Japan Cruise 2024 from 29th April till 17th May

 

We flew El Al directly from Israel to Narita Airport near Tokyo. This was an 13 hour flight and it flew eastwards into the Mediterranean over Turkey then crossed Azerbaijan the Caspian Sea north of Iran over China the Gobi Dessert, Mongolia over Beijing southwards over South Korea and northwards to Tokyo.  The food on the plane was still Kosher le Pessach. On arriving the airport you get photographed while you put your index fingers on a pad when you show your passport. We took a taxi to Yokohama. Astrid was feeling jet lagged and went to sleep while I took walks in Yokohama. 

In Japan Streets do not have names. I walked into the Yokohama City Opening Memorial Hall that commemorates the opening of the city built in 1909. In 1923 the Great Kanto earthquake struck the city and the dome had to be reconstructed. You have stained glass windows of Commandor Perry's ships arrival in 1853 as well as painting of early Yokohama. I walked to Chinatown which is a great attraction to visitors and is mostly restaurants and take away food.  The older parts of the city has American architecture and building that are preserved as they survived the Earthquake. You see pictures of them surrounded by rubble. All building have a space between them and don't touch each other. Sometimes it is so narrow they have to spray water into it to get out the dirt.

Yamashita Park 

This is along the port water front it is an extensive garden made  up of roses, irises and lots of flowering bushes it can compete with the best English gardens. Despite the rain it was crowded with visitors. From here I visited the Hikawa Maru , this is a ship build in Japan in the 1920s and worked between between Yokohama and Seattle, from 1930 till 1961 when airplanes took over from shipping. Seattle only became an important port when the Northern Railways across the States was completed in 1898 so this became the main route of travel between the USA and Japan.

After he finished the movie City Lights in 1932, Charley Chaplin travelled on this ship.  The public can see every part of this ship, the galley , first class lounge, engine room and the bridge. During the war it was a Red Cross Ship and when the war ended it was one of the few ships left to repatriate expat Japanese from the war all over the Pacific.  

Running through the city is a river perhaps a flood water canal and a main railway runs above this. There are many double story highways all over Japan as there is a  shortage of space to build them. Eliza Scidmore was an American Journalist and travel writer in 1912 and organized  taking cherry trees to Washington DC from Yokohama. There are building built for car parking. I see dogs mostly kept by women almost all of are small.

Kobe we were taken to the Arashiyama bamboo forest. The bamboo is thick and tall like tropical trees. This has a cemetery, shrines as well as temples, there is a wide river with banks like a beach and people were barbequing along it. Crossing the river is the Togetsukyo Bridge all wooden and is over 400 years old. There was dam wall that created a lake crowded with people canoeing. You see dozens of young couples dressed in traditionally robes and many took rickshaws for a ride to the temple and to be photographed. The rikshaw pullers looked like small fit sportsmen building their bodies on the job. The shops usually have the persons residences at the back. This is what most of Japan would have looked like a hundred years ago.

The highways all have toll charges and they are now automatic not like previously we saw cars lining up to pay, most have walls on the sides to buffer the noise for the neighbours.

It struck me that most men were wearing shirts or sweaters or jackets that looked too big, perhaps this is the fashion but the police also looked as if their shirts were too big so perhaps these clothes are made to speciation's for Europe, and the Japanese have different builds. We were trying to talk to some school kids . They study English for 3 years in high school but are never taught how to pronounce the words. I tried to teach them how to say my name Ronnie but it always came  out Lonnie 

Osaka  The tour took us to the Rokkes Canicular Cable up the Rokko mountain this was build in 1932 so feels like a museum piece. The mountain is 930 meters high and is covered with luxurious forest. The bus met us at the top and had to come down negotiating sharp hairpin bends and you get a view of the whole Kobe Osaka bay. This is the entrance to the inland sea and you get a massive bridge that joins the main island Honshu to the Settonaikei national Park. After WW2 Cedar trees were planted as they grow fast but their pollen causes allergies and this is one of the reasons that so many wear masks. Now it is cheaper to import timber than to grow it locally. These mountains are all made of granite and that is why Osaka and Kobi have natural harbors' like the Clyde. 

Because of the cold wind and good water as well as the suitable rice that grows in this area it is a place for sake production. The Sewantotsura Sake Museum of 1980. The original factory was destroyed in an earthquake and had to be repaired. You see vat, barrels and a large press. Barrels are held together by bamboo hoops, or cord hoops. The whole building is made of solid wood.

Japan is made up of 47 Prefectures and has a population of 125 million, life expectancy is 85.5 years.  Osaka has a massive steel industry and we saw piles of imported coal at the port.

Osaka 2nd day 

We were taken on a trip to the Osaka Castle, which had 2 sets of walls made up of huge blocks. Inside wall 2 there was a pagoda tower that was a museum. Started in 1583 but most of the construction was after 1620 by Tokugawe the Shogunate. you get a view of the extensive grounds that were kept open as a park and beyond that area are high rise buildings of the city. The museum also has weapons , body armor and folding screens a Japanese art, in the gardens are hundred of cherry trees that give blossoms but no fruit. 

We were driven through the main shopping street of the city which is like the Champs Elysees in Paris with all the fashion houses that you see in Milan. There are also trams in the city and between high rise buildings you see some small original homes from another era.

We went to the Sumiyoshi Taisha which is shrines some bigger and smaller each paid for by individual or companies started in 211. There was a  pond full of Koi fish and a beautiful pedestrian bridge. In the harbour there are fenced squares that they are filling up with rocks and sand to reclaim land .

This visit ended with something unusual. An hour after the boat was meant to leave couple pushing an invalid on a wheelchair came running up to the gang plank which was then pulled in and we set sail.

Hiroshima Because we had seen the Nagasaki memorial to the Atom Bomb and Astrid did not want a similar experience here, so we took a ferry tour to the Miyajima Island where you get a tour of the famous Otorii Gate which we saw at low tide completely exposed. it is 16 meters high. Then we walked to the Itsubushima  Shrine which also has the water coming half way up its stilts at high tide, this was first build in 593. There is a photo of the G7 leaders in 2023 over here when they came to pray for peace. We walked past the pagoda build in 1407 on the hill and this is a Buddhist Temple but it had too many steps to go up. Walking around you see little deer that rub against you and the public are warned not to feed them and beware as they snatch paper or documents to eat. There are beautiful places on this island that attract tourists. From the ferry you see oyster platforms as this is the oyster capital of the world. 

Hiroshima was the main military centre and for military production and on the 5th August 1945 the sky was clear.

Busan South Korea We were taken to the building build in 2005 for the  Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC)Convention  this included all the countries of the Pacific and the photo show all the leaders. I only knew George Bush Jr. Fox of Mexico, Mulroney of Canada who died recently and Putin who is the only leader still in power. Bush wanted to eat hamburgers every day and at the hotel he stayed at you can eat Bushy Burgers today. We then went to see the Haedong Yungansa Temple which is between the mountain and the sea with 108 steps down to get there, where there is an enormous Buddha and the 12 zodiac signs that give their names to the years pig, dog, cat etc. This also has a room with the buddha relaxing in the afterlife, and color decoration with the lotus flower symbol.

South Korea has a big movie industry and we went to see the Movie Centre, this is a building with the largest cantilever roof in the world and has a Guinness certificate. There is an open air cinema under this roof with an enormous screen, where free movies are shown probably paid for by the advertising. Standing here it feels as if the roof is floating in the air.

We were then taken to an enormous shopping mall of a few building connected under the roads. We found toys for the kids here. Korea feel closer to the west than Japan as they take credit cards everywhere in Japan they prefer cash. The population is not as old as Japan but will be. They speak English better and highways are wider than in Japan. Busan has 7 big bridges and hundreds of tunnels. In the fish market there are hundreds of stalls selling every type of shell fish , sea urchin, lobster, crabs as well as ordinary fish. It is mostly old women in the stalls and diving to gather these was always a women skill. There is a restaurant section when they cook the fish you want. The fish are kept fresh by water running through and down the drain.

Holodate on the northern big island of Hakkoido. This island is only one prefecture so has a sparse population. Japan is made up of 47 prefectures.

We were taken to Onema lake to a hotel for a sea food lunch. They asked who was vegetarian and I got a pasta, rice vegetables and salad. The others got sea food and rolls and it was not adequate for most Americans. We then went for a 30 minutes ride on the lake which has dozens of islands and trees. The only bird I saw was a crow which are a plague. In a separate section of the lake they breed fish. This lake gets about 50cm of ice covering it in winter and people set up tents and fish through a hole in the ice. The area gets a thick layer of snow and so is wet though out the summer. You also have Mt Hakkaido Komagatake which is a  volcano that is active and gives off lava every few years last eruption in 1998.

 Then to  Garyokaka but not taken inside the fort. Rather to a high tower from which you can look down into the fort and gardens around this. Built in 1864 for the Kakadate War that occurred here. Here Hijakita Tashizoh hid the rebels / deserters against the Shogun and was defeated here.

We were taken up a mountain in a cable car and you could see the whole city and port between 2 mountains, on the other side you see a bay and beach.

This was the first time that a couple didn't return to the bus on time and we sat around waiting for them and the guide eventually found them, they did not know where to get to the bus and were in a panic. We were delayed 30 minutes and after we returned to the ship they pulled up the gangplank.

Hakedate on the north Island is a much smaller city than other cities, most homes are 2 to 4 story flats with few taller building and lots of space to park. It has a tram on the main street. I hardly saw any parks with swings and slides for children anywhere in Japan, and got the feeling that Japan is designed for old people and not children.

Aomori City is the capital of the Aomori prefecture in northern Honshu and is in Mitsu Bay of an inland sea.  We were take to Mt Hakkado cableway to the top of the snow covered peaks. However they announced that due to strong winds they might close the cableway due to strong winds so after a few pictures we took the next gondola down. In the next half hour they got everyone down and we received compensation from the cruise as a result. On the lower lever of the mountain the trees are far more luxurious, higher up is more snow and more broken trees from the wind.

Lake Towada. Because the volcanic rock in the area is granite the lake is too acid to have fish but a scientist managed to get a small fish to breed here providing food for the local population. This lake formed from a caldera that collapsed.   Our lunch  hot pot chicken soup with dumpling rice and pickled vegetables all foreign flavors to me. We had a meandering ride along the Oirase stream which has lots of water falls entering it. There are enormous granite boulders with trees growing on them but roots reaching to the ground. There are white cedar,  beech and maple trees here. Outside the forest is Japans leading apple area, as well as some vines but you see a lot of rice fields, some of which are newly planted wet paddy fields others are dry and have been harvested. This is all done by machinery, not by hand.

Shimizu. Astrid was keen to see the Tokaido Hiroshiga Museum of  Art. This is woodcut art that became popular in 1853 when it was used to publish picture books.  Much of this art was bought up by Europeans when Japan opened up and it influenced van Gogh's style. Erotic art was also made  but Europeans were Victorian and influenced against this. Woodcut printing was used as the Japanese have too many letters for printing. You could print a picture a picture by  yourself with 5 different plates there. Outside the museum was a long pond with turtles. this was once used to do the laundry. The museum is in a old neighbourhood with narrow roads and narrow small houses each one with a different space and very little space between for gardens.

We were taken to the Miko shrine and walked on the beach which is volcanic ash but where the sea reaches is black pebbles. To get to the beach we walked along a boardwalk this is surrounded by big pine trees and there is a forest of them by the beach but they are not upright trees, but bent in all sorts of shapes by the wind.  Kids were gathering  pine needles and putting them into plastic bin  bags that were take away.

Shimizu is an area that macha tea, it is a big port and has a tuna packing industry and we saw also a lot of rice silos.

That night we travelled on the Pacific Ocean, it was the only time I felt queasy and didn't have dessert with supper and went to bed early. After a pleasant day at see with lectures and entertainment, was very different. a pianist with an orchestra sang us Broadway songs which we know well.

Yokohama / Tokyo We now finished the cruise and were able to walk off the ship with our 2 light cases, while most people had luggage that they could not lift. We took a tour to the Mejji shrine . This was  to Hirohito's grandfathers memorial and it was build in 1920 to celebrating him giving a new constitution, to open up Japan as it the realized that if Japan did not open  up to the west they would be colonized like the Dutch East Indies or French Vietnam.  After the shrine was build a forest of a large trees was planted, The hardwoods like camphor , beech, oak and maple dominated and replaced the pines, we saw 2 wedding ceremonies there with women in Kimonas and men in either a traditional gown or tail suits. There was also a place that people bring a new car to be blessed. 

This is a National Shrine and it is where foreign leaders are brought when they visit Japan.. The forest around is extensive and keeps lots of land in the middle of Tokyo green.

The Emperor Mejji was the first to replace the various Shoguns and to unite the warring factions.

We then went to the Dsagaro Temple and Shrine. You see hundreds of school kids in their uniforms boys all in white shirts and long blue flannels. Schools are generally coeducation but some high schools are boys of girls, less than 10% of the schools are private. Japanese kids are as tall unlike their short grandparents. We were then dropped at the Narita airport and  got a shuttle to our hotel where we stayed the night.  Japan is going to change dramatically. At this hotel you had a Sri Lankan and Nepalese receptionist and they need more workers who can speak English. Tourism is going to become a big industry since the Yen is so weak. Most Japanese only learn English for 3 years at high school. It takes a whole school career to study from simplified Japanese script to complete reading and writing.

At the hotel there is no smoking allowed in the rooms and a 30,000 Yen fine will be charged as a cleaning fee if you are found smoking. At the hotel buffet for supper we got a 20% discount as pensioners, is this because they  eat less.

Up to a few years ago the average Japanese rejected the need to learn English, but with the economic downturn attitudes are changing. Many shops that tourists frequent but the speak no English.

The Ship Celebrity Millennium Of the passengers there are many Spanish speaker mostly from South America. Americans from all over but mostly from the Pacific Coast and many Asian Americans  that seem to be attracted to visiting Asia. There was a French group. French speaking Canadians speak a perfect English. The staff of the ship has also changed over the time we have taken cruises. There are less Eastern Europeans and more Philippinos, Indonesians, Indians and Africans. The standard of service on the ship compares to the best 5 Star hotels.

We ate at the buffet breakfast and lunch most day but for supper we went into the sit down restaurant and said "Happy to Share" so every time we met another 2 or 3 couples. When we told them we were from South Africa but  live in Tel Aviv(this sends a very different signal than saying Israel) we discovered that there were many Jewish couples from the States , Canada, Australia and even a S. African couple from Toronto. Most supported Israel and understood the geopolitics of the situation. One Irish guy was worried about Palestinian rights but soon realized that Hamas and ISIS have no place for any nation..

We flew home on the El Al flight that left at 4pm and took 14 hours and we arrived at 10pm Israel time, 6 hours different in time. The plane  was full almost all Israelis who seemed to have gained some manners in Japan.