Japan Cruise - 2017
In July 2017, I took a 13 day cruise around the Japanese Islands, South Korea and Russia. The cruise started in Yokohama port, near Tokyo. After a day at sea, we arrived in Kushiro, Japan. I took a walking tour of Cape Aikappu Misaki. It was foggy but beautiful. After the walk, we had a barbecue Oyster lunch. We sat at long tables, with benches and a barbecue pit in the middle of the table. There was a selection of fish and bacon, that we had to barbecue ourselves. We were provided with aprons, gloves and tongs. It was delicious.
This was followed by a day of scenic cruising though the Shiretoko Peninsula. There wasn't much to see.
The next stop was in Korsakov, Russia. Immigration was held on the ship. You could not leave the ship unless you were on an escorted tour. I took the tour to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. There we visited the Church of St Nicholas, which was very pretty. Built of round-frame logs, the roof is topped with the iconic gold onion domes that is typical of Russia. After that, we went to the Ice Palace, for a bathroom break and souvenir shopping. After that, we drove to Victory Square, which includes the Cathedral Temple, and Glory Square, which is dedicated to Russia's triumph in WWII. The next stop was Sakhalin Regional Museum. Final stop was City Mall, where some people shopped enthusiastically.
We left Russian waters, and sailed to Otaru, Japan. I took the tour to see the Aoyama Villa, which is a symbol of herring fishing. The primary building material is wood, and the floors and pillars are exquisitely lacquered. There is a one-piece corridor, built without joints, from one end to the other. Outside, there are gardens on 3 sides. The tour also took us to the top of Mt Tengu, on the Otaru Tenguyama Ropeway. There was a lot of fog at the top, which gave the different shrines a magical feeling, but we could not really see anything from the Observation Points. There were many masks of Tengu goblins. The last stop of the tour was at the Otaru Canal, where I and several others opted to leave the tour and walk back to the ship ourselves. The area around the canal has a lot of shops and cafes.
Our nest port was Hakodate, Japan. I took a tour to the Goryokaku Tower and the star-shaped Goryokaku Fort. We stopped at the Morning Market on our way, which consisted of several blocks of fresh sea food. One shop had a fishing line where you could catch and eat squid. If you stood too close you would get squirted by the squid. From there, we had a walking tour of the Motomachi District, where we saw the Roma Catholic Church, the Buddhist Temple, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Old Public Hall. We then went to the Red Brick Warehouse District, for dinner. This area has a lot of shops for those who like shopping. After dinner, we took the Hakodate Ropeway to the top of Mt Hakodate. It was dark by then and once the fog cleared, we got some good views of the city by night.
We had another day at sea before returning to Yokohama, where some people got off. I was continuing on to the next section of the cruise, so I was able to take a tour of Tokyo. It was a long drive from the port to Tokyo. We visited the Imperial Palace, but we only had time to see the moat, we could not see the gardens. Then we went to the Sensoji Temple, which has several incredible temples. After lunch, we went to the Meiji Shrine. We saw a wedding procession while we were there.
Tokyo was followed by another day at sea while we made our way to Busan, South Korea. I took a tour to the Beomeosa Temple, which also has an incredible collection n of temples. We then drove to the Ja-Gal-Ch'i Fish Market, which has severl blocks of fresh sea food. There were other shopping areas nearby.
Our final stop was at Nagasaki, Japan. I did not take a tour. I took public transportation to the Peace Memorial Park, where I saw the giant Peace Statue and the rebuilt Urakami Cathedral. I visited Ground Zero, and the museum, where I saw a model of 'Fat Man' the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. The museum was a very somber and moving experience. I thought the displays were very well done. They made no attempt to lay blame on any country, just showed the stark effects of what had happened. After seeing that, no-one would want to see a nuclear bomb go off anywhere!
Another day at sea, then we were back in Yokohama, where I took the cruise ship transfer back to Tokyo,and my flight back to Los Angeles.
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Japan Cruise - 2017
