We made one more pass at seeing cherry blossoms during our last full day in Tokyo. We hoped the ship’s shuttle bus to the Ginza district, which is the 5th Avenue of Tokyo. Once there, we headed off to Ueno Park, since my Sakura Navi app said there were full blooms. BUT, the information staff at the port, told us they were not full, and they weren’t.  As we’ve seen these last few weeks, some trees were. It was still a charming scene since so many of the trees were coming into flower, and it was nice to see the families out celebrating Hanami (which translates to “viewing party”). Hanami p ..read more

Spoiler alert – my pic gives it away. Today we had an adventure that turned out to be a very expensive lunch and a photo op at a truck stop. Not our best day. Our quest – Mt Fuji and Hakone National Park. The weather looked beautiful until we got up into the mountains and the rain started. It was not supposed to rain. So we went to lunch. It was a nice (American-style) lunch at a lovely Hyatt. We were scheduled to take a gondola over a geothermal area. That was canceled due to fog and winds. So, we went to an art museum. The Pola Museum of Art is a private collection of Western Masterpieces ..read more

It was a perfect day to be outdoors! Sunny, breezy, and temps in the high 60s. Finally! We spent the morning sailing the inland sea between some of the hundreds of islands that make up the Japanese archipelago. The port at Takamatsu is impressive. Beautifully paved and landscaped, the local business community seemed to be out in full force to welcome the ship’s passengers and officers. This is the area where bonsai began, and in the afternoon, we had an opportunity to visit a bonsai farm. Later, we spent some time at the serenely beautiful Ritsurin Garden. We visited the Kagawa Bonsai Farm a ..read more

Today was another dreary day – maybe just the type of setting to visit the somber Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, Peace Memorial Park, and Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Like a visit to the 9-11 Site in NYC, there is no way to really capture the suffering caused by these horrific events. The flame in the Park is kept burning, and will be extinguished when there are no more nuclear threats – unfortunately, I don’t believe in our lifetime. Located between the Dome and the Museum, the stone crypt in the center of the arch has the names of everyone killed in the blast. You can see the Atomic B ..read more

Seeing Kokura Castle and Castle Park was at the top of my list in Kitakyushu. It was finally a gorgeous, sunny day as we docked in Mojiko and took a short ride to the Castle Park. The park was small and the cherry trees late – so it was very disappointing. Seeing the castle, built in 1602 was interesting and had nice exhibits focused on Samuri culture and life in a castle town. Good news, we did not have to take off our shoes here and there was an elevator for those who needed one. The top floor, fifth, had a coffee shop – from the information in the brochure, on Saturday nights it becomes a ..read more

What a fun day we had in Busan, Korea! We arranged a private guide through Tours by Locals and were picked up right on time at our ship. I had a couple of agendas for the day, but first, we saw a bit of Busan. We were impressed with this modern city, surrounded by hills and soaring blocks of apartment buildings. Our guide, Frank said it was Korea’s answer to San Francisco and that description fit the hilly streets. About 20 years ago, we spent a few overnight hours in the Busan airport and were super impressed with its high-tech, modern ambiance. The city, home to about 3.5 million residents ..read more

What an incredible city. Kanazawa is filled with the clean lines of modern new buildings, harmoniously blending with historic Japanese architecture – some dating from the 1600s. We finally had warmer weather today – with temps reaching a perfect 60, no rain, and cloudy skies clearing to a bright sunny day. A great setting for exploring ancient parts of the city.  First up – the well-preserved Higashi Chaya Geisha District – now filled with tea rooms, lovely gift shops, and their famous gold-leafed ice cream. I thought seriously about it, but my better judgment overruled eating the gold ..read more

Today we arranged an off-ship walking tour. Through Viator with a firm called Edge of Niigata, this was one of the few we scheduled that has worked out. Due to the current shortage of guides in Japan, we’ve had several canceled, making it much more of a sure thing to arrange through the ship. I know some people arrange things off the ship to save money, but my objectives are usually for a more personal, flexible experience. In any case, we really appreciate having professional guides when traveling in a country with such a language difference. Our British/Italian guide was married to a Japane ..read more

When the Captain starts his morning port arrival message for Akita by saying “ . . .it’s snowing, the most I’ve ever seen,” you know that can’t be good. And it was really coming down. As we slid into port, it looked like we were docking in Siberia (or at least what I could imagine, bleak, cloudy, and snowing, with industrial wind turbines whirling and a plant emitting plums of smoke). I had some pretty adventurous plans for today but scaled back due to the weather. We started out later than intended, the snow stopped and some blue sky was peaking through the clouds. After taking the shuttle i ..read more

Today was freezing. Literally.  As we cruised into Aomori, Japan the snow-covered Hakkoda Mountains were lovely. Mount Iwaki, a still active volcano that last erupted in 1863, looms dominantly over the horizon. Our northernmost stop on this itinerary, the area is famous for apples, supplying most of the country from their three million trees. We headed about an hour away to Hirosaki, which is considered the cultural center of this area.  As we rode, we saw lots of rice paddies and apple orchards, as well as wooded areas and valleys still covered with pure white snow, despite the fac ..read more