mj_holiday

When we got to the craft village, we were all ushered inside and stood around a wooden vat of water and some kind of wood pulp. The pulp is from a special tree, but I forgot the name. They demonstrated making the paper and with instructions in Japanese and pointing, and a few English words, we got the idea. One by one, we got to make our own paper in a mold that they had for us to use. With great coaching from the attendants there we each got our own paper made and stacked up to dry.

The cherry blossoms are really in bloom, and looks so pretty among the hills and valleys, and along the roads.

Our excursion today was to go to a craft village and learn how to make paper. As we took the bus away from the port, I started noticing many squares of gray water, which looked like some kind of a treatment plant. But there were way too many of these, and so I asked our tour guide about them. He calmly said they were rice patties. What else could they be? We saw many of these squares of water under the overpasses, and along the road as we drove. A picture from a moving bus does not do it justice but you’ll get an idea

April 5 Kochi I’m getting locked up when I attempt to post more than one photo so I will do this days update in several small submissions As we came into port, we were greeted by a display of people on the dock, waving flags and singing welcoming us to Kochi.

April 4 continued. As we were leaving the museum, we bought some souvenirs and asked the person working there how to get a taxi back to the cruise ship. She gave us several explanations which we did not understand. Then she picked up her translator and spoke to it and the translator told us how to get to the bus station where there were taxis. We got a taxi back to the cruise ship, found our way through the various rooms with helpful signs that said to ship. Our team for trivia was -2 people who were still on an excursion, the four of us still had quite a bit of fun coming up with answers, and we got a third place, when all was said and done. Dinner was in Prime 7. It was a very good meal. We each had 6 ounce fillets and they were delicious. I’m not sure we needed a steak knife. I was sorry to admit, after we finished the steaks, that I was too full to have the caramel popcorn, chocolate ice cream sundae. While we were eating, a group of at least 15 or 16 drums were just off the ship and gave us a drum performance. It was very interesting and you didn’t need to see it or be on a balcony to hear it.

Thursday, April 4 - we overnighted in Kyoto and have no excursion scheduled today because as I looked at the revisions to the descriptions, they all were too strenuous. So we research things to see today and we decided on two museums. As we left the ship and went through customs, we found an information desk and showed them the names of the two museums. The museum that made the most sense to visit was Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum. A person from the information desk took us out to a taxi cab and gave him the address. She also gave us a piece of paper with the name of the port, written in Japanese, for us to give to a taxi to get back. The museum was fascinating. Not only did it have a huge array of wood tools throughout the centuries in Japan. It also had many examples of intricate building methodologies that result in some of the buildings you see around Japan. There were also a few hands on exhibits where we could take something apart and try to put it back together. There was also quite lot of information and displays on a plane, the tool used to smooth surfaces and shave off wood. They had a little bitty planes, large planes, and planes for different types of wood or end result. They also had many displays, and a video explaining how you make one of these planes. They also had examples of various thicknesses of shavings that can be made by a plane. Noticed that the gentleman is holding the wood with his feet. Below are some examples of shavings made by various planes I am by no means a carpenter, but I really appreciated the depth that this museum went to explaining the art of carpentry.

Reusable water bottles are provided and place to fill them up as you leave the ship.

April 3 , we arrived in Kyoto at noon so the morning was like a sea day. We got laundry turned in, got the newspaper set up, and got on a list for a galley tour,. We also exchanged some excursion tickets since they are turning out to be more difficult than the description says. In the morning was a wine tasting in the atrium. The tasting was of several of included wines on the ship. There were eight reds and eight whites to taste from various regions around the world. It was quite popular with people cutting in lines to get a sample. I kept a list so I can ask for other wines at the meals. But I do need to say that the wines offered have been very good. Since we didn’t have an excursion in the afternoon, and it was raining, we made the entire day a seaday. We came up with a couple of places to take a taxi to Thursday. In the afternoon, we headed to trivia. This was our first trivia this cruise (think it is the second of the cruise). And we weren’t part of the team, we needed a team. We sat at a table near the entrance to the observation lounge. I made a sign “Forming a Trivia Team” to show the people coming in. Some tried to ignore me, but one gentleman looked my way and decided to join. He quickly stepped into the role as a recruiter, and we soon were part of the team of six. We had a lot of fun coming up with our answers and finished in second place. Dinner was in Pacific Rim. Wine was offered, but we asked about sake for DH. They brought him some sake. DH had tempura lobster while I had the giant prawns. Both were delicious. We did not last to see the performance that evening.

After lunch, we left the ship to take the shuttle that’s offered. The shuttle took us to the railroad station of Shimizu. We walked around some of the area and decided it was time to stop someplace for refreshments. We then realized most of the establishments closed at 2 PM. We found a small little coffee house that was open and went in. I asked about getting two beers holding up two fingers. The server acknowledged and asked if we wanted two glasses and I said yes. I’m glad she didn’t understand that I wanted two beers. She served up two glasses and a half liter bottle of beer. That was a good size to share. She also brought some small packages of snacks. And a bowl to put them in and some handy wipes. It was a nice break. As we left, outside was the biggest dog I’ve seen and he seemed friendly but I wasn’t taking any chances. We headed back to the shuttle and took the shuttle back to the ship. We again had a lovely dinner in Compass Rose with our server Yuli, and Brad had his second lobster tail of the cruise.

Today we are in the town of Shimizu. Our excursion is a photo op tour for Mount Fuji. Our guide was very informative about the area. He explained information such as the rain on Mount Fuji travels through the volcanic soil, is purified and ends up in a spring for drinking water. It was a hazy day. We were told that yellow sand in the air is coming from China. We were also told that the cedar trees are releasing a lot of pollen, which is the reason so many people are wearing mask. Our first stop to take pictures ended up having a steep incline with lots of steps. DH didn’t attempt it. I did attempt it but only made it half up, but I still got a couple pictures of Mount Fuji. Our second stop was to a pine tree forest. Our guide explained that during World War II, Japan ran out of oil and developed a method to extract oil from burning the pine trees. In the pine tree forest, the trees do not stand tall and erect as the Douglas fir that I am used to. These limbs are all over the place. It was very peaceful setting, and the sand was beautiful. The ocean brought in the sand and gravel from Mount Fuji. After seeing the pine trees, we took another walk to a small kiosk area that sold snacks and some souvenirs. I bought a snack I have no idea what it’s like. We’ll find out back at the cabin.

It was very crowded. Getting up to the shrine to offer your prayers. There was also security enforcing no pictures and no talking. After the shrine, we went to a garden inside Tokyo. DH and I walked in far enough to use a facilities. It looked very nice. We were just exhausted. Their brochures showed what flowered by the month, but their spring has been late this year. The last stop was a walk by the emperors palace, the front gardens and lawns around the palace were beautiful. They do have an interesting way of making benches to sit in. We have seen these several places. We finally made it to Port, check in was a breeze. We soon had a glass of champagne and was escorted to our Muster station. Then we were escorted to our cabin. We dropped our carry-ons and headed to the pool grill for something to eat. I tried the lobster nachos which I have been hearing a lot about. Our luggage was delivered by the time we finished with lunch. We unpacked and made ourselves at home in our home for the next 30 days. Our suite attendant came by to introduce himself and we’re getting our bar set up with what we want. Then, on to dinner in Compass Rose and DH had his first lobster tail of the trip.

The room in Tokyo Hilton did have a kettle and Nescafé along with tea.

Today’s the day we really start our journey. We were up very early, of course. Did I mention we have crossed 11 time zones Breakfast was nice and we packed our carry-ons and we’re ready to head to the meeting place. Our suitcases were picked up last night sometime. Since the ship will not be ready for us as we check out of the hotel, Regent is having our buses due 2 to 3 sightseeing stops Our first stop was to Meiji shrine. The tour guide told us it was a 20 minute walk. Due to this DH stayed on the bus. The 20 minute walk was a fast walk. We went by many barrels filled with saki or beer. These are offerings to the Emporer The Emporer Meiji enjoyed both wine and saki. . I made it to the shrine and went in under a large Torri wooden gate. It is very different style from Christian shrines that you may think of. Entering there was a place to wash your hands which I understand, is part of the ritual. (Sorry for the upside down photo).

Do not know why the previous photo is upside down, I added it the same way I added the first two. We are now getting ready to head to the ship. I will start a new thread just for the cruise. Watch for it in a couple days.

Later on in the afternoon, those partaking and T took on a different air. More people were dressed up and several young women were with their parents. It was a nice enough event that many people were taking pictures. For dinner we had reservations at St. George in our hotel. DH wanted and got a flight of three Japanese whiskeys. The flight was elegantly served on a wooden tray which each whiskey identified by its genre. We had a nice small dinner afterwards and the food was excellent.

Our Easter Sunday was quiet while we decided to re-sync our inner clocks with the time in Japan. After breakfast, we went shopping in the arcade attached to the hotel. There were lots of interesting stores, quite a few were closed for the day. We were able to find the toiletries we needed. There was a store that looked like it sold custom made kimonos. Lots of beautiful silk on display. We also saw several women in the shopping arcade in kimonos that weren’t connected with the shop. After shopping, we went back to the hotel, and wanted some refreshments. Most of the restaurants were completely full with people doing afternoon tea. We found a table in the Zatta bar. It was interesting how full the restaurants were with people partaking in afternoon tea. The set up for the tea was very interesting, and none of my pictures came out. I did find out what looked like cloth magazine racks that were next to tables and barstools were used for. They are used to store packages and your purse while you’re at the table. I hope my pictures make it through.

You mentioned seeing many women that had rented kimonos to memorialize the day. Do you have any further information on what they were memorializing for the day? I also saw many women, more than I expected, in kimonos on Sunday.

The tour was a half day tour that would take us to two places. We had a guide that was a certified guide, her English was good with a heavy accent, and she is a schoolteacher during the year. She did not have a lot of extra informative information for us like I like to hear from guides, but she had the facts about the places we were heading per the write up. The description of this tour basically said we would be taken to the site and then be on our own with free time and that’s what happened. Some on the bus wanted more information and to be taken around the sites. The first place we went was Odbaiba, which is a man-made island that was made to protect Tokyo from Admiral Perry. My history is rusty on the exact history and I will be checking it out when I get home. There is a copy of the Statue of Liberty on this island, much smaller, and it looks like some beautiful gardens to go through. The next place we went to was an area called Ginza, This is a shopping district with lots of restaurants, kabuki theater, galleries, anything you could want. Our guide explained where we were to meet and we had about an hour and a half. DH and I walked through one large shopping center, which had very high end clothes. We wanted a place to have a drink and ask someone who told us B2 take the elevator, which we did. As soon as we got off of the elevator we found a very nice wine bar and had a glass of wine. After the refreshment we walked around the entire B2 and the whole floor is filled with small bars, bourbon shop, candy shops, cookie shops, lots of stuff to eat. The bourbon store had bottles of bourbon priced at 300000 yen. Guess we’ll look someplace else for a bottle of Japanese bourbon. DH and I decided this would be a nice area to come to the next day. After we got back to the hotel, we decided we needed to have some lunch, this was to be a late lunch. There was only one of the restaurants opened for lunch at 3 PM. The Chinese restaurant. The other restaurants were being set up for afternoon tea. The food was very good and we had a very nice lunch. After lunch while DH was resting I went off to see if I could find the train station that the guide kept pointing to. It wasn’t where I thought she was pointing to, but I eventually found it. Usually train stations are nice places to buy every day needs and they also have many restaurants. Since this was a Saturday, not much was open but I did find a Family Mart and was able to get some things we had forgotten and a delightful of array of Japanese beer. I really didn’t see any restaurants within walking distance of the Tokyo Hilton, and so that evening we went to have a light dinner in the hotel. I then remembered all the warnings given about needing reservations. Even the bar that we wanted to go back to was booked up. We found another bar on second floor and they had a table that was not reserved so we could sit and have some appetizers and drinks which is really all we needed since we had a late lunch. We made it an early evening, since we’re still adjusting to the travel and time distance.

Saturday morning found us up at 4am. We were down at breakfast shortly after it opened. It is a very large buffet. There was lots of variety of fruit, cereal, eggs, an omelette station, not much meat, juice, beans, just about anything you might want for breakfast. As we were leaving breakfast, we could see a very long line waiting to get in. Glad we started early. We were to gather for our tour at 10 am and headed down about 20 minutes early. As has been reported several times, the elevators just don’t support the numbers heading out at the same time. When we got to the meeting area we were given bus numbers and went to wait to be called. There was a man with the tour company giving bits and pieces of etiquette in Japan. He informed us that Japan was the last to open after Covid and many establishments just didn’t get the employees back. For example, some hotels won’t rent out all their rooms because they don’t have the staff to support that. It was not a long wait. Our bus was called and we headed out. DH and I were bringing up the rear. We got on the bus and several people told DH to take the front seat. That was nice. There were about 25 on the bus.

The kettle was in a cabinet under the teapot way in the back.

A couple people on the plane complained they couldn’t get a good enough picture of their passport to work. I only tried once and after that I just hand entered the data. Taking our picture was easier than I expected. I don’t know how much before your trip to work it. I just gave myself enough time to be able bad attempts. Forgap - Good for you for remembering you needed to update QR info, I am not sure I would think of that.

Don’t know if I will be able to post daily but will try. After our nonstop flight from DFW, we arrived at Narita airport. I had requested a wheelchair for DH since he had recent back surgery and were met at the end of the ramp as we got off the plane. T thank you. The wheelchair attendant helped us get through immigration and customs and I’m very glad I had the QR codes completed. They did have dogs in the luggage area and the customs area and that’s probably their way to find narcotics and other illegal drugs but I don’t think my blood pressure medicine caused the dog to even look at it a second time. We were met by Regents representatives and we had a 15 minute walk to where the bus would pick us up. Had to leave the wheelchair in the airport. It was a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the Tokyo, Hilton, lots of traffic, but a couple people think the bus driver went around in a circle a couple times, I just slept. Check in at the Tokyo Hilton was very efficient and they had people ready to take our luggage up to our room. There is lots of information about restaurant reservations in the hotel, we weren’t ready for a big meal, and we went to St. George’s bar and had a cheese plate and drinks and listen to a small band. Our hotel room is very nice and very comfortable. No in suite coffee maker, there is a teapot and cups and tea, but I haven’t found the hot water yet. Breakfast is provided and the tour doesn’t leave until 10 AM so it looks like we will have plenty of time to get settled and have some breakfast. That’s all for now.

We had better luck with flights. I definitely am glad I had the QR codes. I wasn’t sure how to get them on my phone so had printouts which worked just great.

Thanks for your comments. This is new for us, DH recently had back surgery. There is a place on the airline web where you manage your air tickets to request a wheelchair.

The on line survey at the end of the cruise was implemented before Covid. This survey is done using the intranet (not the internet). The intranet is also used throughout the ship for things like restaurant orders, account balances etc. It is a learning experience getting logged on for the survey. Once I get logged on, I found it fairly easy to complete. But, I do not like the fact that I am not able to rate/discuss the last couple of days. It is my understanding that the midcruise survey stays on the ship. The end of cruise survey goes to corporate for metrics, passenger comments and process issues, etc.and this would be reported back to the ship. It would be interesting to see the percentage of surveys completed compared to lines that use the mail surveys after you disembark. It is a shame that Regent newbies somehow did not get the notice about the survey. I have found out I have missed some things that are displayed in Passages in a box like ads are. I use to just skip over these, not any more.