Osaka and Kyoto, Japan…..

 

Green Tea in Kyoto’s Ohkuchi Garden’s

As I had mentioned in the previous blog, on the second leg of this adventure we will be in a port every day..  After the grand send off from Shimizu, we sailed into the port of Osaka shortly after waking up Saturday morning.   

Osaka is Japan’s third largest city (pop. 2.7 million) and like much of Japan, has a blend of a deep cultural history and a modern progressive presence.  About an hour from Osaka is the city of Kyoto, which has been proclaimed to be the “Cultural Capital of Japan”.  

While we will still only scratch the surface of this area, we were happy to know that we would be in port overnight.   This would at least give us the better part of two days to take in as much of the area as possible.  We decided that since Kyoto was over an hour away that we’d spend the first day there, saving Osaka for day two.   

Beyond deciding on what day we’d devote to what city, we hadn’t done a whole lot of planning  (living up to our names Beth’s mom gave us “The Traveling Idiots”).   

We were confident that by simply stepping off the ship that we’d find an independent tour operator that would whisk us away to see the highlights of Kyoto.   Well…….we were wrong!   There wasn’t a tour operator in sight.   Not really a problem however,  because there was a train station nearby.   We knew it would require a little effort to figure it out, but that we, along with a few others heading in the same direction could master getting from the port of Osaka to Kyoto by public transportation. Well……we did, but it wasn’t easy.   It required three different stations and transfers each way.  One of which was through Osaka’s main station to get us (and what seemed like a significant portion of Japan’s population) to the Kyoto central station.  The travel time was about an hour and a half, with much of that time spent figuring out what to do next.   

Once we arrived at Kyoto’s central station we found the tourist information desk and picked up a few suggestions for our one day visit.   After a little confusion on finding the right train platform to take us where we wanted to go, we decided to walk (approximately 2 miles).   Thanks in part to Google Maps, it was a good decision that allowed us to see parts of Kyoto at street level.  

Our first area of interest we wanted to see was the Fushimi Imari-Taisha Shrine.  The original shrine was built in the 7th century and remains one of Japan’s most sacred and iconic locations.   In addition to the large shrine, there are numerous other shrines along the 2+ miles path.  The main path is made even more interesting by the thousands of orange gates that give it a “tunnel like” appearance.  After enjoying the area for a bit of time we decided to head towards the second area that had been recommended to us, the Arashiyama district, in Kyoto’s western outskirts.  

In front of the shrine

Each gate was donated by a Japanese business 

A few of the thousands of gates leading up the mountain path

It’s a Japanese style pancake (Okonomiyaki). It’s crispy and pretty darn good.  Ours had Wagyu Beef in it.  

We had a little snafu that slowed us down a bit.  After a bit of head scratching we figured out we had gone to a subway station instead of a train station.  Thankfully, once we figured things out it was easy and inexpensive ( a couple of dollars) to get back on the correct route. 

There are multiple areas of interest in the Arashiyama district, including the Tenryuji Temple which is a UNESCO world heritage site.  We were about templed and shrined out,  so the temple wasn’t on our “to do” list, but there were some amazing sites that we enjoyed.  Our favorites were the Bamboo Forest, Ohkouchi Samson Garden and strolling near the Togetsu-kyo Bridge.  As the sun started to set we figured it was time to start making our way back to Osaka.  While we still haven’t mastered the Japanese Rail System, we’re getting there!   No real misadventures on our return journey!

The Bamboo Forest…..we weren’t alone.  Beth shot the picture on an upward angle to cut out the crowd. 

Garden Entrance

Starting to get a little fall color!

The garden was created by a famous Japanese silent film star named Ohkouchi Denjirou

Togetsu-kyo Bridge

We’re now finishing up day 2 in Osaka.  The ship leaves in a few minutes. After yesterday’s big adventure we opted to simply hang out in the port area today.  The area is bustling with a marketplace, a giant Ferris Wheel that lights up the sky at night and the Osaka Aquarium.  We loved the aquarium, which is listed as one of the best in the world.  It featured two massive Whale Sharks that were clearly the feature attractions in an aquarium that was full of amazing displays.  

It constantly changed color and even had fish swimming across it sometimes.  This picture was taken from our balcony.  We enjoyed sitting, relaxing and watching the show.  

A couple of Giant Crabs in front of the Kaiyukan Osaka Aquarium 

That’s a Whale of a Shark!

We continue to be so impressed with everything about Japan.  Friendly people, incredible things to see and do, and an efficient (although somewhat confusing way to get around) rail system.   

Shimizu & Mount Fuji, Japan……

The itinerary for cruise #2

While the first cruise was mostly about “sea days”, once w arrived in Japan we’ll have a port a day for about the next three weeks.  

Leaving Tokyo, we cruised overnight to the town of Shimizu (pop. 240,000).  The port is a combination of commercial and cruise ships.  While it has a bit of an industrial look to it, it’s listed as one of Japan’s most beautiful ports.  The beauty is in the mountainous, tree covered coast line and snow capped Mount Fuji (12,000+ feet) in the background.  

We arrived early (7:00 AM) and were off the ship shortly thereafter, with a goal of getting the best views of the mountain, which is still considered an active volcano even though it’s been dormant since 1707.  We gathered some information from the port visitors center and decided to take a cab to the Miho Shrine after being assured that would be the best place to view the mountain.  We ended up hiring the cab by the hour and shared it with two nice ladies from Australia, one of which is celebrating her 70th birthday tomorrow.  

The cab driver spoke very minimal English, we spoke no Japanese, but thanks to the folks working at the cab stand and some brochures we quickly got on the same page.   It was about a 15 minute drive to the shrine, which is located in a coastal pine forest.  It was cloudy as we drove, but the cloud cover cleared and we had a great view of the mountain.   

Mount Fuji from the Miho Shrine.  We were probably 30 miles away

Seeing the mountain made us go goo goo eyed for each other

Part of the Miho Shrine

We also enjoyed visiting the Sumpu Castle Park which was the home of Ieyasu, a Japanese warlord.  The castle is gone, although extensive excavation has given clues as to what it looked like in the 1600’s.   We did enjoy seeing the excavation site and  the Momijiyama Gardens which were located on the grounds. 

The castle excavation site.  The exterior wall of the moat is in good shape for being over 400 years old!

A few photos of  Momijiyama Gardens which is located in the castle park

Lots of beauty in the gardens!

We intended to hire the cab for an hour, but ended up enjoying a three hour tour, laughing and attempting to communicate with our friendly driver along the way.  He seemed to be enjoying himself as much as we were enjoying him and the tour.

After getting dropped off at the port we spent a little time roaming around the area.   There were numerous shops and restaurants and we discovered Japan’s version of Dollar Tree, which is nice for picking up small items.  

Shimizu Port 

Everyone we came in contact with along the way seemed genuinely glad we were there.  As we sailed away there was even a small fireworks display.  I think they wanted to wish us a smooth sailing………or celebrating our departure?

Two days in Tokyo…..

 Arriving in port is always exciting.  It means a new adventure of exploring is about to begin.  As we pulled into Tokyo, I thought about what a stark contrast it was compared to arriving at Qaqortaq, Greenland back in August.  Qaqortaq was a remote fishing village with less than 1,000 residents.  Tokyo is the world’s largest city with a population of over 37 million!   I guess that’s pretty much going from one extreme to another.  

We had visited Tokyo for a couple of days many years ago and had fond memories.  We were excited to be back for a couple of more days, although we knew we’d only be scratching the surface.   

Since this was our “port of entry” into Japan we had to first clear customs and immigration, which was a pretty quick and painless process.   We had booked a shore excursion through the ship that was listed as “Best of Tokyo”  It was scheduled to last approximately five hours, which as you could imagine in a city this size was a pretty ambitious undertaking.  

Our first stop was at the Meiji Shrine.   The shrine is dedicated to the former Emperor Meiji and his wife.  While the shrine itself was impressive, the setting was spectacular.   It was located in a 700,000 square meter park that was covered by over 120,000 trees (the Japanese are honorable people so I didn’t bother counting the trees myself).  Although busy, there was a peaceful calm and quietness it the park.   This same ambiance extends well beyond the park boundaries.  The roads and sidewalks of the city were busy, but yet it was quiet and orderly.  I only recall hearing one car horn and everyone spoke in a hushed tone….pretty cool experience in and of itself!

                       At the entrance to the Meiji Shrine 

        Along one of the tree lined paths in the shrine park

 

Visitors filling out prayer requests to offer up at the shrine alter

A prayer of peace, health and happiness

While the whole drive was constantly changing, it was 

an enjoyable experience just looking outside our bus window.  Another stop highlight was the Asakusa Sensoji Temple.  The temple was destroyed in World War II, but rebuilt in 1958.  It is considered one of Japan’s most sacred sites.  On a bright and sunny day it was being enjoyed by locals and tourists alike who came to pray, seek healing powers from the burning incense, or simply and quietly take it all in.

The Sensoji temple entrance 

The were quite a few women and men in traditional Japanese clothing 

A typical narrow side street 

The Tokyo Skytree Tower is the world’s tallest tower

The tour was nice even if our guides English was somewhat broken.  As the bus made its way back to the port, she apologized profusely (which wasn’t necessary).   She said she hadn’t had much experience as a guide and was expecting a group of around 10-12, but when she arrived she was given a group of around 45 people…..who had spent the previous 8 days at sea.

The Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, which opened in 2020 is really nice and conveniently located near a park, beach, shops and restaurants.  We enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner at a Ramen Food Court in the Aqua City shopping and entertainment complex.   Ordering was a little complicated, but with a little help we figured it out. We were soon enjoying a nice meal at an outdoor table overlooking a waterfront park with the Tokyo skyline as a backdrop.  

The Tokyo version of the Statue of Liberty was near the Aqua City Shopping and Entertainment District 

You place your order in the machine at the Ramen Food Hall……

We were very happy with our order!  Delicious Pork Ramen, extra noodles and dumplings.

 Afterwards we strolled along the waterfront and enjoyed watching the sun set over this magnificent city and the buildings, bridges and towers lit up the night sky.   It was very romantic, but holding hands in public isn’t culturally acceptable so we kept our hands to ourselves and quietly enjoyed the view!

Tokyo sunset!

As the sun went down, the city lit up!

The Tokyo Tower…..it resembles a more famous tower in Paris

The Norwegian Jewel

Day 2 in Tokyo started like most days start when we’re on a cruise, coffee, hot tea and a muffin while enjoying sunrise.   This morning we also had a fairly ambitious plan to navigate to the downtown area using the metro.   Moving a large portion of the 37 million residents around takes some ingenuity and planning, something the Japanese are known to excel in.  With a little helpful information from some fellow passengers who we met, and the tourist information desk, we were soon on our way.  Thankfully most signage was in both Japanese and English and the journey was relatively easy and very inexpensive.  It’s something that I would recommend any visitor to Tokyo consider trying.  You’ll be amazed at the volume of people moving in an orderly manner through clean stations and on clean trains.  Making it even more impressive is that it’s all done so quietly you could almost hear a pin drop while in the metro cars.  No one utters a word to each other.  Just pure silence.

Our destination was the Shibuya Crossing ( think Times Square on steroids).  It’s the world’s busiest pedestrian intersection, where every 2 minutes up to 2,500 people quietly and orderly make their way across the intersection of multiple major roads. It’s a sight you have to see to believe.  We were not there at rush hour so we were limited to a few hundred crossing at 

Waiting on the signal for pedestrians to cross!

A quick wave and keep moving!
There are plenty of YouTube videos of the crossing at rush hour or check out the Bill Murray movie “Lost in Translation.

We made it back to the ship unscathed and without getting lost.   We’ve had lunch and are going to roam a bit this afternoon before we set sail at 7:00 PM local time.  Neither Beth or I consider ourselves “big city people”, but we’ve loved our time in beautiful Tokyo, the world’s biggest city! 

Alaska to Japan…dodging storms, changing time zones and losing Thursday!!

Certificates we received for crossing the International Date Line!!!

Our last two days in Alaska we enjoyed cruising Hubbard Glacier and spending a day in Seward. Understandably, the weather was a little bit different than when we visited these two places in June. It was kind of what you might expect at this time of year….cool, misty and damp. While not yet here, winter is on the way. 

We enjoyed seeing Hubbard Glacier again and walking the nice waterfront area in Seward. When we left Seward around 5 pm on Sunday, October 8, we knew it would be a while before we were on solid ground again. Little did we know that it would be even longer than expected. 

Hubbard Glacier is over 6 miles wide and 600 feet high

Seward Harbor

Our planned itinerary had seven sea days in a row with us arriving in Hakodate, Japan on Tuesday, October 17. However, Mother Nature had different ideas. Multiple storms started brewing in the Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Japan. At one point there were a total of five storms. They ranged in strength from what we know as tropical storms all the way to a super typhoon with winds equal to a category 5 hurricane. Every day at noon we would get a weather update, as well as an updated plan to steer us safely around (not through) the storms. The captain masterfully guided the ship between two storms and kept us a safe distance from the powerful super typhoon, which was projected to have up to 60 foot waves.  The cruising was a little bumpy a couple of days, but never too bad. It was impossible to dodge the storms and keep our original itinerary intact. We ended up having to skip two ports, Hakodate and Sendai. It was a little disappointing, but beats ending up being as legendary as the Titanic. The silver lining to the stormy cloud is that instead of having just one day in Tokyo we now have two days and an overnight stay. 

In addition to daily announcements, the captain would post weather charts showing locations of the storms and the ship

For seven consecutive nights we had to set the clock back one hour. While an extra hour of sleep sounds nice, it can get downright confusing. We would do our very best to stay up till 9:30 every night to watch the ships nightly entertainment, but it was tougher than it sounds. With an extra hour of sleep each night from the changing time zones, we were fully rested and ready to wake up by 4 am each day. Coffee and tea were always available and we were able to enjoy some amazing sunrises shortly after waking

The ship had many activities offered during the day. We enjoyed some of them, but mostly we kept ourselves entertained with reading, playing our daily game of scrabble, exercising in the gym or walking the promenade deck, relaxing in the hot tub, and of course eating a little food along the way. 

To add to the confusion, we also crossed the international date line. When we went to bed on Wednesday we were told it would be Friday when we woke up. Friday the 13th!! Not the best date when you are dodging a super typhoon.  But we survived!!  There was a fun poolside carnival to celebrate crossing the date line. Thankfully it was held in the middle of the afternoon and we were wide awake. 

We didn’t make them, but we did eat them!

 

                      One of the beautiful nightly sunsets

                         One of the beautiful sunrises 

              Celebrating crossing the International Date Line

Captain Vincente guided us through the storms to smooth 

                                          water!

Tokyo will mark the end of the first of our three back to back cruises. This one has been interesting and fun, even if we lost Thursday somewhere along the way.