the food. In all the restaurants we saw menus were only in Japanese. Some have pictures, and some have plastic displays of the dishes they offer by the entrance. We then took a subway back to the port and bought 2 bottles of wine to have in our room. We went back to the ship to drop off our purchases and quickly went out again to a little island in the harbor which has the oldest warehouses in Japan now converted into upscale stores and cafes. There is also a Cup of Noodles Museum there and a museum of Japanese Overseas Migration. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time left for any of the museums because he had to be back on the ship by 4:30 pm. Internet on the ship is so slow that we can’t post pictures…

Day 9 -- At Sea

Not much to do. Al played ping pong (even though the humidity is 90%). Bo decided to go to the Japanese traditional bath that is set up on the 15th floor of the ship. It consists of several hot pools – some are 42C and some 35C, some with jets and some without. There is also a dry and mist sauna and a few different kinds of showers, including a waterfall shower. First you have to take off all your clothes and put them in a locker, then you take a shower in a small shower stall with a wooden stool, After you’ve cleaned yourself, you can proceed to the communal tub/pool. When I (Bo) got to the changing room I was surprised to see so many women there, but then they disappeared into various area and there were only two of us in the pool, then we were joined by our table mate Kathy from Glasgow. Then Kathy and I moved to another pool with open roof so we could get cool ocean breeze. We stayed there and chatted for about 30 minutes, and then took a cool waterfall shower, put on our swim suits and went to the outdoor pool, which is for both men and women. This is a wave pool, but the sea was so rough today that we didn’t need artificial waves. After Kathy left (you are only allowed 90 minutes in the bath), I was there alone for a few minutes, and then a group of Japanese arrived 3 men and 5 women. Japanese female swim suits are quite different from ours – to begin with they have short-like bottom and the top does not expose any cleavage. Very modest, but nice. In the afternoon we watched a movie (Dallas Buyers Club) and had wine at cocktail hour. It was a cloudy, rainy and very windy day. It was our last dinner with our current table mates because most of them (except for 3) are disembarking tomorrow. Our table started as a pretty boring table of 5 (including us) on the first day and grew to a very lively and fun table of 11. We are sorry to see them leave.

Day 8 --- Nagasaki

We started the day with painful immigration at 7:30 am. Since we arrived from Korea we had to endure Japanese immigration a second time (first was arrival from LAX). After breakfast, we left the ship and walked to the nearest tram stop and after an easy transfer to a second tram, we arrived at the Peace Park. Lovely. The central point is a massive “Peace Statue”. There are also many other sculptures – gifts from other countries to commemorate those who died and suffered and to urge for world peace. The Polish gift is a statue of a flower growing out of rubble and stone. We stood at ground zero marked .by a column from a building that survived the blast. We then went to the atomic bomb museum. It was very interesting and very well presented, but the amount of detailed information was overwhelming. From the tram window on the way to the park we saw a store that was recommended to us by our table mate Kathy – Uniqlo. So on the way back to the city center we took a tram to the Cocowalk shopping mall and went to Uniqlo. It was a great store and we bought a bunch of things. Then we took a tram again to the center and walked along the river to see the landmark spectacle bridge and then Glover Park with mansions of western residents of Nagasaki from the Meiji era. Unfortunately it was terribly hot with 100% humidity and we opted out of this outdoor museum. On our departure from the ship we saw a brass plaque that we thought was funny but we forgot to take a picture of it. On our way back to the ship we spent 15 minutes looking for it to no avail. But we found a sign that said exactly the same thing: “CATHORIC CHURCH”. Overall, Nagasaki is our favorite city so far. It has a spectacular setting on many hills and it looks a bit like San Francisco. It is also very easy to navigate with well marked trams and many signes in English, unlike other Japanese cities. People are also exceptionally friendly here.

Day 7 -- Jeju

Original itinerary had a full day in Jeju. The daily schedule had only half day. Scuttlebutt was that a scheduling screw-up for dock space was responsible, and upon our return to ship at noon there was a large cruise ship waiting for us to depart. The island is supposed to be beautiful, with a volcano in the middle, interesting caves and volcanic lava formations, and fantastic beaches. Unfortunately we didn’t see any of that. We spent all our time in Jeju city or Jeju-si as the call it. For a short visit to the town we just walked and shopped. The island has a population of 500,000 and Jeju city 400,000. It is not a particularly impressive place – mostly modern and grey with a lot of hotels and shops over- and underground. The most interesting place was probably a huge market with isles and isles of all kinds of fish and other sea creatures and also with stalls filled with local oranges and tangerines and orange-filled chocolates, which are a local specialty. We also stopped in a shop of a local artist where Bo bought a little statue made of lava rock. The ship was supposed to depart at 1 pm, but there must have been some sort of an issue because we didn’t leave until about 2 pm and in between local immigration car came twice and between their visits another unmarked car came and there seemed to be a heated argument between a person in that car and a crew member. We’ll try to get to the bottom of it. We should also mention that the composition of our dining table keeps changing. We now have Goru, the Japanese-American artist who was born in Tokyo, but now lives in Palm Springs; a young couple from New Jersey – Isabel (originally from Costa Rica) and her husband Faro; a young Japanese woman from Tokyo; Kathy from Glasgow who takes about 5-6 cruises per year and this is her 13th time in Japan – her goal is to visit 100 countries and she’s visited 80 so far; Kate from Vancouver joined our table last night, but before we had a couple from New Zealand, and two different couples from Australia…

Day 6 -- Kagoshima

We woke up to the sound of cheerful music and a view of cloud-shrouded volcano Sakurajima in front of our balcony. Kagoshima is said to be the Naples of Japan, mostly because the view of the volcano across the bay. We took the port shuttle bus to the center and walked 5 minutes to Dolphin Port to get the bus to famous gardens (Sengan-en gardens). The bus was already there filled to 100% capacity and 20 more people pushed themselves on. We met a couple from Adelaide who also wanted to go to the gardens so we shared a cab with them. The gardens were beautiful and beautifully located at the foot of the mountains with views of the bay. They were built in 1658 by an aristocratic Shimadzu family who had their summer palace there. Unfortunately 90 degree heat with 90% humidity was hard to take and prevented us from climbing to the top of the mountain to see the views. It was a tropical sauna. We endured as long as we could stopping in gift stores and in the museum to cool off. Then we took a bus back to town. We walked around downtown visiting many stores. We only had half a day in Kagoshima so we returned to ship by 1:30. Because the next stop is in Korea, every passenger on the ship had to go through immigration on board before departing Kagoshima. The line was very long, but went quickly so we were done in 15 minutes.

Day 5 -- Beppu

We got to Beppu at 9 am in rainy weather. After breakfast we went to the city and took a bus to 8 Hells. Beppu’s hells or jigokumeguri are geothermal sites with extremely hot water, volcanic steam emissions. The 8 hottest ones are a big tourist attraction and they are really spectacular. The water in them is boiling hot and they are even used for cooking. The large steam plumes are visible from quite a distance away. We visited one called Umijigoku, which was quite impressive. We soaked our feet in hot geothermal water in a special pool. There are hundreds of geothermal springs in Beppu, most not as hot and many thermal bath houses. After the bus trip back down the hill we walked through the town. We saw the oldest public bath house Takegawara built in 1879. In Japanese bath houses people bathe in communal pools naked, but there are separate areas for men and women. We continued our walk through a large department store where Bo bought more one-toe socks and had nice coffee and pastry, then to the 17th floor of the Beppu tower with a great view of the entire area. On the walk back to the ship we met a couple of crew members from Odessa in Ukraine and had a nice chat with them

Day 4 -- Cruising

We left Kobe harbor in the morning. Al played ping pong again and Bo went to a photography class (again, but the topic was different) and then to a culinary demonstration, which included a tour of the ship’s kitchen. It is huge and as clean as a lab. 200 people work there to prepare 70,000 meals each day! Around 10 we were between mountainous land masses on both sides of the ship. I think they were islands. Then we came upon a large suspension bridge connecting the two sides. Three hours later the scenery was repeated with land masses on both sides of the ship. We passed under 4 very long suspension bridges. We were cruising in a very scenic inland waterway and not the open sea. The journey lasted all night.

Day 3 -- Kobe/Kyoto

Early rise and breakfast then onto a bus. The drive through Kobe was interesting. A large city of 3 million used to be Japan’s busiest port, but now has been surpassed by Nagoya where Toyota’s headquarter is. It is almost connected to Osaka, another big city. Japan is so densely built that it looks like one continuous city, at least this part of Japan. Its new highways have to be elevated roads. The scenic 90 minute ride to Kyoto was not. For a large portion of the drive there were tall metal barriers on both sides of the road obstructing the view. Kyoto is also a large city. It is the most visited city in Japan because of its historical significance and a large number of historical sites that were not destroyed during the war. It was the capital of Japan for over a thousand years. Unfortunately we only had time to visit 3 sites – the Golden Pavilion, which is now a Buddhist temple; the Nijo Castle built in 1603 by the first Tokugawa shogun and one of the largest Shinto shrines, Helan. Upon our return to the ship at 6 pm we had a quick dinner and set out to explore Kobe. We took a monorail from the port to the center of Kobe, and walked around the city center. Kobe is very picturesque, with mountains in the background, interesting architecture with western art nouveau influences, and lots and lots pf shopping! Two things that surprised us about Japan so far --- English is hardly spoken, in fact it is very hard to find people who speak English even in hotels, restaurants and stores; and it is very hard to find places with wifi – restaurants and hotels don’t seem to have wifi access. The city of Kyoto offers free wifi, but in order to access it, you first have to send an email and receive a pass also via email! Ridiculous. We came upon a covered Mall street that went on forever (at least half a mile ) with all kinds of shops, some very upscale.