Catching up - I think I am finally all caught up on Japan 26 May 2023!!!

8 May 2023 - Tokyo last night of the trip

We always meet fun people on our tours and this mom and her daughter were travelling together and the daughter called me Mom2 and she was in her 40s!  Today we had the "farewell dinner" as they call the last night.  Today we did a city tour of Tokyo and the Meiji shrine, a park and the Ginza shopping district.  Another full day!.

Very efficient and I must say the Japanese have a lot of good ideas.  These are plastic cups that collect extra rain which can be save to water other plants or better water this big tree.

This is a display of Japanese sake tins - pretty sure no sake to drink although I did try a "little bit".

We lucked out when visiting the shrine to see a real wedding.  And the bride has wooden things that hold up the veil and they are called thorns which when she is married will not need to wear again.  The tsunokakushi is said to be worn to veil the bride's "horns" of jealousy, ego and selfishness; it is also said to symbolize the bride's resolve to become a gentle and obedient wife.

Hard to miss this head of real hair and I admit I do sneak in pictures at times!

And after the redhead comes the wedding parade to be officially married inside the shrine.

My new friend Pat, Ross and I were told by our tour director Ana that this tall store has good deals and we did get them - raincoats and socks - no waste of money on that.

Our hotel last nights in Tokyo was many stories tall and overlooked a park and river so Pat and I got in our steps and we had our daily bet who had the most and she won and I owed her one yen - not much money!!!

There are signs all over and apparently it's not a good idea to break the rules as there are security guards and police all over too.

7 May 2023 - Sunday

Disembarked the ship today in Mauritzen, bus to Kyoto 2-3 hours and stopped for lunch and the only thing we recognized was the bowl of rice which MUST be on the left side of your plate.  Our local guide Michio said "the Japanese are not very proud of tofu".  I get it!

6 May 2023 Saturday - stopped in Sakaiminito-shi at end of Yumigahama Peninsula

Beautiful grounds of the Adachi Museum we visited.  Also learned that annual rainfall in Japan is about 66 inches compared to Seattle 35 inches and London 24 inches.

This castle has 6 floors, all made out of wood and over 500 years old.  We had to remove our shoes and we did walk up the skinny steep 6 flights - yes at 76 and 80 we are determined not to miss anything!  It is only one of only a dozen original castles in Japan and survived fires, earthquakes and demolitions during the Meji period

This was a toilet in the castle called a "box toilet".

And a greeter on the way out of course all decked out.

And our boat crosses the Sea of Japan to enter Busan, South Korea.  

We visited Korea's UN cemetery which honors the fallen UN soldiers killed in battle during the Korean War from 1950-1953.

It was a little rainy but "not so bad" as we say in Minnesota.

There were lots of memorials in the cemetery museum

We learned that some people also call these "fish penis" - hmmmm - interesting right?

Of course there is Starbucks and Outback Steakhouse just like at home in Bloomington Minnesota!

4 May 2023 - Nagasaki Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum.  The Peace Park commemorates the atomic bombing which destroyed a significant portion of the city.

Beautiful Kakami cathedral that was bombed.  First persecutions then the atomic bomb!  74,000 died which was 1/3 of the city of Nagasaki 3 days after the Hiroshima atomic bomb.  Our local tour guide said er father was in the bombing and survived but did not talk about it until a few years before he died.  He said "Japan was controlling people's minds".  General McArthur supported Japan, 2400 young children died in the Pearl Harbor bombing so it happened on both sides.

It was very difficult to look at the truth of the bodies and remains in all the photos.

An iconic statue in the Peace Park

3 May 2023 Back on the boat headed to Sakurajima which is a volcano and beautiful view at this moment. We are docked in Kagoshima nicknamed "Naples of the East"  Mt. Sakurajima is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

A little stop at the market and we were told this is the best chocolate in the world so for sure I had to buy a little bit.

We did the long uphill and downhill walk and no problems!

It's not a huge cruise ship and the max on it is 200 or so passengers not the 4-5 thousand on the "big ones".

2 May 2023 - headed to Uwajima compact city and the massive Mt Onigajo (Devil's Castle".  It was the feudal seat of Date Masamune, a lord who promoted the city as a center of industry, education and culture and is still known for the strong focus on education.

We visited an open air museum home of the Flying Squirrel Temple.

This older couple owns the grounds and did the tour and he is the famous architect and she his wife and she was the one who spoke perfect English and as every day they were so happy to have tourists back after 3 years of nothing.

Next up the Doi Pearl a family tradution handed down for three generations.  The Akoya oyster holds the pearls and they are cultured by taking out of the shells, adding a red little thing and then back underwater for a year or so.

1 May 2023 - Hiroshima

Hiroshima was founded in 1589 as a castle and became a major urban enter.  It was the center of military activities during the Imperial era such as the first Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and the two world wars.

It was the first military target of a nuclear weapon in human history occuring on August 6, 1945 in the Pacific theatre of WWII at 8:45am.  Most of the city was destroyed and by the end of the year between 90,000 and 166,000 died as a result of the blast

This is the site called the A-Bomb Dome also known as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

This is the famous young girl statue of peace please!

There were a lot of artworks of origami made by children and it is amazing work.

President Obama spoke here for 17 minutes and then the Japanese Minister Shinzo Abe spoke the same amount of time in Pearl Harbor called "an alliance of hope and reconciliation. Shinzo Abe was unfortunately assassinated in July 2022 while giving a speech in front of a railway station. which was an extremely rare act of gun violence in Japan.

So onto better things - what the heck are these foods and no idea how to order!

This is also called the Torii Gate and it appears to float when high tide arrives.

30 April 2023 - Uno Oko Japan

This is a real house!

And they are beautifully decorated in our little walking tour of the area.

29 April 2023 - Welcome to Osaka, Japan and it was a pretty nice hotel!!!

Yes on the huge screen high above our heads are Ross and I with our tour guide Ana.

And a little rather strange lunch at a local cafe served with the typical raw egg to dip other foods in.  I didn't!!

Backing up a little - these are the wooden steps 6 flights in the Matsue Black Castle - thank goodness for the railings as the shiny steps were a little slippery in socks.

Backing up a bit to the Busan UN cemetery as I passed gravestones of Minnesota and Wisconsin soldiers