Japan Cruise 2018

 Japan Cruise 2018

Tuesday 25th Sept 2018  Took off from Ben Gurion at 10pm. in a brand new Dreamliner. You could smell the newness of the plastic and everyone seemed to be coughing. Every seat had a touch screen TV and the flight was 10 hours over Turkey, Uzbekistan and China. We landed in Hong Kong at the airport which was the last big project done there by the British. From HK we had a 4 hour flight to Tokyo on Cathay Pacific and the pilot had a strong South African accent, not surprising as SA Airways went bankrupt.

The first thing you notice at the Tokyo airport is the toilets which have temp controlled seats and a spray for men and douche for women all with temp control. Even urinals are better designed so you don't leak on the floor.  .

27th Sept Breakfast at the hotel you can look out and see dozens of trains and you see the walkways to get you over the streets to the overhead railway or down to the metro. We walked to the fish market where we saw huge chunks of fresh tuna and ponds with live fish and sea foods. There is a side market of small shops with people queuing up to buy sushi meals. We walked all the way from there through the Ginza shopping area past the Tokyo theatre a beautiful building. You see many tiny properties that have been turned into narrow tall building and surrounded by high rises. Below the roads to get to the station is a food mall where we ate.
The city centre is on so many levels that we lost of sense of direction. There were coffee shops with smoking rooms where people came to use the Wi-Fi and in the streets you can only smoke in designated areas.

Friday 28th Sept  Walked from the hotel to the Hama Rikya garden this was the private estate of the Tokyo shogun and it is surrounded on 3 sides by high rise building and the 4th side is Tokyo port. Besides nature and 300 year old pine trees, a lake, bridges and a place where the Shogun had duck hunting. There are also original Japanese homes some used as tea rooms and others for private party events.  There was a group  pensioner artist all sketching these gardens.  

From the garden we  a ferry that took us along the docks and under 15 bridges giving us a tour of the neighbourhoods till we arrived at Asakusa. All along the Sumido river we saw residential homes, some high rise  others are narrow tall building with gardens all the way. Asakusa is a section that survived from before the war and is preserved with homes shops, shrines temples and a pagoda. Couples come there in traditional clothing to celebrate a wedding or perhaps birth. For a donation at a temple you shake a box till a stick fall out and that has a number that gets you a card with your fortune on. Dozens of school kids visiting the temple all with cleanly ironed white shirts and uniform pants. We bought soft serve green "mucha "tea flavoured  ice cream and Japanese doughnuts. We then had to find the way to the metro that runs past the Ginza to the Shiodome station.

Tokyo is a modern society with everything in its place and everyone keeping to the rules. Everyone has learned some English but few can easily talk it and when they do their accent is so heavy it is hard to understand.

All public toilets are free and always left clean. There are both seat and crouch toilets with basins and soap but not always hand dryers.

Saturday We had a good experience in using the metro.  Each track has a name like the Ginza track and each station has a number along the track. We went to visit the Imperial Palace which is an extensive garden surrounded by a moat and around that. One thing unusual is a section with a collection of bamboo plants. From there we walked past the national Archive, National Art Gallery and to the science museum which Astrid found interesting as it was set up to teach children. It had a bicycle collection from the very beginning of cycles and a model collection of every car produced in Japan. We returned to the Ginza and had a noodle lunch at a small busy restaurant and I was given a bib as you have to shlurp the noodles up. You don't see street people or beggars and it looks as if old people die on the job as they don't know how to retire. People dress very conservatively with women mostly wearing wide pants of dresses. Japan feels safe and very western but on the other side of the rest of the world.

Sun 30th Sept. We woke up to find a message that because of the typhoon, we should try stay in the hotel we ae at for another night.  All the passengers on the ship were put into hotels in Yokahama and the ship had to ride the storm at sea on anchor with 9 meter high waves. Afterwards we go a rebate as we lost a cruise day. We also got back a days hotel as well as dinner so we ate at the hotel and added that to the days bill, and taxi to the port.

We took a metro to Ueno park and walked past shrines, temples, statues a pagoda and then the Tokyo zoo where you can see panda's but we never went in. The Tokyo National museum shows the development of Japanese art before it was influenced by contact with Europeans.  One section was on Buddhist art and then a section of Eastern art everything from China through to India and Egypt. In 1911 an expedition was sent to find out the origin of Buddhism that originated in India and reached Japan. We returned to the station along a different path, a park past a grand fountain with crowds of people watching different water displays along a beautiful tree lined avenue and got to the station before heavy rain started. Notices in the museum are in Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese. In the evening businesses were closing early because of the typhoon and had notices up and the train service was going to end early.  While eating dinner we could see other hotels also on floor 20 above and below that was offices. That night we slept well but could hear the wind, people on the cruise told us that in their hotel they could feel the building swaying??

1st Oct Monday the beaurocracy of boarding the ship then we watched going under Yokahama bridge. This ship can only enter and leave the port at low tide. Normally the cruise starts with an "abandon ship drill" but this is the first time that it was done so seriously. We got to our muster stations and had to listen to an hour of instruction in English French and Japanese.

We always go into a sit down dinner and say "Happy to share" and this way meet different people, on this cruise we met mostly Australians who we found easier company than Americans. To be entitled to a state pension they have to pass a means test so go on holiday till they can show that they don't have big savings. Amongst the Australians there were Jewish couples as well as ex South Africans. The worst was a NZ women who sent back her main course then the dessert and the complained she wanted tea served in a cup and not a mug shaped cup.

Entertainment was by  Chris Powley a NZ singer who impersonated songs by Elvis, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond.

2nd Oct Was a calm sea day and we travelled along the Japanese coast between dozens of islands some inhabited others just rocks. We went to a sit down breakfast, a lecture on the history of Japan it was pointed out that when Japan capitulated to Mc Arthur on the ship Missouri that ended the war, the original US flag with 30 stars that was used by Mathew Perry in 1853 when he entered Japan was a flag at the ceremony. I went to trivia quizzes while Astrid went to the gym. We sat on the deck and read and enjoyed the sea. At dinner we met an American who was school art teacher and became an importer of Chinese and Japanese antiques and made a fortune. 

Entertainment was Japanese Drum Ceremony with 5 men playing size drums, with beats and a choreography of the beating.

3rd Oct Wed. Kobi  We were up early for a tour which took us to the New Kobi station and a bullet train to Kyoto which was Japans capital to 1868 in fact the word Tokyo (face east) or Kyoto (east facing) mean the same. We walked up a side of a mountain with lots of steps with original, shops houses on the way to get to the temples

You always see school kids in their dark trousers and clean white shirts on tour. We saw more ancient tea houses and then the Golden Pavilion which has gold leaf covering it and is a sight for the eyes and camera surround by a pond. Just seeing the homes from before the high rise building is a delight and a large section of he city is preserved. After that the bus took us back to Kobi on a 2 lane highway, in some places there is a wall to protect the houses from the noise. Kobi and Kyoto are contiguous with miles of urban spread between the sea and the base of the mountain. We went past a golf driving range with nets reaching up to about the height of a 15 story building and people playing balls off a building with 3 stories. Afterwards I saw more of these in other cities.  In Kyoto we saw 2 Catholic churches and other churches. Japanese can be Shinto , Buddhist and Christian at the same time.

Japan has 6 nuclear power stations but has many geothermal ones. Immigration is very tightly controlled and we had to show our passports every time we left the ship unlike other cruises where your ship card is good enough.

Our guide was a school teacher and she had an excellent command of English, however her accent was so strong it was not easy to listen to.

Thurs. Kochi this is on the island of Shikoko not mainland Japan which is Honshu. The tour bus took on bridges and roads on an area that was swamp land. You had fields of rice in different stages of growth with drainage channels between them. You saw  hot houses  which mostly grew egg plant. Some houses had solo water heaters others had solo cell on the roofs and some small field had solar cells.  We were taken to Aki a rural town that was preserved by the local council. The shoguns house and garden and a clock made by a man who figured out how an imported clock worked. We walked through the narrow lanes of the houses past an elementary school, some wall were made of recycled roof tiles.   Then we went to the Kochi Castle and had to walk up to the top of the hill, take off your shoes and were given a plastic bag to carry them in. we walked around the wooden fortress and 3 flight to get to the top where you had a view of Kochi. This fortress was started in 1601 but burned down a few times.

We were taken to the Kochi beach which is black sand and even some trees growing on it. There were facilities to park dozens of busses and shops for hot crowded summer days. You are not allowed to swim and the waves look extremely dangerous with rocks foam and undercurrents. We drove past parts of the town where there were houses with a  car and blocks of flats with car parks underneath.

Entertainment that evening was Elysium a musical with lots of dancing.

Friday 5th Oct Because of the typhoon we were not going to Hiroshima but back to Kobi. I was up early at the gym for a exercise class and after that I swam in the inside pool which is warm salt water and because of the motion of the ship you can swim and not move. In Kobe we  took the overhead rail to get into the city as there was a queue to get the shuttle bus. At a supermarket we found typical Japanese candies and snacks, took a long walk around China Town but could not find any toy shops and returned to the port on the shuttle. It struck me that the ordinary person has a very small choice of food and they buy 5 kg bags of rice or noodles and add a little fish meat or vegetable to make a meal.

The entertainer was Michael Bennet a humorist magician. 

Saturday 6th Oct This was a sea day and we kept busy

 1) lecture on the Pacific Rim of Fire about the volcanoes that run from California via Alaska and end in Japan.

2)Lecture on religion of Japan Shinto , Buddhism and that Christianity merges into their beliefs. 

3) Lecture on art explaining that modern artist also painted great pictures that we  would understand.

4) Because this is our third cruise on Celebrity we were invited to the club to meet the captain and officers and it was interesting. Astrid drank a lot of good free wine. At the sit down supper we met an old women from Vienna  who had survived the war in Shanghai and then moved to Melbourne. 

For entertainment there was Andy Joy a real top class entertainer who performed for 2 hours and runs 3 piano bars back home near Melbourne.

Sunday 7th  Because of the typhoon affecting Buson we had another sea day with my usual gym followed by lectures.

1)The culture of Korea as well as their  history. South Korea has a higher standard than Japan. It has a vast pop music and movie industry, they have a phonetic script based on Chinese sound letters 14 consonants and 10 vowels.

2 The story of the Korean War 1952.

3 The Captain talk explained that this is the first time he has had to deal with typhoons and the logistics of having to change course and keep the passengers safe.

4 Talk on the 10 most expensive art paintings ever sold, Leonardo de Vinci is No.1 but also Jackson Pollack, Modigliani, Gaugin.

5 Saw the movie Railway Man about a British POW Erich Lomax  captured in Singapore and worked on the Burma railroad. Starring Colin First and Nicole Kidman. Seeing this movie while off the coast of Japan is quite a reminder.

Entertainment in the evening was by Steven Carte a juggler, joker musician, magician.

8th Mon Buson, South Korea went on a tour of the temples  on the high hill above the city. The bus took us through 5 tunnels of a heavily forested area above the high rise building of the coastal plain. At the temple went for a tea ceremony, where you sit on cushions with the tea tray on a stand and heard a translation of the monk on what the ceremony is about  Whether I sat cross legged or on my haunches I was very uncomfortable. They study the Buddhist scripture in Chinses. On this hill is a complex of a dozen temples with elaborate art on them.

 The port has extensive foreshore reclaimed from the sea where there is a large park and campground. It is not sensible to put up building on theses areas as they will collapse in an earthquake. South Korea feels a less structured society than Japan less formal and every one is conscripted to the army for 2 years. The ship had to receive supplies at this port.

The entertainer was Connor Bogard who sang a wide variety of American songs.

9th Oct Tuesday. Nagasaki. 1) We were taken to the place where the second Atomic bomb was dropped just above a Catholic church  .  It was meant to be dropped near Hiroshima on a military target. Nagasaki was the alternative target and the plane circuled 3 times as there was cloud cover and that opened up. 

2) Next to this site is a museum with extensive explanation what happened. Because the city is between 2 hills the effect was worse, no siren warned the public. The bomb gave an explosive shock, then burned every thing that its light struck and finally left radiation fallout. You see shadows on a wall where a ladder was standing.

3)Peace park. this one can get to by public escalators to the top. This has a massive statue and a park with another 16 peace symbols or art works donated by different countries.

4)The Island of Dejuma.  The Portuguese were stopped from trading with Japan as they brought the Catholic church that the authorities saw as a threat to their control. Then the Dutch were given a concession to take over this island as a base. Goods moved from the island were taxed at customs before entering Japan.

5) Glover garden. The oldest western house built in Japan. Thomas Blake Glover a Scot settled in Japan in 1963 had a Japanese wife with butterflies on her kimono the basis for Puccini's "Madam Butterfly" He became a wealthy trader and sent students to England to learn and open up Japan.  Nagasaki has an extended tram system and it one city that is possible easy for tourist to get around as one could walk from the port to the trams.

Entertainment were 4 Geishas playing an string instrument and singing. The cultural representative of Nagasaki who introduced them was an American who spoke Japanese.

Wed 10th. Day at sea with 1) a lecture on Mount Fuji a holy place and is one of very few symmetrical volcanoes and it is surrounded by a nature park. The top is covered with snow in winter and we were able to see it from Tokyo.

2) A lecture on Japanese culture

Entertainment that evening was Gary Walker who played the piano and immitted Stevie Wonder songs, later I met him at the buffet dining room and had an interesting chat with him. He is based in Japan and LA and entertains on the different cruises.

Thurs 11Oct Shimzu. Went on a tour that took us through  tunnels and a steep winding roads till we got to lake Ashi. This is a volcanic caldera and trees grow right up to the shore. We got onto one of 3 boats that are designed like pirate ships giving a Disneyland atmospheres. At the other end of the lake we got onto the Ashi cableway that takes you up the mountain  where there are geysers coming out of the side.. These geysers are turned into hot water and the area smells of sulphur which has killed nearby vegetation.  In the shops they sell black eggs that have been boiled in the volcanic ash and are supposed to give you a long life. There was a good view of Fuji but covered with clouds. We then returned down the mountain on bus via a meandering road, past hot houses with potatoes and lettuce and fields of green tea. There are holiday hotels in the hills and golf courses and there are villages with lots of cars. To get onto the highway you go through a toll gate but have to have a membership as the boom opens for each car automatically. There are also fields of pampas grass over a meter high.

Entertainment was Phillip Cass an Australian comedian magician that made rings, watches and banknotes disappear and reappear.

Friday 12 Oct Yokahama where we took the shuttle to the railway station and from there walked on the pedestrian walkway with escalators and  moving floors that took you into a complex of shopping malls under high rise buildings where we found a toy shop but not much in the way of unusual toys. At the mall there were inside sections for children to play but we hardly saw swings or slides in parks for children, I don't think the concept of kids playing in sandpits is acceptable.  Yokahama seems to have many Europeans living here. The architecture of many old building looks like NY of the 1920s.

Entertainment were highlights of Broadway musical and excellent dancing.

Saturday were up early to get a taxi to the airport to fly to Hong Kong where we had to wait quite a while for the end of Shabbat. It was here that Asrid slipped and broke her ancle. The El Al plane which was not full left there after 8pm and got back to Israel after an 11 hour flight. All went well thanks to Astrid spending hours on the web searching for bookings of the cruise, flights and hotel.