Sayōnara from Japan

 We’re nearing the end of our journey and it’s been a remarkable experience. The last few days have been at sea and stops at the ports of Nagasaki Kobe and Shimizu.

We all know about the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan was at Nagasaki. A trip to the Atomic bomb museum was a very somber experience. The devastation and destruction and loss of life from a bomb that was insignificant in size to today’s arsenals. Very graphic photos of the impact show the amount of destruction. Nagasaki is located between two small mountains and when the bomb exploded the impact and fires leveled most buildings in the valet and up the slopes of both mountains. With a population of 250,000  almost 76,000 died and another 75,000 suffer severe burns and radiation sickness. Today Nagasaki is a modern city with a large harbor that has lots of industry along its shores. Every port city  that we visit has a huge amount of industry from shipping to manufacturing. Acres of new vehicles sit along the docks awaiting shipped to some where in the world.

A day spent at sea then we parked  the boat at Kobe. For the next two days.  Near Kobe is Kyoto and Osaka  both cities with lots of history our first day we travelled about an hour by train to Osaka and visited the Osaka castle. It was a beautiful day on Sunday and the cherry and plum trees were in full blossom thousands of people were out visiting the Castle grounds.  It is very impressive with a huge moat and stone walls surrounding the castle.

Osaka Castle

After visiting the castle we headed to the entertainment and restaurant district in Osaka called Notenbori. This area is famous for all the signage outside the restaurants and shopping areas. Again the area was packed with people looking at all the sites and taking a river cruise the canal system. Many steps later and a train back to the ship it was another busy day. 

Osaka food District Notenbori

Our ship the Norwegian Jewell has very good restaurants and entertainment in the evening. We did a behind the tour of the ship and saw all the different departments that provided services to us. From the huge supply rooms, the mega sized kitchens that prepare thousands of meals each day to the laundry services and the engineering facilities and the deck where the captain and his crew navigate the waters was a truly interesting tour.

Our last day in Kobe was rainy but warm so we hopped on a bus and headed to Mount Rukko overlooking the bay of Kyoto. We took a tram up the side of the mountain and the views were great even though visibility was limited. 

Kobe is famous for its Sake so of course we went to a Sake brewery and museum and learned about the fine art of Sake manufacturing. After trying a few samples I don’t think I’ll develop a taste for it on a regular basis. We left Kobe in the afternoon and sailed overnight to Shimizu which is close to Mount Fuji. It was pouring rain and overcast for most of the day. We were only in port from 9:30 to about 3:30. For a lot of people who had booked excursions to see Mount Fuji were disappointed and no refunds were given for these tours. We haven't taken any of the Cruise lines tours as we can do them ourselves at a fraction of the cost and have the fun of taking the buses and subway to get to the various sites. Getting around is very easy as long as you have good cell or WiFi connections. While in Shimizu we ventured to a museum about the history of Sushi making. A walk along the harbor and a stop at a 7-11 for lunch which is nothing like the 7-11’s in Canada. Convenient stores are everywhere in Japan three chains dominate from Family Mart, Lawsons and 7-11 you can find all kinds of freshly prepared foods from steam buns to soups and sandwiches all very good quality and very cheap. Just as we are about to leave port the skies cleared partially and Mount Fuji appeared and pandemonium broke out across the ship as everyone was excited to Japans iconic dormant volcano.

As I write this we have left port and are heading back to Tokyo to start our flight home on Wednesday afternoon. It seems forever that we were in Vietnam and the millions of Scooters on the congested streets and seeing the magnificent remains in Seim Reap Cambodia. The beautiful beach’s and great food in Thailand. Japan is so unique and I think one of the great countries in the world with so many people and so unique it has to be seen to be appreciated. I must thank my traveling partner who had lots of patience while I kept us from getting  not too lost and was willing to be a bit more adventurous than usual. I hope you have enjoyed this blog and who knows where we will travel to next.

Sayōnara From Japan

Rob and Karen

I Karen must take this opportunity to thank my personal travel agent, excursion master, money translator and companion as he absolutely nailed it  my only job was to carry the passports and If I don’t say so myself did a damn good job at it  

So to Rob Thank you Arigato Gozaimasu

“Oh the Places You’ll Go” Dr.Suess

 Hello friends and family, I’m not sure if you realized  this blog subscription included a special addition blog written by Karen. As Dr. Seuss said “Oh the places you’ll go”  and here’s some of the places from Vietnam to Japan and how we got there.  

A carrier boat out to the Island in Hoi Long Bay

Many many many subways took us to faraway places to sight see

Our tour in Vietnam was by bus. Full of my very own “classroom” of kids 

We did ride a scooter taxi in Vietnam (with my eyes closed)

                Long boats to take us island hopping 

               

Oh dear Lord pics from the bike tour when we were still part of the group 

                       Round boats in Vietnam

                          Motorcycle tuk tuk

Happy cyclist BEFORE I  knew what I was getting myself into

                 Night tuk tuk with a lady driver

                 Long boat I think I’m the captain

Round boat 

Tuk tuk and taxi competing for a piece of the road

                     Ship Norwegian Jewel 

                 Cable car up to Mount Rokka

                 Subway at rush hour 

   

        Back of a pick up 

    Mekong River water Taxi

Rickshaw in Hanoi

If you Cruise you cant Snooze

 Our departure from Yokohama on the 31st of March was the start of our cruise. A quick train back into Tokyo to pick up our baggage from storage and we headed to the cruise terminal. Our time in Tokyo and Yokohama was awesome with so much to see and do even with cool and wet weather the first few days didn’t slow us down to much. We are starting to figure out that the warm weather in Japan doesn’t really start until May. Thinking it would be warmer gave Karen a reason to get some shopping done for appropriate clothing. As there isn’t shortage of retailers willing to accommodate her needs prior to leaving port.

Our cruise ship operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines called the Jewell awaited us. It will be nice not having to pack and unpack and moving from hotel to hotel for the next 11 days. The cruise ship has about 2400 passengers of which 1/3 are Americans another 1/3 are Australians and the remaining being made up of about 19 other countries with about 75 Canadians on board. Recently renovated in 2022 the ship has lots of restaurants, bars and lounges. We have some areas that are a bit quieter and have set up  in the Spinnaker lounge at the front of the ship with great views when coming into and out of the ports we visit. 

Departure from Tokyo at 7:00 pm the next morning we woke up in Nagoya. We had breakfast and headed to the Toyota Memorial Museum only to find out that it was closed on Mondays. It was then back into a bus and then another train bus to reach the Nagoya Castle a world Heritage Site it was very busy and too tell you the truth we have had our fill of Temples and Pagodas dating back hundreds to thousands of years. 

 BulletTrain Museum

Wanting to see some more recent history we stopped in at the Japan Rail Museum where the history of the Bullet Train was on display, along with many displays of Japans rail history. We have seen many large train stations but Nagoya is the second busiest and the largest train terminal in Japan again. We are finally getting some warmer weather but the forecast isn’t looking great. Back to the ship diner and catch a show in the ships theater with some really good entertainment. I spoke with the piano player in one of the lounges and he was from Cochrane and has been working on these cruises for the past 8 years. If you see a line up on the ship there is usually a buffet or a restaurant and the end of the line.

Day three we were expecting to visit Kochi but due to low tides we were diverted to Wakayama for a short stop of about 5 hours a city with limited history and sites to visit. But we able to finally able to see the cherry trees in full bloom. 

Back into the ship and the next morning (day 5) we arrived in rainy but warm Kagoshima home of an active volcano that blows off some steam 5-6 times per month. Unfortunately with low cloud cover the Volcano was invisible to us. After  a train ride and a ferry ride to a good interpretative centre rounded out the day with a bowl of  Tonktonsu Pork Ramen at a small little restaurant the south of Japan is famous for its pork Ramen and I think it was one of the best meals we had in Japan.

Today we landed on Busan South Korea  before we arrived Karen reached out to an ex-teacher friend who moved nearby Busan. Glen Oxford who taught at Sacred Heart moved to Korea to teach. Since they were in spring break Glen met us at the cruise port and took us out to see some of the sites in downtown Busan. A walk through some local markets and an authentic Korean lunch and a viewing from atop a high rise shopping centre made out for a great day.

Karen and Glen Oxford

Busan 

It’s hard to believe that we are less than a week from  arriving back home, but we still have lots to see before then so one more blog before we wrap up the Ballhorn’s in Asia.