April 9-10, 2026 Thursday & Friday: The rest of the story!
After a 29 hour day on Thursday, and anxiety about missing our connection from Dulles to Tampa, I felt United took pretty good care of us. They gave us vouchers for our hotel, dinner and breakfast. They rescheduled us on the first flight out of Dulles to Tampa on Friday morning. Also a credit for future travel. The anxiety came when we got a text Thursday morning saying our direct flight from Tokyo to Dulles was now going to stop in San Francisco, which meant we would miss our connection to Tampa. There was no United agent in Tokyo to help us and let us know what to do. We ended up on the phone waiting about 50 minutes on hold to speak to an agent. He couldn’t help us much but said to get on the flight from Tokyo and an agent at Dulles would help us. He did tell us that United should give us vouchers for a hotel.
Stayed overnight at a Doubletree, took shuttle from hotel to airport. Took 30 minutes from time we left the hotel, drove to the airport, and went through TSA and security. Took about the same amount of time in the Starbuck’s line to get coffee and a breakfast sandwich…actually, probably closer to 45 minutes at Starbucks by the time we finally get our breakfast sandwiches!
Finally home about 1:30PM.
April 8-9, 2026 Wednesday and Thursday….
Wednesday was a sea day, so we packed, went to trivia, listened to music, went to a presentation on Noh and Kabuki theater and dinner at the Sushi specialty restaurant.
And my favorite….
We enjoyed our last dinner onbard.
Thursday…we woke up to a message from United that our direct flight from Tokyo to Dulles was now going to make a stop in San Francisco due to crew issues. So, we are currently sitting in the airport, knowing we are going to miss our connecting flight from Dulles to Tampa. We called United, sitting on hold for probably an hour, only to discover there weren’t any reasonable options. If we miss our connection in Dulles, supposedly we will get a voucher for a hotel room and fly home on the 10th. 🤞🤞🤞
April 7, 2026 – Tuesday: As we were getting ready to leave the port yesterday evening, we had some entertainment from local girls. Interesting that the band was all girls, too!
Before and after dinner, we listened to some music, which is typical for us. The dinner had a Japanese entree, but I did not catch the name. It was fried chicken, but had Japanese seasoning and sauce. It was very good!
Later we decided to visit the martini bar, which was a first for us this cruise! The bartender heard me mention it was Erin’s birthday!
Unfortunately we cannot pack the martini and take it home to her, so Dave had to drink it 😜.
Today we are in Kagoshima. It is not raining, but we could not find anything we wanted to do in this port. The ship has a free shuttle to the downtown area, which they have done in all the ports on this cruise. So we took the shuttle and walked around Tenmonkan area which is a pedestrian only covered shopping area. It covers several blocks. This was around 10:00AM when we started our walk, and many shops didn’t open until 11:00AM. We did a lot of window shopping, and went into one big store. On the 15th floor was an observation deck where you could see Sakurajima, which is the most active volcano in Japan. So we went up and took a picture of the volcano.
That was the end of our visit to Kagoshima. Tonight is a “Chic” night, so we will dress up and probably have lobster for dinner.
Tomorrow is a sea day so we can pack up our belongings. We made reservations in the specialty restaurant, “Sushi on 5”, so I can have their Lobster Ramen one more time as it is delicious!
April 6, 2026 – Monday – Happy Birthday Erin!
We have a shore excursion today, visiting Dejima Museum, the Peace Memorial Park, the Atomic Bomb Museum and the Glover Garden. Dave and I skipped out and did not go to the Glover Garden but did a little shopping instead. It is overcast today, but no rain. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and beautiful.
Dejima was an island, a small, fan-shaped artificial island, built offshore in 1636 to confine the Portuguese and curtail the spread of Christianity. The construction project was financed by 25 influential Nagasaki merchants. The Dutch trading post in Hirado moved to Dejima. For the next 218 years, Dejima was a hub for the introduction of Western science and goods and information conducive to the modernization of Japan. Advanced knowledge from abroad spread through Japan via Dejima, but the role of the island ended when Japan opened it doors to the world in 1859. Portuguese were not allowed to cross the bridge from Dejima into Nagasaki, nor were they allowed to practice Christianity.
A project is underway to restore Dejima to its appearance at the beginning of the 19th century.
We saw the house of the “Chief Factor”, who apparently was the man in charge.
In the early 1600’s, the main item imported by the Dutch was raw silk while the main item exported was silver. Later, cotton fabrics, velvet pepper, sugar, and glassware were imported. Products such as copper, camphor, ceramics and laquerware were exported.
Our next stop was the Peace Memorial Park.
At the north end of the park is a 33 foot tall Peace Statue which sits on a raised platform. The statue’s right hand points to the threat of nuclear weapons while the extended left hand symbolizes eternal peace. The mild face symbolizes divine grace and the gently closed eyes offer a prayer for the souls of the bomb victims. In front of the statue is a black marble vault containing the names of the atomic bomb victims and survivors who subsequently died.
At the south end of the park is a ”Fountain of Peace”, constructed in 1969, as a prayer for the victims who died searching for water.
You can stand in front of the Fountain of Peace and look back to see the Peace Statue.
The translation on the black plaque is from the diary of a girl who was at the bombing that day. It says “I was incredibly thirsty, and there was something oily floating all over the water. Desperate for water, I was drinking it with the oil still floating on top”.
In 1978, the city of Nagasaki established a “Peace Symbols Zone” and invited donations of monuments from different countries around the world, and I believe they have received 16 different monuments. I did not see a monument from the United States, but I did see this plaque:
Nearby is the hypocenter which is marked by a black stone monolith in the center of concentric circles. About 1/3 of Nagasaki was destroyed and 150,000 people killed or injured. Nearby is a brick remnant of the Urakami Cathedral which was near the hypocenter and destroyed.
A picture of an information plaque. It was next to what had been a bomb shelter.
Per this plaque, it is hard to read, but someone from inside the shelter said, “Shelters dug at the foot of a hill were dark and musty. The shelter floor was always damp with drops of water falling from the ceilings. I felt that the candlelight was very bright. Immediately after the A-bombing, everyone in the shelter remained silent- maybe because we were all at a loss.”
Leaving the Peace Memorial Park we visited the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. There are many artifacts, photographs and displays.
The bomb exploded in the air above Nagasaki on August 9,1945 at 11:02AM. Clocks on display had stopped at 11:02 AM.
There is a video taken from US Aircraft which show the moment the bomb exploded and the formation of the mushroom cloud.
There were two information plaques that I found interesting.
We did not take many pictures inside the museum, as many of the artifacts were similar to those in Hiroshima. However, the Nagasaki museum was not as crowded and it was easier to see the displays and artifacts.
It is depressing to see the destruction, but encouraging to see how Nagasaki has rebounded into a modern city.
The last stop on our tour was Glover Gardens, which I understood to be e a tour of some old mansions. We decided to leave the tour snd do some shopping – window shopping and otherwise. We spotted a Japanese vase that we both liked, so now we have a non-consumable souvenier!
Tomorrow we are in Kagoshima, which is our last port. We do not have anything planned, and the weather forecast is calling for rain…which will discourage us from going out to explore.
April 4 &5 (Easter Sunday), 2016 – Friday night we went to a Specialty Restaurant and celebrated our anniversary a little early.
Saturday, April 4 was a sea day, but overnight and throughout most of the day Saturday, we were rocking and rolling! I got a little seasick, so we stayed close to our stateroom most of the day. The blue dot is our location in the middle of the storm!
Easter Sunday Morning, April 5: We arrived on Jeju Island, South Korea on Easter Sunday morning to a beautiful, sunny day. Jeju Island is known for their mandarin oranges, some of which are really tiny, like the size of a silver dollar. We are also here during prime cherry blossom season, which only lasts one week. The cherry blossoms are beautiful, but we did not take any pictures of them today.
We have a shore excursion and our first stop is Jeju Stone Park. Jeju Island was created from volcanic activity, with volcanic rock everywhere. The park was created to exhibit Jeju traditional stone culture and lifestyle. We walked pathways with hugh lava stones lining each side.
Then we came to their sky pond where you can also see Hallasan volcano in the distance, which is the highest mountain in South Korea.
We walked through the museum which had many lava rocks with interesting shapes.
We passes several lava rocks with towers which our guide said is an example of these towers which have been erected all over the island. The people erected the towers to protect them from evil.
The Jeju traditional thatched roof houses were erected a little below ground level and surrounded by stone fences. Residences included three houses. The houses were divided depending on the number of generations living at the residence. One house would include the kitchen. The houses did not have chimney although they would build fires inside. The smoke would escape at the bottom of the house where there were openings. The smoke being at the bottom would also kill insects and rodents.
The guide took my picture through a lava rock. The lava encircled a tree truck and when the tree burned inside, it left this round opening, making a nice picture frame.
Stone Grandfathers were placed facing each other on the sides of entrances to fortresses. They functioned as guardians for welfare and prosperity of the villages and were believed to ward off misfortunes. They functioned as boundary markers as well as gatekeepers. Originally 48 were erected in 1754, and 45 of them are in Jeju Stone Park. One was lost and the other two are in a museum in Seoul. They are about 6 feet tall.
Next we passed an interesting arch made of lava stone.
The last picture was inside a small structure, as when a light was shown on the lava rock, it looked like a mother and child.
Leaving the Jeju Stone Park, we drove to a beach. The water was a beautiful color and clear, but we could not partake of the water as the temperature is in the upper 50’s and we did not have bathing suits.
While at the beach, Dave snd I picked up some consumable souvenirs…potato chips, almonds and Oreo cookies! We miss our snacks….
Our last stop was a market which was very crowded with tourists!
We bought some more consumable souvenirs- chocolates with mandarin orange filling, and mandarin orange tarts.
We really are fed well on the ship despite the souvenirs we buy!
Tomorrow we will be back in Japan, visiting Nagasaki.
April 3, 2026 – Good Friday- This morning at breakfast, I looked outside to see this silver tower!
We have an excursion today, “Hiroshima and Miyajima”. Our guide took us to Miyajima first because it was high tide this morning. Miyajima is an island and A World Heritage Site. We took a ferry to get to the island. The ferries run about every 10 minutes, and they were packed with people when we went over. We saw many oyster farms in the water. Miyajima is the location of the Itsukushima Shrine which is dedicated to three goddesses worshipped as deities of the seas, traffic safety, good fortune, and fulfillment of wishes. It was first built in 593 and remodeled into its current structure in 1168.
But the real attraction, and reason we are visiting, especially during high tide, was for the O-toril Gate of the Itsukushima Shrine. The present O-toril Gate, the ninth, was built in 1875. At high tide, it looks like it is floating on the water. We could see the gate from the ferry ride, but after the ferry docked, we walked to the Shrine to see a view of O-toril gate from land.
There are lots of wild deer on the island, and they show no fear of humans. We were told not to feed them, but of course there are always stupid people 😢.
After seeing the gate, we had some free time to explore. The island is very touristy and has a long street of shops and restaurants. We got brave and tried some snacks. We had to pick out our food and pay for it using a “vending” type machine. Fortunately there was a lady standing nearby to help us. I wanted to try “takoyaki” which is fried ball shaped dumplings filled with octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion. Dave had tempura shrimp. Together the two snacks cost about $7.21USD. After getting the food they let us sit inside to eat them. I was proud of us trying the Japanese experience. We see these vending type machine to buy food everywhere.
After our snack we browsed the souvenir shops, but nothing caught our eye. We met our group, took the ferry back to Hiroshima, and drove to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. I did not realize until today that Dave’s birthday (August 6) is the same day, but not the same year, as when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. The first symbol we saw was the A-bomb dome which is the skeletal ruins of the former “ Hiroshima Perfectural Promotion Hall” and is the closest building to the hypocenter of the bomb that remained standing.
Next we saw the Children’s Peace Monument. It’s a monument for peace to commemorate Sadako Sasaji (a young girl) and the thousands of child victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. She is known for folding over 1,000 paper cranes in response to a Japanese legend. Sadako Sasaki died from leukemia on October 25, 1955 from radiation poisoning.
We saw the Flame of Peace which was lit on August 1, 1964 and has been burning ever since in protest of nuclear weapons, and will continue to burn until there are no nuclear weapons left on earth.
We saw the Hiroshima Victims Memorial Cenotaph which was built in 1952. Inside are registries which contain the names of all known victims of the bombing with new names added each year. The memorial is shaped like a roof, designed with the intent to shelter the souls of those lost to the bombing, and is engraved with the words, “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall nor repeat the evil”.
From the Memorial Park, we entered the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The museum has a powerful collection of atomic bom artifacts, pictures of Hiroshima before and after the bomb, personal belongings of victims, pictures of victims, and personal testimonies. Unfortunately, we had less than an hour to go thru the museum and it was packed with people. Dave and I could have spent a lot more time in this museum. It was interesting, but very depressing.
After the museum, we returned to the ship.
Tonight we are having dinner in one of the specialty restaurants and tomorrow is a much needed sea day.
April 2, 2026 -Thursday – When we woke up this morning, the sun was shining! No rain in sight! We are in Kochi, Japan and we do not have a planned shore excursion. The ship is providing a free shuttle from the port into the city, so we plan to take the shuttle and explore on our own. As we are exiting the terminal building there are vendors selling their wares, which is typical. Dave spotted a lady selling textile pillows but displaying one of the item I was looking for! I wanted a purse made from kimono material. This purse was made from textiles, but supposedly old textiles, and the vendor’s mother had made the purse. It was close enough to what I had hoped to find, so I bought it, just in case I did not find one made from kimono material.
After my purchase, we took the shuttle into the city. We are dropped near a shopping area. It had all kinds of stores and was in a covered walk that extended several blocks. We passed some department stores, but most of the stores were smaller shops. Our goal was to get to Kochi Castle, which sits very high up, and then decide if we thought we could climb up to the castle.
Construction started in 1601 but it took 10 years for completion. In 1727, most of the castle was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in 1753. Kochi castle is only one of 12 castles remaining in Japan in which the original stone walls and wooden main gate survive.
We did not know how many stairs we had to climb to get to the top, but decided we would try to climb to the top and rest as much as we needed along the way. It did end up being 207 stair steps, but these are stairs built long ago – they are uneven, and much taller than the steps in the USA. When we got to the actual castle, we had to climb stairs that were narrow and tall, likek climbing a ladder. Going down these stairs was harder than going up and many people were going down backwards. I went down sideways so I could hang on to the railing. But yes, the climb up 207 stairs was worth it!
From the time of the warlord Hideyoshi in the late 1500s, farmers and samurai were strictly separated in work and status. But in earlier times, farmers often fought as part-time samurai when the need arose. Kochi castle area farmer-samurai were among the toughest and wildest of the lot.
This “fish”, according to Wikipedia, “ is a Shachihoko, or Shachi – a sea monster in Japanese folklore with the head of a dragon ot tiger and body of a carp. According to tge tale, Shachihoko lives in the cold northern ocean. Its broad fins and tail always point up to heaven, and its dorsalfins have numerous sharp spikes. It can swallow a massive amount of water and hold it in its belly, as well as summon clouds and control the rain. Although believed to come from the sea, they are often constructed high on the roof standing upside down.”
Chylo was born in 1557 and married Katsutoyo when she was 17 or 18. She offered Katsutoyo 1,500,000 yen (about $9,400 USD) to buy a horse which impressed tge most powerful general in Japan. Thereafter, Katsutoyo enjoyed many successes. At one point, she sent her husband, who was fighting a battle, a message concealed in the chinstrap of a hat. She gave him some intelligence and suggested he change sides. As a result, he ended up on the winning side and was awarded a lordship. I think this is what allowed him to build Kochi castle. She died in 1617 at the age of 61.
Leaving the castle, we walked back toward our shuttle bus drop-off, thinking we might stop for a bite to eat. We passed several restaurants, but even with my translation app, we did not find what we were looking for. We just wanted a small snack, some good old street food, and all the places we saw were offering set lunch meals.
We did stop at a used kimono shop we had passed when we were heading up to the castle, and I used my translator app to ask the young ladies in front of the store where to find a purse made from a kimono. They said they had some! There were younger women in the front of the shop, but an older woman was in the back and she made the purses! So now I have 2 purses from Japan that are handmade. I paid the older lady and she seemed very happy with my purchase. She gave me some origami and other little gifts, as well as putting my purse in a nice homemade bag!
We felt we really had a good day. It was so nice to visit Kochi Castle and not be rushed. Plus, finding 2 of that special item (the purses!).
We took the shuttle back to the ship and had a nice relaxing lunch. Tomorrow we will be in Hiroshima and we have a shore excursion.
April 1, 2026 – Wednesday – we had a shore excursion this morning, but still dealing with rain. Our first stop was Osaka Castle. The place was jam packed with people, and we were given limited time for our visit.
The first thing we noticed as we were approaching the castle was a massive stone wall, built for defensive purposes. Over 1 million granite stones from various locations were used to build this massive wall. Inside the wall, the castle consists of 8 levels. Three are underground and five are above ground. Original construction was completed in 1597.
The Castle was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who is regarded as the second great unifier of Japan. He was a samurai and feudal lord. The year after the castle was completed, he died.
As we were about to enter the castle, our guide had told us to go to the fifth level and wait for her, but she never showed up (we later found out she was looking for two passengers who had taken off on their own without telling her). Since our time was limited, we finally started exploring on our own. Most of the exhibits were about various battles and wars that took place around the castle, which we did not find interesting because of our limited knowledge of Japan’s history. The castle had been destroyed and rebuilt several times. During World War 2, an American bombing raid destroyed 90% of the castle which had become an arsenal.
In 1995, Osaka’s government approved another restoration which was completed in 1995. It is a concrete reproduction of the original.
Since our guide never showed up, we decided to go to the eighth floor which is an observation deck, and took a couple of photos before heading back to the meeting point for our tour.
The next and last stop was the Dōtonbori district. It is regarded as a principal tourist and nightlife area. The reason it was on our tour was for shopping. When we were in Tokyo, I saw “something” as we were on our tour the first day that caught my eye, but I have not been able to find it anywhere since. So I had high hopes of finding it in Dōtonbori. There were many restaurants and food stalls in the area as well as stores. The district runs along both sides of the Dōtonbori canal. Again, with our limited time allocation, we wandered a bit, and then visited just one store. We only saw the first 3 floors out of maybe 8 floors, and what we were seeing was all kinds of snack foods. We went up to the 3rd floor as I saw a diagram that indicated Japanese souvenirs were on the 3rd floor – thinking what I was looking for might be considered a souvenir…but all we were seeing were various snack foods in various flavors. We did buy a couple of snacks.
I was also able to find a mailbox in a store in the Dōtonbori district so I could mail a postcard. In several countries where we have traveled, finding a post office or mailbox has been very difficult. Sometimes it has been impossible to even find postcards! Japan has mailboxes on the streets, and in convenience stores like 7-11.
When we got back to the dock area, we checked out some stores that are close to the ship. I am amazed at how thin the Japanese people are as it seems like there are restaurants, food stalls, and snacks everywhere.
The other thing that is everywhere is vending machines. I was interested in trying a snack, but I had to use a vending machine to get a ticket to pay for the food. The vending machine only offered 6 of the item, and I only wanted 1. Dave is not as adventurous about food as I am, and I knew he would not help me eat 6. So, no snack for me.
Tomorrow we will be in Kochi, and we do not have a tour. We will wander on our own and see what we find.
March 31, 2026 – Tuesday – We are docked in Osaka, Japan, and will be here overnight.
Today we had a tour to Kyoto, which is about an hour away. Our guide was very good, and tried to teach us some Japanese on our hour long bus ride.
Cherry blossoms are in full bloom, so we saw beautiful trees everywhere we went. Unfortunately, the weather has not been cooperating and we had several downpours of rain that we had to deal with.
Our first stop was Kinkaku-ji Temple, which our guide referred to as the Golden Pavilion. The building is covered in gold leaf, thus its name. At the top of the roof is a golden phoenix. It is a Zen Buddhist temple recognized as a UNESCO site. You are not allowed to enter the building, but you can walk around the surrounding gardens.
In 1397, a Shogun took over the property which used to be a family’s villa. He built the palace which was the center of politics and culture, and was used to welcome the Emperors of Japan and trading partners from China. After the Shogun passed away, it became a temple according to his will.
A monk burned it down in 1950 but it was rebuilt in 1955.
In the gardens we saw a 600 year old pine tree that is trimmed to look like a sailing ship heading west.
The white snake mound is the site of the family that owned the property before the Shogun, who enjoyed great prosperity. The white snake is a messenger of the goddess of wisdom.
The next place we visited was Nijo-jo Castle. The castle was completed in 1603 and is famous for its cherry blossoms. It was built by a Shogun and used as his residence when he was in Kyoto. In 1867, the end of Shogun rule and restoration of power to the Emperor was proclaimed at Nijo-jo Castle.
We were able to walk through the castle, but photos are not allowed. There were many rooms, and all the walls were decorated with murals. The entrance rooms had murals of tigers which were to intimidate visitors. Other murals were of trees, birds, and nature scenes. The floor was made of boards which made sounds like birds when you walked on them. One explanation was to serve as notice to the guards that there was an intruder, but another explanation was it occurred naturally from the aging of the boards.
Our guide said the distinction between castles and palaces is that castles were military bases and palaces were for emperors.
The next pictures of blossoms at Nijo Castle were taken when it was pouring rain!
After the Nijo-ji Castle, we went to lunch at a hotel. We had a salmon salad, fish with miso paste, roasted chicken, and a matcha dessert. No picture of chicken 😢.
Our last stop after lunch was To-ji Temple. The grounds has a five story pagoda, and two large halls with Buddha statues. Again, no photos were allowed. One of the halls was built in the 8th century but burned down in 1486 and was reconstructed in 1603. The second hall was constructed about 835 and had been damaged several times by typhoons and earthquakes. The present building was built in 1491 in the original form of architecture.
The pagoda is used to house relics of Buddha. It is the highest pagoda in Japan at 187 feet tall. The first pagoda was built in the 9th century but burned down four times after being struck by lightening. The present pagoda was built in 1644.
There are gardens on the property with cherry blossom trees. One weeping cherry tree in the gardens is 120 years old. Because of its age, it does not have many blossoms.
This was a long day for us, I think 9 hours. We went to dinner, and after dinner we went to a Japanese drum performance. It was phenomenal. There were 5 drummers and it is amazing how in sync they are.
We have another tour tomorrow in Osaka, but not as long as today. Whew!
March 30, 2026 – Monday – Today is a sea day, but a little more about our tour yesterday to the Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taishawas shrine.
A Shogun, “Minamoto no Yoritomo”, was a frequent visitor to the Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taishawas shrine to practice his war games and hunting skills. He was alarmed at the skills of his samurai, and organized “ yabusame” so the samurai could practice their archery skills.
Yabusame is a type of mounted archery in traditional Japanese archery. An archer on a running horse shoots three special “turnip-headed” arrows at three wooden targets.
In the evening we went to the Sushi Restaurant for dinner last night and it was very good. They offer a four course dinner plus dessert. The dish I liked best was a lobster ramen, of which I forgot to take a picture! The broth was delicious! It was a huge bowl, and after eating my first course of fried chicken dumplings, then the lobster ramen, I was full and had two more courses coming. Dave had fried chicken dumplings, too, lobster and shrimp wontons, and a tempura spicy and shrimp roll which he enjoyed. We sampled sake and liked one that had a citrus flavor the best. We generally pass on dessert, but I got a matcha tiramisu to go. We really enjoyed the meal, but not sure we will go back because it was just too much food!
This morning we went to two presentations. The first one was “The Shogun and The Samurai”. In the beginning, Japan was ruled by Emperors. Then Shoguns, elite military dictators, were in charge. Shoguns were also samurai, elite warriors. There was still emporers, but they were figureheads. The samurai, elite warriors, reported to the Shogun. Then there were ninja, lower class mercenaries and spies. There are still people referred to as Shoguns because of their influence, but they were figureheads Shoguns are no longer in charge. The title Ghost Shogun is frequently assigned to past prime ministers. Our speaker said MacArthur was called a Foreign Shogun. The talk was interesting, although the speaker used the Japanese names for the different Shoguns which made the different dynasties hard to distinguish. The speaker talked about the Japanese clans, civil wars, etc., all regarding how Japan was ruled in the past.
The second speaker was much more informal and just gave tips on how to “behave” in Japan. Her talk was called “Discovering Japan”. She told us common sense things such as you can drink the water in Japan, don’t take pictures of strangers without permission (we are guilty of that one), proper use of chopsticks, a few words like “thank you”, etc.
Tonight was a formal night and we had a nice dinner. We are going to bed early because we have a long day tomorrow.
March 29, 2026 – Sunday – Today we had a shore excursion, Mt. Fuji and World Heritage Center. Our first stop was Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine. On the way, we saw fields where tea was being grown. Our guide said black tea and green tea are made from leaves of the same plant, but are processed differently. Black tea is oxidized while the green tea is not. Matcha is made from shade grown green tea leaves that are steamed, dried and then ground into a powder.
The shrine is a Shinto Shrine and is located within the downtown of the city of Fujinomiya. The upper levels of Mt. Fuji are also considered to be part of the shrine grounds. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The shrine was built to appease the god of Mt.Fuji during a period of intense volcanic activity. The shrine was erected sometime between 781 and 806. Various ceremonies were taking place in the shrine and I think there was a wedding. Unfortunately we were not quick enough to get pictures of what I assume was the bride snd groom, but they were in traditional dress. Most of the female attendees were also in traditional dress. The grounds had trees with cherry blossoms, which were very pretty. There was a pond of water that came from melting snow on Mt. Fugi, and water was coming from pipes so you could fill a container. I translated a sign in Japanese that was above the pipes – it warned you to boil the water before drinking, although our guide was telling people they could taste the Mt. Fuji water.
You could buy prayers!
More about our guide…he was Japanese, having been born in Tokyo, but had a degree from the University of Southern California (USC). He lived and worked in the USA for several years. I did not hear him say what line of work he did. He was definitely a talker, but most of the time we could not figure out what he was talking about. He seemed to be critical of China, mentioning that when Chinese tourists visit Japan they stay with friends and do not spend much money, among other criticisms.
Dave and I wandered through a flea market on the grounds before rejoining our bus to travel to the Mt. Fuji World Heritage Center. It is a museum dedicated to the history, culture and geology of Mt. Fuji.
The Mt. Fuji World Heritage Center building is very modern and has an interesting shape. Inside, you walk up a ramp which has scenes on the walls from actually walking up Mt. Fuji. I think our walk up the ramp is supposed to be to make us feel like we walked up to Mt. Fuji. When we get to the top, there is a balcony looking toward Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately the weather in Japan has not been cooperative, and today is no exception…the top of Mt. Fuji is covered in clouds and the view is pretty poor.
Our last stop was at an observatory, where we were supposed to get more views of Mt. Fuji. That did not happen. We did have a challenging walk uphill on a ramp to get to the building however!
Tonight we have a reservation in the sushi restaurant onboard. I’m finally going to get some ramen noodles!
As you can probably tell, our whole day was planned around seeing Mt. Fuji, so we were disappointed. The tour was about 6 hours long, and sometimes the clouds will pull back and you can get a nice view. That did not happen today.
At least we got to take a bunch of pictures!
Tomorrow is a sea day, so not much planned.
March 28, 2026 – Saturday – Another slow day, after one major bump in the road ☹️. We are moving from our hotel in Tokyo to our cruiseship. Because dealing with our luggage is a bit of a pain, Dave has ordered a car to take us from the hotel to the ship. We checked out early, and were waiting for the car about 20 minutes early. In the meantime, I am fascinated by a wedding taking place in the hotel lobby!
Unfortunately, we did not have a very good driver. The driver does not speak English and all communication is on WhatsApp. First she tells us she is in the parking garage, can we find her. We tell her we are at the lobby entrance. After waiting awhile, she says she is at the Mercure hotel and asks if this where we are staying. Note – all the pickup and deliver info is in the order for the car, so she should know the name of our hotel. Our hotel concierge, who is Japanese tries to help us. After much back and forth, our driver finally arrives, more than 15 minutes late. She does apologize, but we could have hired a taxi on the spot and been at the port by now! Finally, we get loaded and head to the port which is about 25 minutes away. We get close, and point out the ship, but she goes into the port parking lot which is way too far for us to drag our luggage. We tell her she is too far away from the ship, so she tries again. This next pass she gets us to the luggage dropoff and we cant get away from this driver fast enough.
So we got on the ship, do some exploring, unpack, go listen to some music, eat dinner and get ready for bed! Tomorrow we have an excursion to Mt. Fugi, but we think it is goig to be cloudy and rainy ☹️.
March 27, 2026 – Friday – An edit to our Wednesday sushi lunch….I forgot to mention that Dave ordered three pieces of sushi, all of them cooked, including eel! Then he got really brave and tried one of my pieces which was raw tuna on rice. I was shocked!
Today is our last day in Tokyo. Tomorrow we board the ship in a nearby town, Yokohama. Our plan was to find some of the older shops in Tokyo. We took public transportation (which we are getting pretty good at with the help of google maps) heading for a museum that preserved life as late as the 1940’s. When we got there, we saw a large pond with a flea market and food tents set up around the pond. That looked more interesting than the museum, especially since it was not raining and we got a few glimpses of the sun now and then. The pond was Shinobazu Pond and is a paradise for waterfowl. In the winter, around 2,500 birds visit the pond. The pond is also home to carp and turtles. As we wandered around, we came upon a buddhist temple. A sign called it a temple in the middle of a lily pond.
After visiting the temple, we saw a walkway that went out into the pond, lined with windmills. They looked really cool from a distance as they seemed to be iridescent in color.
After walking all the way around the pond to where we started, we decided we didn’t want to go inside the museum. We decided to make our way to Asakusa. The Senso-ji temple we visited Wednesday is in the Asakusa area, and it is a very touristy area. We got there and wandered around – but apparently missed the touristy area as we did not see much that interested us. There were several people walking around in Kimonos, mostly women, which we had seen on Wednesday, too. Our Wednesday guide said they were tourists and renting the kimonos seemed to be particularly interesting to Chinese tourists! Since we were not finding anything that held our interest in Asakusa, we decided to head to the Tokyo Station.
Tokyo Station is not only a huge train station, but has all kinds of shopping and food places underneath the trains, on several levels. It is referred to as Tokyo Station City! By the time we got there, we were tired and hungry. Many of the food places that had seating, also had long lines. We found one with a very short line, only one couple in front of us. We had hamburger patties with an egg on top, served with a gravy, rice and fries. It was OK and more importantly gave us a place to sit down and rest.
After eating, we discovered the place was so huge we didn’t know how to get back outside! Dave stopped two girls and they let us follow them to an exit. I know it sounds crazy, but it was really hard to find the exit. While a lot of signage in Tokyo is in English, sometimes we found the signage lacking. This was one of those times. But people were always helpful when we had to ask.
The Tokyo Station is only about a mile from our hotel, so we decided to walk back to the hotel.
While our day was not particularly exciting, we did enjoy the visit to Ueno Park with the. cherry blossoms, the flea market, etc. We logged over 14,000 steps and 10 flights of stairs. The stairs are the hardest part because we don’t have stairs in Florida so those muscles don’t get used!
At dinner time, we went out looking for a restaurant as there are restaurants all around us. Unfortunately, being a Friday night, they were all full! We ended up coming back to our hotel and getting a PIZZA in the bar! We were hoping for a nice Japanese dinner….
March 26, 2026 – Thursday – A pretty miserable day…cloudy and rainy. We had breakfast in the Hotel’s club lounge, because it’s free! At least there are some American choices like scrambled eggs, very fatty bacon (🥵), bread, croissants, fruit, etc. They also have asian offerings such as rice, vegetables, and unnamed options.
You will be able to tell today was a slow day because there are lots of food pictures.
Our guide yesterday took our picture when we were in the Imperial Palace gardens and sent it to me….so here it is!
After breakfast we headed out on our own to take the subway to Shibuya Sky. The subway/train system is unbelievably confusing for us. There are so many trains and stations, it is hard to get accustomed to using the public transportation.
Our guide yesterday was very adept at using public transportation, and I’m sure with a little more time we would figure it out. Fortunately, to get from our hotel to the Shibuya Sky building we only had to take one train for 8 stops.
We had purchased tickets for Shibuya Sky in advance as they can be hard to get. Shibuya Sky is an open air observatory on the 47th floor. It also overlooks the Shibuya Scramble Crossing which is the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing where up to 3,000 people cross streets in all directions simultaneously. We were not there during rush hour, so there were not that many people crossing.
Because of the weather, the 47th floor of Shibuya Sky was closed, so no open air observatory for us. We were only able to get access to the enclosed 46th floor. We were given the option to cancel and rebook, but there were no tickets available for the time we have left in Tokyo. So we walked around the 46th floor and took a few pictures which are not very good and left. A little disappointing.
Leaving the Shibuya Sky building we found the statue of Hachikō (an Akita Inu dog from Japan). He would wait at the Shibuya subway station for his owner everyday. After his owner died, Hachikō continued waiting at the station for nine years, becoming a global symbol of loyalty.
Then we found our subway train to return to our hotel. While walking to the hotel, we decided to stop and eat lunch. We found a place that the food pictures looked pretty good and decided to try it. I ordered 2 pieces of fried chicken and Dave got fish and chips. Lots of places do not have diet soda, so we ended up getting beer.
Dave noticed this sign on the wall.
After lunch, we stopped at a convenience store for some snacks. The weather was still rainy, cloudy and cold, we decided to just go back to the hotel and get warm and dry. Not a very good day. 😢
Back in our room, neither of us could stay awake! The time change is really affecting us. Finally we decided to just take a nap!
It seems to have (finally) stopped raining. We decided to be brave and go outside the hotel for dinner. We found a little restaurant that said they had an English menu,so we decided to try it! The name of the restaurant is Gyouasakaba. It was really a good choice! They gave us a little appetizer when we sat down. I ordered a beer and Dave ordered white wine. His wine glass was tiny, so he ended up having 4 glasses of wine! We had an order of pork dumplings and anorder of shrimp dumplings. We liked the pork ones more. Dave had chicken with cashew nuts and I had pork and sreamed vegetables. Both entrees were served without rice! We decided we could have ordered rice, but really didn’t need it…just used to getting rice with asian food. So beer, wine, dumplings and two entrees ended up costing $23.25!
After dinner we checked out another convenience store – Lawsons. The convenience stores are very popular in Japan and have about everything you would want. From my reading before the trip, lots of people posted how they would get their meals at the convenience stores to save money.
Tomorrow’s weather is looking a bit better. Hopefully we will explore some more.
March 25, 2026 Wednesday – i woke up at 3:00AM, which is 2:00 PM at home, so obviously the 13 hour time change is affecting me. A little more about immigration…before leaving the US, we were encouraged to visit a Japanese website fot immigration purposes that asks a bunch of questions. So according to the questions, we had to declare if we were bringing in jewelry worth over $1,200 dollars. If we were, we were suppose to declare it and pay duty (!) on your own jewelry! I left my jewelry at hime and only brought costume jewelry. Another item was if you were bringing in more than 2oz of perfume! Because of the TSA restrictions on liquids, the one perfume bottle I brought is two ounces. A lot of medications are prohibited to be brought into Japan. Besides the obvious drugs, you are not suppose to bring in cold medicines, sudafed, etc. If you take something on their prohibited list, you are suppose to get a special certificate. Our daily medicines were okay, but I still got a letter from my doctor indicating the drugs he has prescribed for me. After filling out the information online, you are given a “QR” code to speed up your immigration into Japan. We y at the airport in Tokyo, and as we approached immigration, there was a huge mass of people. Seriously! More than I have seen anywhere else we traveled. My guess is there were 1,000 people in line with more people coming in as others were processed and leaving. We probably arrived at a very busy time – about 3:30PM during cherry blossom season and also the Formula 1 race is Sunday in Tokyo. We stood in huge line and eventually split into two groups – those with the “QR” code and those without. Then another long line to machines that checked your “QR” code, passport, took your index fingerprints and then a photo. Then we got into another long line to finally face an immigration officer. Meanwhile, our driver, who js waiting fir us, keeps sending messages asking if we have our luggage yet, to which I responded “No, we are still in immigration lines!”. So it must have been unusual to take as long as it did – probably about 90 minutes. And, I don’t think there would have been a problem with my jewelry because I was not pulled aside and checked. I did not see anyone checked, but maybe it was just the luck of the draw and the mass of humanity trying to pass through immigration.
We had a private tour today. It was a combination of walking and using public transportation. We rode Subway trains 8 different times, Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating. The morning was cloudy and overcast, and by late morning we had misty rain which turned to real rain by noon. The cherry blossoms had started to bloom, but were not in full bloom yet. We visited the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, also site of Edo Castle. We were unable to get tickets to visit the palace, but we could visit the gardens. The walls surrounding the temple grounds are huge stones, put in place without any mortar. Many of them were constructed in the 14th century.. It was really peaceful, but the crowds were coming in as we were leaving. The gardens were beautiful and there were some cherry trees in full bloom.
Next we visited Zojoji Temple. Six shoguns are buried on the site. Shogun was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. The temple suffered much destruction in WWII but has been rebuilt.
We saw statues of little children which are dedicated for the safe growth of children and grandchildren, as well as for the memorial of stillborn or miscarried children.
Next was Hamarikyu Garden. This was the family garden of one of the shoguns. It was an outer fort for Edo Castle. There is a huge pond of water drawn from the bay, and the shogun and his family would hunt ducks on the waters. We enjoyed some matcha tea and Japanese sweets here.
From Hamariikyu Garden, we walked to Tsikji Fish Market which used to be the largest fish market in Japan. The fish market has moved, but there are many, many restaurants here and we had a sushi lunch.
After lunch we went to Senso-ji temple which was founded in 628. A large red paper lantern hangs in the entrance gate. A lot of people are hanging around because of the rain. If I have mytemples straight, this became a temple after two fisherman who were out fishing, found two small statues which resembled Buddah. They took the statues to the priest who said this must mean they are supposed to build a shrine here.
The last place we visited was the Meiji Shrine. Emperor Meiji is enshrined here. It was a long walk, in the rain, to see the shrine, and also a long walk back.
The Meiji Shrine is close to Shibuya crossing, which we will be visiting on our own tomorrow.
We went back to the hotel and collapsed. We walked over 24,000 steps today, and 20 flights of stairs. The stairs are killing me because we do not have many stairs to deal with in Florida.
We had a light dinner in the hotel’s club lounge, but while it was the same food as yesterday, we plan to find something else tomorrow.
March 24, 2026 – Tuesday: After being up and traveling for 24 hours, we finally reached Tokyo. Dave had arranged a meet and greet service with a driver to get us from the airport to our hotel. The hotel, Dai-ichi Toyko, seems to be downtown Tokyo, next to the train station, and is very nice. Japan is 13 hours ahead of Florida time. We have access to the “club lounge” which serves food – mostly appetizers with a couple of entree type choices, and alcohol! After our long day, we really did not want a large meal, so it was perfect for us. There are some restaurants in our hotel which we quickly checked out…we will be in this hotel four nights before joining our cruise.
Our view from the club lounge….
After our light dinner, we took a short walk to a 7-11, which is very popular in Tokyo – maybe all of Japan. You can pick up food, pay with your “suica” transit card, and get yen out of their ATM which supposedly has the best exchange rates. We got some yen at the airport, so we weren’t ready to try out the 7-11 ATM.
This travel day was a long day and we are tired…it started at 3:30AM Monday, and is is now 8:30 Tuesday with a 13 hour “spring forward” time change.
Tomorrow we are meeting a guide for Tokyo at 9:00AM, so another full day.
March 23, 2026 Monday – Good news – our flight from Tampa was not only ontime, but we arrived in Houston 30 minutes early. As we walked to our new gate, we passed a couple of ICE Police officers walking in the opposite direction. Their identity was obvious by their appearance…their uniforms and identification written on the uniforms.
Hopefully our next flight goes as well as this mornings flight. If so, my next post will be tomorrow since Japan is 13 hours ahead of Florida time.
March 22, 2026 Sunday – We are in Tampa preparing for our early morning flight to Houston. Please keep your fingers crossed for us as the flight to Houston earlier in the week was cancelled and the flight to Tokyo today was estimated to be 5.5 hours delayed. We had a great (!) dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, which was a nice surprise. We chose Longhorn because it was within walking distance of our hotel…we were not planning or expecting much – thinking maybe just appetizers. As it turned out, I ordered salmon and Dave had ribs. Both dinners were very good! May have to try Longhorn more often. Below is our itinerary:
| Arrive | Depart | ||||
| 2026 | |||||
| Sunday 3/22 | Tampa Hampton | ||||
| Monday 3/23 | TPA to HOU (IAH) | 7:00AM | UA2491 | ||
| Monday 3/23 | HOU (IAH) to Tokyo (HND) | 8:36AM | 11:20AM | UA7937 | |
| Tuesday 3/24 | HOU (IAH) to Tokyo (HND) | 3:25PM | Dai-ichi Hotel Tokyo | ||
| Wednesday 3/25 | Tokyo | Go with Guide Kaneo Uetake | 9:00AM | 4:00PM | Dai-ichi Hotel Tokyo |
| Thursday 3/26 | Toyko | On our own | Dai-ichi Hotel Tokyo | ||
| Friday 3/27 | Toyko | On our own | Dai-ichi Hotel Tokyo | ||
| Saturday 3/28 | Yokohama | Millennium | 12:00PM | Stateroom 8155 | |
| Sunday 3/29 | Shimizu | 7:45AM | 8:00PM | Destination Highlight: Mt. Fuji World Heritage Center | |
| Monday 3/30 | At Sea | ||||
| Tuesday 3/31 | Kyoto | 8:00AM | Destination Highlight: Kyoto Sightseeing with Lunch | ||
| Wednesday 4/1 | Kyoto | 6:00PM | Destination Highlight: Osaka Castle & Dotonbori District | ||
| Thursday 4/2 | Kochi | On our own | 8:00AM | 5:00PM | Kochi Castle ? |
| Friday 4/3 | Hiroshima | 9:00AM | 6:00PM | Hiroshima & Miyajima half day (bring snack?) | |
| Saturday 4/4 | At Sea | ||||
| Sunday 4/5 | Jeju Island, South Korea | 8:00AM | 5:00PM | Stone Park and Coastal Road | |
| Monday 4/6 | Nagasaki | 7:00AM | 6:00PM | Best of Nagasaki (walk back to ship at the end, from Glover Garden ?) | |
| Tuesday 4/7 | Kagoshima | On our own | 8:00AM | 5:00PM | |
| Wednesday 4/8 | At Sea | ||||
| Thursday 4/9 | Yokohamo | 6:30AM | Celebrity transfers to HND airport | ||
| Thursday 4/9 | Tokyo (HND) to Washington DC (IAD) | 3:45 PM | UA804 | ||
| Thursday 4/9 | Washington DC (IAD) to TPA | 3:40PM | 6:36 PM | UA1140 | |
| Thursday 4/9 | TPA | 9:11PM |