|
Trip Summary:
During nephew Oliver Chen's wedding celebration in April 2023, the Chen siblings (that is, Mei-Ching's siblings) decided to embark on a reunion trip in 2024. It was also decided that cruising would be a good venue and that Mei-Ching was tasked to organize this trip. Two cruise itineraries were quickly nominated as candidates. One was a 14-night "Circle Japan" cruise on Holland America's Noordam (PAX capacity 1972), and the other was a 7-night cruise from Venice to Athens on a Viking Cruises' ocean ship (PAX capacity 930). Japan was unanimously favored by everyone. Holland America's Noordam was set to embark on 10/13/2024 from Yokohama and came back to Tokyo Bay on 10/27/2024. There were 8 members participating in this reunion cruise. The #1 brother, Chester and SIL Toshiko from San Francisco. The #2 bother, Stanley and SIL Suzette from LA. Mei-Ching shared a stateroom with her sister Meggy from San Diego. The youngest brother, Huei and SIL Wen-Shu from Taipei. Vincent opted out of this Japan cruise. Instead, he flew to Taipei to join Mei-Ching for a 2-week vacation in Taiwan after the cruise. We booked our cruise with VacationsToGo.com in September 2023, choosing 4 balcony cabins on the 5th deck midship. Midship and not too high a deck, so that motion would be less of an issue. We were very happy with our cabin locations. They were very close to the midship elevator banks and therefore very convenient for us to get to the dining rooms in the back of the ship or to the auditorium at the front of the ship. By January 2024, we saw the cruise fare of our cabin category jump up more than $1000/pp above what we paid in September because there were very few cabins left. By March, we read that a similar cruise itinerary on HAL's Westerdam embarking in March 2024 was overbooked and HAL offered some guests great deals to entice them to take a different cruise on a future date. By April, our cruise was sold out. Japan had become a very popular travel destination.
Due to Japan's 'cabotage' rule, which stipulates that vessels need to operate under
the Japanese flag as a prerequisite for working on projects in
the country's territorial waters (up to 12 nautical miles). Since HAL ships are registered in the Netherlands and fly the flag of the Netherlands,
our itinerary needed to visit a port outside of Japan to make the itinerary not entirely within the Japanese territory. Thus the port
of Sokcho-si in South Korea was chosen to be in our itinerary. This is very similar to the Alaskan cruises, which usually call on a Canadian port to make it
international and not entirely within the US territory.
However, it took a toll on the passengers by adding a port in the second country. Firstly, the distance was far, and we encountered a rough sea situation for the whole sea day on the way to Sokcho. Secondly, in the morning when disembarking in Sokcho, we had to do a face-to-face with Korean officials, just like when entering a new country at the airport. Thirdly, at the next port after Sokcho, because our ship entered Japan from a foreign country (South Korea), it had to go through tedious customs clearance procedures, including face-to-face with Japanese officials. The inspection by the Japanese officers was quite strict and time-consuming. Each room had to send a person to get a number from a ship representative to schedule an interview time with the officers to avoid having to wait too long to get off the ship. For a motion sickness remedy, MC brought a pack of over-the-counter Non-Drowsy Dramamine with Natural Ginger, and several of us did have to take one or two Dramamine to ease the discomfort from seasickness on our way to Sokcho. Photos used in this trip report were contributed by everyone, especially Suzette, who took most of the pictures. Below is our 14-night cruise map and itinerary.
Below is our customized Google Map showing the ship's docking locations and attractions at each port.
You may click on the "View Larger Map" symbol (
Transportation CRUISE: We booked our cruise in September 2023 with VacationsToGo.com and chose balcony cabins on deck 5 midship. With taxes and port fees, we paid about $3150 per person with double occupancy. We tried to book staterooms on the port side (the left-hand side of the ship), thinking it would see the land the majority of the time, but that side of cabins was all taken, so we settled with midship staterooms on the starboard side (the right-hand side of the ship). It turned out that when in port, our starboard side faced the pier terminal in 8 out of 10 ports. Since the Japanese port cities and the Korean port city laid out welcoming mates with songs and dance in traditional costumes in the morning upon our arrival, as well as send-off dancing and singing performances in the afternoon just before we were leaving, we were very glad to be able to watch these performances from the convenience of our balconies. We planned all our shore excursions ourselves because HAL had only very limited shore excursion spaces available at each port, and they were all sold out very early on. Planning our excursions also gave us great flexibility in where to go, what to see, and when to leave the ship. Not to mention the freedom to change our minds at the last minute. AIR: We traveled to Japan in separate groups a few days before the cruise embarkation date. Japan Airlines, Delta, and Eva Air, as well as China Air, were all used by separate parties. MC flew Delta from Boston -> Detroit -> Haneda. Then flew home on Delta from Taoyuan -> Seattle -> Boston. Between Tokyo and Taipei, she purchased a separate one-way ticket from Eva Air's website. Eva Air and China Air are very competitive; both offer flights from Tokyo Narita to Taipei Taoyuan as well as from Tokyo Haneda to Taipei Songshan. She chose a flight leaving from Haneda with a departure time around noon and chose to pay in the currency of the departure country (the Japanese yen.) TRAIN: We did not take any long-distance trains except for Stanley and Suzette, who took a Shinkansen train from Shinagawa to Kyoto after the cruise. (Use this WestJR Timetable site to search for train schedules between Tokyo <-> Kyoto <-> Osaka, etc.) Several of us purchased the red-and-white Welcome SUICA cards to pay for subway/metro rides in Tokyo. These IC cards can be used in convenience stores such as 7-11 and FamilyMart, as well as for paying for local transportation in other major cities such as Kyoto and Osaka etc. TAXI: We took a lot of taxis. Taxis are plentiful and easy to wave down from street corners in a large city. We usually wrote down our destination in both English and Japanese on a piece of paper and gave it to the driver to avoid any mistake caused by misunderstanding of pronunciation.
Online Resources:
We did not use any guidebook to plan for this trip, just online resources and Google Maps. Lodging Japanese hotel room rates are more expensive this year than last year, and also, on Saturdays, the hotel room rates jump up at least 30%. Some room rates also increase on Fridays.We compared the hotel room rates on Booking.com versus the hotels' own websites. This year, for the hotels we were interested in, there was no obvious benefit in going with Booking.com, so we reserved rooms directly on the hotel's website. Japanese hotel rooms tend to be small; therefore, you'll need to pay close attention to the room size descriptions so as to choose a room that is large enough to be comfortable and be able to open your suitcases.
Internet & Pocket WIFI: MC was very happy with the Premium pocket WIFI rented from Japan Wireless last year, so she rented a Premium pocket WIFI from Japan Wireless again this year for 23 days. (3 days pre-cruise + 14 days cruise + 5 days post-cruise.) The average cost for 23 days was about USD$5.40/per day. The Premium unit has a 187 Mbps download speed and can connect up to 10 devices with unlimited data. The unit was shipped to her first hotel in Tokyo. Other siblings either used AT&T's International Day Pass, T-Mobile's free international roaming, or T-Mobile's upgraded international roaming with a fee, but none were as powerful as this pocket WIFI when we had to send photos to each other. Also, while on the cruise, as long as we were not far from shore, the pocket WIFI would have signals from Softbank, which means MC and Meggy (in the same cabin), as well as Chester and Toshiko in the cabin next door, would have WIFI while on the ship. The speed was very good, and we were able to watch YouTube videos while on the sea. On the last night while cruising from Shimizu to Tokyo Bay, the pocket WIFI had signals all night.
Money Matters (Cash, ATM etc): Most of us brought some Japanese currency from home and then supplemented it with ATM withdrawals from Japanese postal offices. At the time of our visit, 1 USD = 134 ~ 151 JPY, fluctuating. Laundry: Holland America's Noordam did not have a self-service laundry facility, so some of us paid $126 per room for 14 days of unlimited laundry service. The clean clothes came back pressed and either on hangers or folded exactly as you had checked on the order form. One may also choose to do laundry for US$35/per bag or pay by individual pieces. Food: King Crab, sushi, unagi, udon, and regional specialties at each port were all very enjoyable. On the cruise, we had breakfast at the Lido Buffet except for Chester and SIL Toshiko, who ordered room service. Lunch when on shore we usually sought out restaurants serving regional specialties. For dinner, we dined together as a group of 8 in the main dining room. HAL's dinner main courses were hit or miss. Some days they were very good, and some days they were below expectation, especially when the menu listed a familiar name and we ordered it, but the food delivered was nothing like what we had expected; then it was a disappointment. Maybe it was difficult to hire as many qualified chefs to work on a ship after COVID. Itinerary and highlights: PreCruise - Asakusa 浅草, Tokyo (10/10 ~ 10/12/2024): Link to our photo 
It was no small miracle that the 6 members from the US traveling on 4 separate routes all made it to the Richmond Hotel in Asakusa within the expected time frame. The flights were on time, and everyone found ways to get from airports to the hotel. Stan, Suzette, Meggy, and MC spent the 2nd day (10/11, Friday) taking the Ginza Line metro to Ginza and Shibuya. We went to the Mitsukoshi Ginza (銀座三越) Store to survey its food halls and enjoyed the buttery aroma from its bakery corners. We also went to the GINZA PLACE building to visit the Sony Showroom as well as see fancy cars at the Nissan showroom. At noon, we took a taxi from Ginza to Nihonbashi trying to eat the famous tendon for lunch at the popular 金子半之助 (Kaneko Hannosuke) 日本橋本店. Alas, the queue was very long. We were told by restaurant staff that the wait time would be at least 2 hours from the tail end of the queue. Defeated, we took the Ginza Line metro to Shibuya for a bit of sightseeing and ate sushi at the conveyor belt sushi restaurant called Katsu-Midori (活 美登利) on the 8th floor of the Seibu Department Store. Back to Asakusa, we did an orientation walk around the hotel's neighborhood with Chester and Toshiko. We spent the 3rd day (10/12) sightseeing in Asakusa. This was a 3-day long weekend in Japan (Monday being the Sports Day), so Senso-ji temple was packed with worshipers. Shortly after 2 pm, we took two taxis to a higher-end unagi restaurant called Izuei Honten (伊豆榮 本店) in Ueno for a late lunch/early dinner. The restaurant is about 300 years old and is one of the most famous unagi restaurants in Tokyo. We were seated on the 7th floor, reached by an elevator. Personally, I think last summer’s unagi on top of the Kyoto station is still the best. (That restaurant's name is Unagi Yondaime Kikugawa (うなぎ四代目菊川). By the way, Unagi Yondaime Kikugawa has opened a new branch in the Haneda Airport Garden wing, should you happen to have a long layover at Haneda Airport.) After the meal, we walked across the street to Ueno Park's Shinobazu Pond (不忍池) for a stroll. Our youngest brother Huei and SIL Wen-Shu flew to Haneda on the 12th. They decided to stay at a hotel in Yokohama and meet with us tomorrow on the ship. CruiseDay 1 - Embarkation in Yokohama 横浜 (10/13/2024, Sunday) To go from Asakusa to Yokohama Osanbashi Pier, we could (1) taxi to Ueno station, then train to Yokohama station, then taxi to the pier, or (2) taxi directly to Yokohama Osanbashi Pier (we'd need two taxis), or (3) pre-book a van to transfer the 6 of us with luggage to Yokohama Osanbashi Pier. Driving time from Asakusa to Yokohama Osanbashi Pier is about 65 minutes under normal traffic conditions. We decided to book a van so that we could all travel in one car and arrive at the pier for check-in at the same time. We booked an 8-passenger van via the "Green Tomato shuttle service." The cost for the van was 35,000 JPY. Another company to consider is the Tokyo Airporter, which provides services other than airport transfers. (Go to their "Contact page" and submit an inquiry to ask for a price quote.) The van driver came to the lobby of Richmond Hotel 15 minutes ahead of our appointed time of 10:30 am. He had a very spacious van to accommodate the 6 of us plus all our bags. Our drive to Yokohama Osanbashi Pier took 100 minutes because we encountered traffic at 2 or 3 places en route. Holland America’s check-in process was a bit chaotic, partly because of the design of the processing lines in a huge and not brightly lit hall. We were happy to be settled in each of our own rooms and met with brother Huei and SIL Wen-Shu. Dinner was in the main dining room. Being the embarkation day, the attire was casual. We opted for anytime dining, and since we were 8, the staff easily accommodated us at a large oval table. Chester ordered a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white wine for everyone to share. CruiseDay 2 - Sea day (10/14/2024, Monday) Everyone used this day to check out the ship's facilities and attend a few lectures. We attended two port talks. One was about Aomori and Otaru, and the other was about Hakodate and Akita. These port talks were recorded and could be watched on our room's TV afterward. Quite a few people went to the ship's tour desk to ask the port talk speaker questions. One common question was:
CruiseDay 3 - Aomori 青森 (10/15/2024, Tuesday): Link to our photo
Aomori port info: https:
//www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/010/index.html
From a tourist's point of view, there was not much to see in Aomori. But there is the Hirosaki (弘前) castle park 25 miles away (45-min by train or 60-min by car) where we may visit. Hirosaki Castle was where the Tsugaru clan (津軽氏) ruled this region in feudal times. This park is famous for its cherry blossoms in the spring, although we would be visiting in the fall. By Googling "Sightseeing Taxi Aomori Japan”, it came up with an Aomori Taxi that offered several "Fixed Price Sightseeing Taxi" at predefined routes. We booked the "Hirosaki 5-hour course" with a jumbo taxi for up to 9 people at 45,000 JPY. After the initial online booking, the rest of the communication was done via email in both English and Japanese. (Google Translate helps.). We asked to modify the itinerary a bit, to skip some sites and add some sites, and were told, Not a problem; "just tell the driver." We modified the predefined itinerary by skipping the Zen Forest Street "Choshoji Temple" - (長勝寺, a family temple of the lord of Tsugaru Domain) and the Saisho-in temple's "Five-storied pagoda" - (最勝院五重塔), a five-storied pagoda that is rare in the Tohoku region. Instead, we added visiting a former merchant house, Ishiba Family Residence 石場家住宅 (津輕地區僅存的幾處商人住宅之一) and the former samurai Sasamori Family Residence 旧笹森家住宅 (其平面佈局展現了弘前藩武士宅邸的標準外觀，作為同時期文物，在日本極為罕見，價值極高). After that, we made stops to see two western churches, as well as the landmark building of the old Hirosaki city library. On the way back to Aomori, we had a planned 30-minute stop at the Namioka roadside Farmers Market with many shops and restaurants where we bought Aomori's apple juice (delicious!) and apple pastries to eat. Chester and SIL Toshiko spent today catching up with two Japanese friends who drove 2 hours to Aomori to see them. They went to visit the World Heritage site of the Sannai-Maruyama ruins together. CruiseDay 4 - Otaru 小樽 (10/16/2024, Wednesday): Link to our photo
Otaru port info:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/005/index.html
We took taxis from the cruise terminal to the Old Aoyama Villa (舊青山別墅), also called the Otaru Kihinkan (小樽貴賓館). (Here is its webpage translated into Chinese by Google Translate.) The villa was built by the 2nd and 3rd generations of a family who made a fortune from their herring (鯡魚) business. The parking area was busy, and we saw not only independent travelers from our ship but also the tour buses from our ship's excursion. The villa and its garden were grand and fabulous. It is a not-to-miss landmark in Otaru. Next, we took 2 taxis back to town, asking the drivers to drop us off at the Music Box Museum Main Shop (小樽音樂盒堂本館). The shop was filled with tens of thousands of merchandise at various price ranges. If one is looking for a music box, this is a very good place to find one. Then we walked next door to the LeTAO Main Store (著名糕點店) for its famous cakes and coffee/tea. LeTAO has branches in other parts of Japan. It was even invited to open a branch store in Singapore! We went to its cafe on the 2nd floor. Although there were vacant tables available, there were not enough service staff to serve a full house, so there was a wait line. We waited for about 20 minutes to be seated. Then more time was spent ordering, waiting, and eating. The cakes were super smooth, just melted in your mouth. In hindsight, if we had known it was going to take this much time to eat cake in LeTAO, we probably would have reconsidered it. Next, we walked along the bustling Sakaimachi dori (堺町通商店街) heading north toward the Otaru Canal, because our cruise terminal was not far from there. Along the way we ducked into shops here and there, quickly checking out the glass shops, the okashi shops (お菓子, sweet shops), seafood stores, etc. The street scenery was just like what we saw on many YouTube videos before leaving home. Before long, HAL Nordoom was in sight. We were back on the ship well before the 4:30 pm all-aboard time. CruiseDay 5 - Hakodate 函館 (10/17/2024, Thursday): Link to our photo Hakodate port info:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/004/index.html
On the day we visited, Suzuki Seafood did not have live king crabs. Narita Seafood did have king crabs kept in water tanks. We asked the shopkeeper if we could buy king crabs and eat at the 朝市食堂二番館 upstairs, and his answer was NO. The crabs would be cooked in his seafood shop's kitchen, and we could eat at the few public tables by the shop. Due to the language barrier, we did not ask him why the change. Not willing to give up yet, Stanley and MC went upstairs to 朝市食堂二番館 to double-check and were told, "No crabs." Maybe it was due to the manpower shortage that the restaurant no longer wanted to cook and serve king crabs for a small fee. We went back to Narita Seafood to see if they also had live scallops (something we wanted as well), but they did not. So we backtracked out of the Ekini Market to survey other seafood shops that we walked past earlier on our way to the Ekini Market. We found a small seafood shop with its shopkeeper, an eager young man who spoke some English. The shop had king crabs, scallops, oysters, and abalone, as well as a menu of several kinds of seafood donburi. It had vacant tables inside, so we decided to have lunch there. (See our photo page for details.) After lunch, we walked through the どんぶり横丁市場 (Donburi-Yokochō market) to the JR Hakodate station. From there, we hailed two taxis to Fort Goryokaku (五稜郭). After visiting the Former Magistrate Office (行政長官辦公室) at the center of the star-shaped citadel, we still had time to spare, so we taxied to the Kanemori (金森) Red Brick Warehouses for a look and see. It was very windy near the warehouses by the harbor. All aboard was at 6:30 pm. We watched a bit of the send-off song and dance performance at the pier before heading to the dining room for dinner. CruiseDay 6 - Akita 秋田 (10/18/2024, Friday): Link to our photo
Akita port info:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/012/index.html
From a tourist's point of view, Akita city itself does not have much to see. The more famous tourist attractions are going to Kakunodate (角館) to see the Samurai district where high-ranking samurai used to live, or Lake Tazawa (田沢湖). But both are far from the city. However, around the JR Akita station, there are many restaurants and shops, as well as a 千秋公園 (Senshu Koen), which used to be the site of the 久保田城跡 (Kubota Castle).
A famous local cuisine, 郷土料理, in Akita is called Kiritanpo (きりたんぽ), skewers of mashed rice.
Wikipedia explained it as "Freshly cooked rice is pounded until
somewhat mashed, then formed into cylinders around cedar skewers and toasted over an open hearth.
It can then be served with sweet miso or cooked as dumplings with meat and vegetables in soup."
We googled where to eat Kiritanpo hotpot (Kiritanpo-nabe) and found a restaurant on the 3rd floor of the Akita station called Akita Hinai-Jidori-ya (秋田比内地鶏や). According to the restaurant's website, it used chicken soup from a native chicken 土雞 called 比內地雞 (Hinai-Jidori) flavored with soy sauce and soaked into soft and chewy "Kiritanpo." So that was where we planned to have lunch. From Akita's cruise terminal, the city offered free shuttle buses to the Akita Port Station to connect to trains to downtown Akita Station in 15 minutes. The problem was that this train only ran once every 2 hours, even on this day when 2000 visitors on a cruise ship came to visit. Not wanting to waste time, we took 2 taxis to town but asked the drivers to take us to the Akita Citizen Market first for a look and see, and then we would walk to Akita Station afterward. We saw many vendors in the Akita Citizen Market selling pickled vegetables. They looked yummy to go with rice porridge for breakfast. We arrived at Akita Hinai-Jidori-ya restaurant well before lunchtime, thus the restaurant was not busy. The staff pulled 3 square tables together to make a long table for us to sit together. After lunch, we wandered through the delicious-looking Japanese sweets shops (和菓子店) on the 2nd floor of the bustling train station. Then to the Akita Prefectural Products Plaza (秋田県物産振興会) for its specialty shop. After that, we decided to skip visiting the Akarenga-kan Museum 秋田市立赤れんが(赤磚)郷土館 and taxied back to the ship. CruiseDay 7 - At Sea (10/19/2024 Saturday) Today was a sea day to sail to Sokcho-si, South Korea. The captain announced last night that today would be a choppy day. The sea was quite rough in the afternoon. We saw the tray in our room holding bottles of drinking water and drinking glass slide off the table onto the carpet because the ship was rocking left and right all day. Luckily, nothing broke, but we had to secure the glass bottles and drinking glass on the ground by wedging them between the desk and the wastebasket. Some folks skipped dinner. CruiseDay 8 - Sokcho-si 束草市, South Korea (10/20/2024, Sunday): Link to our photo Excursion from Sokcho: http://www.k-cruiseinfo.com/en/sokcho/tourspot
Sokcho is located northeast of the capital, Seoul, and is not far from the "DMZ" zone between North and South Korea. It was a small fishing port that gradually developed into an international tourist city. We did not know if it would be easy to communicate with taxi drivers or if they would take foreign credit cards; therefore, we had planned to visit Sokcho Tourist & Fishery Market first and then play it by ear from there. The city greeted Noordam with elaborate costumes and music performances at the pier. Once we stepped into the cruise terminal, there were TI staff giving out maps, brochures, and coupons to be redeemed at the Tourist & Fishery Market. We were also told that there were free shuttle buses to the said market. So we took the free shuttle without changing money and found most vendors in the Tourist & Fishery Market took credit cards. The Tourist & Fishery Market was very busy with abundant goods from the sea. The dried seaweed and dried cuttlefish looked to be a good buy, but we did not have luggage space to carry them home. We found the famous Korean Fried Chicken vendor, but they did not sell fried chicken in small cups with toothpicks so that tourists could buy and nibble right there. Instead, they sold fried chicken in 2-pound rectangular boxes and did not have a place for customers to sit down to eat, so we passed it up. We found a vendor in the market with a nice seating area in the back, so we went in and enjoyed a bountiful tempura of squid, shrimp, and crabs. The weather was cloudy and chilly in the low 50s. After the market, we lined up for the free shuttle and rode back to the cruise terminal to use its free WIFI before going back to the ship. CruiseDay 9 - Sakaiminato 境港市, Japan (10/21/2024, Monday): Link to our photo Sakaiminato port info: https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/036/index.htmlMatsue Travel guide: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5800.html (#1 attraction is Adachi Museum 足立美術館, #2 is Yushien Garden 由志園, #3 is Matsue Castle 松江城.) Since Sakaiminato City is located in the westernmost part of Tottori (鳥取県), it is relatively close to Shimane Prefecture (島根県), where Matsue City (松江市) is located; therefore, several recommended sightseeing spots are in Shimane Prefecture to the west of Sakaiminato.
We had planned to visit the Yushien Garden because it is closer to our port, only 25 minutes away by car. Yushien Garden is famous for cultivating 250 varieties of peonies (牡丹). Its website, https://www.yuushien.com/language/tw.html, can be displayed in 7 different languages. The tourist information staff at the cruise terminal told everybody that Yushien Garden provided free shuttles from the cruise terminal to their garden and back. Therefore, almost everyone who did not have a firm plan lined up, as well as us who were planning to go to the garden anyway. The garden was very pretty but was crowded by the sudden influx of hundreds of visitors from the ship. Today's weather was cloudy without sunshine, so the temperature was lower than what we expected from reading the weather forecast. A few from our group caught a cold today. CruiseDay 10 - Fukuoka 福岡, Japan (10/22/2024, Tuesday): Link to our photo
Hakata port guide:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/055/index.html
What is the relationship between Fukuoka 福岡 and Hakata 博多?
If a tourist were to look for a city in Japan for a longer stay, Fukuoka would be a good choice. Because it only takes 10 minutes by subway from Fukuoka Airport to the hotels in the city center, it is very convenient. Fukuoka is not expensive and has delicious food everywhere. It is a springboard for traveling to Kyushu. Many Southeast Asian countries have direct flights to Fukuoka. The ferry from Busan, South Korea, to Fukuoka only takes four hours, which explains why there are many Korean tourists in Fukuoka. Fukuoka's famous cuisine includes Hakata ramen (博多拉麵), Hakata Mentaiko (spicy cod roe 鱈魚卵, 明太子), Motsu Nabe (牛腸鍋), Mizutaki (みずだき, 水炊き, 水炊鶏, “清燉雞”, 福岡の郷土料理) etc. We had decided on Mizutaki for lunch and had also chosen the restaurant, Mizutaki Hamadaya Kouten (水たき 濱田屋 くうてん), located in the "City Dining Kooten" on the 10th floor of the Amu Plaza of the Hakata Station. Lunch menu: http://mizutaki-hamadaya.jp/kooten/#section01L . Our ship docked at Fukuoka Chuo Wharf (福岡中央碼頭), and it was raining in Hakata. We took 2 taxis from the port to visit:
It was still raining, so we headed to Hakata station for shelter and lunch. The station was HUGE. Amu Plaza is in the station's north wing. We found Mizutaki Hamadaya on the 10th floor. As customary in Japan, we put a name and the number of people in our party on a clipboard at the front of the restaurant's door and waited for our name to be called. It was very nice that the staff pulled 4 tables together for our party. Lunch was very enjoyable. Afterward, we looked at other restaurants on the 10th and 9th floors, as well as the smaller restaurants in the basement. If one were to stay in a hotel near Hakata station, one would never run out of options for food.
A few hours after our ship departed from Fukuoka, Noordam sailed through Kanmon
Strait (関門海峡). If it were still daylight and without fog, we should be able to spot Ganryu-jima (巌流島), the island where Miyamoto Musashi & Kojiro
Sasaki duelled in the movie
Samurai III. On the eastern side of the island, there was (and still is)
a statue to memorialize their legendary duel.
So we all waited on the 9th deck by the pool with large windows, but it got dark pretty
soon; we
could not see anything outside. Kagoshima port info:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/070/index.html
Kagoshima (鹿兒島) is the southernmost major city in Kyushu (九州). It is the capital of Kagoshima Prefecture and its administrative, commercial, and cultural center. The city is often compared to its sister city, Naples, Italy, due to the same mild climate, palm-lined streets, sun-friendly residents, and rumbling active volcano, Mount Sakurajima (櫻島, Kagoshima's Mount Vesuvius). Kagoshima City has a rich history and is the former seat of one of Japan's most powerful feudal clans, the Shimazu (島津氏族), who played a central role in the Meiji Restoration. The Shimazu clan was a daimyo (大名, lord) in feudal Japan and one of the most powerful feudal clans in the Edo period (1603-1868). The Shimazu family ruled the Satsuma Domain (薩摩藩, now Kagoshima) for nearly 700 years until the end of the Edo period in 1868. They continued to be influential into the modern era as some of the earliest adopters of Western technology. Emperor Akihito (明仁上皇)'s maternal grandmother was a daughter of the Shimazu family, so the current Shimazu family has a blood relationship with the Japanese royal family. Today, an aunt of Emperor Naruhito (德仁天皇) married a son of Shimazu. The Shimazu family has a deep-rooted relationship with the royal family. 篤姫 (あつひめ, Atsu-Hime, 1836-1883), a member of the Shimazu clan who married Tokugawa Iedada 徳川家定), the 13th shogun, in the last years of the Tokugawa shogunate, became a widow at a young age. Her story was once made into a NHK Taiga drama (大河劇) in Japan and was called [Atsuhime]. The Wikipedia [天璋院, Tenshō-in] (her monastic name after becoming a nun) has a photo of her. 明治維新的薩摩藩名人:
西鄕隆盛
(Saigō Takamori, 1828-1877)
Specialties of Kagoshima:
We took taxis to visit Sengan-en 仙巌園, also known as Isoteien (磯庭園)— the former villa of the Shimazu family. It is a Japanese-style garden built in 1658. After the Shogunate period ended (1868), their castle was destroyed, and Sengen-en became the main residence of the Shimazu family. The residences (Iso Residence) in the park still retain the appearance they used in the 1890s. We saw on YouTube that on the grounds of the Sengan-en villa there was a Japanese restaurant called 桜華亭 (Ohkatei Japanese Restaurant), which looked very nice, and it served Kagoshima Kurobuta (黒豚) as well as other dishes. We enjoyed a very nice lunch here. Lunch menu (in Chinese translation). After lunch we took taxis to Tenmonkan (天文館) for a stroll. Tenmonkan is not the name of a specific building but of a vast shopping area in downtown. We walked through a few covered 拱廊 (arcades) of shops and restaurants before taking taxis back to the cruise terminal. At 4:30 pm, the city of Kagoshima gave our ship a send-off with a vigorous taiko (太鼓) performance at the pier. Check out our YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGrZ2Mkqr_g CruiseDay 12 - Kochi 高知 (10/24/2024, Thursday): Link to our photo
Kochi port info:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/052/index.html
Kochi City's tourist attractions include
A brief bio of 坂本龍馬 (Sakamoto Ryoma, 1836 - 1867): Sakamoto Ryoma was born into a lower-class samurai family of the Tosa Domain. At the age of 18, he went to Edo to learn swordsmanship. Around this time, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy arrived with four U.S. fleet ships. Ryoma, who was ordered by his family to guard Shinagawa (品川), also had the opportunity to see foreign ships. He was surprised by its size and realized that he could not fight the foreigners with swordsmanship, so he began to learn Western-style marksmanship. In 1862, after leaving the Tosa feudal clan at the age of 27, he visited Katsu Kaishu (勝海舟), a retainer of the shogunate. When Ryoma heard about creating a navy and uniting with Asian countries, he was moved by the scale of the project, became a disciple of Katsu Kaishu, and worked hard to establish the Kobe Naval Training Center (神戶海軍訓練中心). Sakamoto was one of the important promoters of the establishment of a military alliance between Satsuma Domain (薩摩藩) and Choshu Domain (長州藩) (approximately today's Yamaguchi Prefecture) to participate in the movement to overthrow the shogunate (倒幕運動). Later, the overthrow-shogunate-movement army (討幕軍) with the Satsuma and Choshu armies as its backbone defeated the shogunate army in the Boshin War (戊辰戰爭), and the Imperial Rule was restored to power (大政奉還) on November 9, 1867. This opened the opportunity for the Meiji Restoration (1868 - 1889) down the road. In December 1867, Sakamoto Ryoma was assassinated in a surprise attack at a hotel in Kyoto (京都河原町的近江屋) at the age of 31. After his death, in 1891 (Meiji 24th year), the new government posthumously awarded him a title to honor him. Sakamoto always carried a pistol for self-defense and traveled with a bodyguard, but he was cut down by a sword in close proximity without an opportunity to use his pistol. Kochi's specialties:
What we read in posts on CruiseCritic.com about Kochi city government providing free shuttles between the port and downtown did not happen when our ship arrived. We took 2 taxis from the port to visit Kochi Castle, then had lunch at Hiromi Market. Walking in the 1-km-long covered arcade toward downtown Daimaru Department Store (大丸百貨公司), we spotted a Taiwanese dessert shop manned by a sweet young Japanese girl who did not speak Taiwanese, but we went in to eat dessert in her shop and had a great time. See our photo page for details. Kochi city sent us off with traditional song and dance at the pier. See the linked YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXNTALx37bo CruiseDay 13 - Osaka 大阪 (10/25/2024, Friday): Link to our photo
Osaka port info: Tempozan Wharf (天保山碼頭):
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/029/index.html
In the 16th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豐臣秀吉) chose Osaka as the location for his castle. Osaka might have become Japan's political capital had Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) not ended the Toyotomi lineage after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death and established a government in distant Edo (Tokyo). We considered the options to visit Kyoto, or Nara, or Himeji (for the Himeji castle), but the consensus was to take it easy and stay in Osaka. Since everyone in our party had seen Osaka Castle, we further decided to just go to the Dōtonbori (道頓堀) and Shinsaibashi (心斎橋) area in downtown Namba (難波) for a stroll and lunch. We eventually walked all the way to the Takashimaya department store (高島屋百貨) in Namba. From port to downtown we took 2 taxis. And then we also took taxis back to the port. We had a short shore day today. All aboard was at 3:30 pm. At about 3 pm, Osaka city gave our ship a send-off with a taiko performance on the pier. See our YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFeNDZtCMn8 CruiseDay 14 - Shimizu 清水港 (10/26/2024, Saturday): Link to our photo
清水港 port info:
https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/cruise/detail/025/index.html
MC's knowledge of Shimizu originated from a song, "Tabi sugata san'nin otoko" (旅姿三人男), because the Takashima brothers' band, "大衆歌謠樂團", sang this song sometimes, so she studied its lyrics to find out who the 3 men in the song were, and it turned out that the song is about the three most popular followers of "Shimizu Jirocho" (清水次郎長). Here is a YouTube video of this song. The video uses clips from an old movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN21jgmHmt4. Below is a brief bio of "Shimizu Jirocho (清水 次郎長)", which I compiled and translated into Chinese to share with my siblings in preparation for this cruise. I'll just copy and paste the whole text here, instead of translating it into English. 清水次郎長 (Shimizu Jirochō, 1820-1893, 日文維基百科, English Wikipedia) 從幕末到明治時代，被稱為 “海道の最佳老闆” (他是一個當時幫派的頭頭，手下曾有五, 六百人之衆)。清水不是他的姓，次郎長也𣎴是他的本名。 明治初期是他的人生的重大轉捩點。 江戶幕府消失，日本陷入混亂。當時，身為黑幫卻擁有強大權力和人氣的次郎長被政府要求保護道路並提供安全保障。歹徒變身公安！令人驚訝的是，他還曾經被要求，保護已經自身難保的幕府第15代將軍德川慶喜的安全！ 負責清水港的次郎長努力開闢與橫濱港的定期輪船航線。 除了擴大他正在銷售的靜岡茶的業務外，他還開設了一所補習班，因為他認為未來的年輕人需要學習英語。他努力發展清水港，並且涉足政治、經濟，變成社會企業家。 清水次郎長擁有的 船宿 (sailors' inn, 給水手們住的旅館) 「末廣」(Suehiro) 至今仍存在。現在它已成為「清水港末廣紀念館」(Shimizu Port Memorial Hall Suehiro)，是清水的旅遊景點之一。 紀念館中，您可以了解次郎長晚年為宣傳清水港所做的努力。紀念館離清水碼頭不遠。因此，我希望能去參觀。他出生的房子 (次郎長生家) 也被保存下來，離這裡不遠，好像也可以參觀。 明治維新前，次郎長以「扶弱抑強」的俠義老大而活躍，以民間英雄聞名。明治維新後，他透過出口茶葉，努力發展清水港。晚年經營船宿「末廣」 We had high hopes of seeing Mount Fuji in the morning when our cruise ship entered Suruga Bay (駿河湾) because our ship's bow was facing Mount Fuji. However, it was cloudy all day. We did get to see the top of the mountain for a while around 9 - 11 am when the clouds moved. See today's photo link for details. What we read from past posts on the CruiseCritic board about receiving a "warm welcome event at the pier attended by the mayor of Shizuoka (靜岡市) and other dignitaries, geisha, dance performances, tea ceremonies, etc." did not happen on the day when our ship arrived. There were many desks set up with TI staff to give out tourist information; some stalls were selling local handicrafts, as well as a group of English-speaking entrepreneurs hawking their van tours to Nihondaira (日本平) for a good view of Mt. Fuji. (But since it was a cloudy day, one could not see Mt. Fuji even if one got up to a higher altitude place like Nihondaira.) Most of the siblings decided to take it easy today, to lounge on the ship and stroll near the port area. Therefore, only MC and Meggy went to town to lunch and visit Shimizu Jirocho's former sailors inn,「末廣」(Suehiro), and his birth house, (次郎長生家). The oden we ate for lunch at the mall was delicious, and the two houses we went to visit were about 10 to 15 minutes' walk from the port. (See our photo page for details.) The city of Shimizu did give our ship an elaborate send-off on the pier, but we only had time to watch the rehearsal of a duet between a fantastic soprano and her partner, and then we had to go to dinner; therefore, we did not get to watch the whole show. In the dining room, we had the opportunity to properly say goodbye to the two wait staff who served us many dinners at table #126. Today was also a packing day. We were disembarking tomorrow morning. Disembarkation in Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, Japan (10/27/2024, Sunday): Link to our photo
Tokyo International Cruise Terminal is a modern building and close to the city, so it was a short taxi ride for each of us. HAL charged US$99 per person for a coach transfer to either Haneda Airport or Narita Airport, but a taxi from this cruise terminal to Haneda Airport took less than 30 minutes and only cost 5500 JPY (about USD$37) per car. The taxi to our Ginza hotel took only 20 minutes and cost 4200 JPY. Wish that cruise ships could use this terminal more often because it is much easier to get to from Tokyo. Post Cruise - Ginza 銀座, Tokyo (10/27 ~ 10/31/2024, Sunday ~ Thursday): Link to our photo
For the first two days we strolled up and down the Ginza Chuo Dori (Central Street), visiting Mitsukoshi department store and its food hall, Matsuya department store and its food hall, Itoya stationery, Kimuraya bakery, Tiffany's, Mikimoto Jewelry, Ginza Sembikiya, and the Tokyu Plaza Ginza mall with many restaurants on its 10th floor. For days 3 to 5, MC went shopping. Shopping does not necessarily result in making purchases. Shopping can mean just browsing to see what the stores have. Almost every self-respecting chain has a presence in Ginza. There are the Uniqlo Ginza Flagship store and the Uniqlo Tokyo store, the Muji Ginza Flagship store, the Tokyu Hands store, the 3 Coins store (the new 300 yen store, up a step from the Daiso 100 yen store), etc. The Takashima brother's band, 東京大衆歌謡楽団, was celebrating its 15th anniversary by giving a concert on 10/31 at the 1000-seat Asakusa Public Hall. Tickets were 7000, 5000, and 3000 JPY. Ticket sales started on 9/11 by calling a phone number in Japan. Keiko-san, with whom I exchanged comments on the band’s YouTube videos' comments section and then met in person last July at the band's Asakusa Shrine 夏詣 (Summer Pilgrimage) concert, offered to get tickets for me. She called on 9/11, the first day tickets went for sale, to book a ticket for her and a ticket for me. By the time her call got through, the 7000 JPY tickets were sold out, so she booked two 5000 JPY tickets. She paid for them with her credit card but did not know where our seats would be.
Our seats were on the 1st floor, row 14, seats 1 and 2. Our sightline to the stage was very good. The first part of the concert lasted 45 minutes. It was just the 4 brothers singing, with stage lighting changing from blue to green to purple, etc., not much different from some of the YouTube videos we saw on the internet. It was a bit monotonous, and I almost fell asleep. Below is a short video of an earlier indoor concert that is not much different from our part 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9ffHwHFcIk There was a 20-minute intermission. After that, a comedian came on the stage to tell jokes. I could only grasp a few words here and there, so I had to ask Keiko-san to fill me in after a burst of laughter from the audience. Then the curtains opened for the 2nd part. This time the stage was set up differently. There were stands and chairs for the 3 young men, as well as for the drummer and the long-time harmonica man. (No photo-taking was allowed during the concert.) And the hat was out too. The black donation hat was placed on the stage. Immediately, folks sitting close to the stage got up to drop money in the hat, the audience started clapping hands, and the whole atmosphere became lively as if it was an outdoor concert at the Asakusa shrine. Some audience members started walking to the stage to hand envelopes to Kotaro personally. A few gave envelopes specifically to the #2, #4, or #3 brothers. I had prepared an envelope just in case there would be a chance to give it to Kotaro. So, during the encore, I walked up to the front and gave Kotaro a red envelope with a 曾 (Tzeng) character in the center. Last year, I also gave him gratitude in the same kind of envelope with a note inside saying I am a fan from Massachusetts. This time, when he saw the red envelope with a 曾 character, he remembered seeing that envelope before, so his eyes lit up. He looked at me. I said to him that I met him last year and that I am a fan from Massachusetts. The 2nd part was lively and ended with the audience in high enthusiasm. Then there was a seeing-off at the hall’s lobby after the concert. Since there were about 1000 people in the audience, the band could not meet and shake hands with everyone, so a young man who seemed to work for the band announced that only those who were members of the "Friends' Association" (友の会) could line up. Therefore, I took a few photos from afar. A typhoon was forecasted to wreak damage on Taiwan from 10/30 to 10/31, causing uncertainty on my scheduled EVA flight to Taipei on 11/1. If the flight were cancelled, does the Ginza hotel have vacancy for me to stay an extra day? What about the Taipei hotel that we booked for 5 nights? I downloaded EVA Air's app and signed up for flight alerts; it said "on schedule" all the time. Eventually, my noon flight from Haneda to Taipei was truly on schedule (but the morning flight departing at 10 am was cancelled). Kudos to EVA's staff for carrying out a wonderful job under an unfavorable condition.(Our Taiwan travelogue will come along as a separate trip report at a later time.) Epilogue
Trip highlights?
Lowlights?
|
) in the upper right corner below to view the map in a larger window.
