Konichiwa! Japan pre pre cruise on Explorer

[forgap]

Day Four - Tokyo to Kanazawa to Kaga

 

We arrived at the main Tokyo train station bright and early to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kanazawa.  It was a mass of humanity

 

and we quickly secured our bento box lunch for the ride and navigated to our platform where the train arrived and left exactly on time.  

 

 

The ride took us through Nagano, the site of the Winter Olympics, and the majestic mountain range in the distance.  

Kanazawa was spared from allied bombing during WWII so there are many picturesque districts dating back to the Edo and Meiji eras.    Our first stop was the Kenrokuen Garden, originally the outer garden of the Kanazawa castle.  This was an exquisite garden, reported to be one of the most beautiful in Japan.  

 

 

i was most impressed with the manicured moss, painstakingly attended by devoted staff.  

 

The trees were shaped into living sculptures, often supported by wooden beams to save them from the winter winds and snow.   

 

Kanazawa is located between the Japanese alps and the Sea of Japan, so it is known for its very rainy climate.   The winds blow from the north west (Siberia), and pictures of the winter landscape were beautiful and austere.

Kanazawa is also known for its production of gold leaf which is used in much of the Japanese decorative arts.  We visited a gold leaf workshop which was very interesting to see the process of fabricating paper thin sheets of gold.  We then went up to the classroom area and made our own gold leaf decorated chopsticks.   This will be such a nice keepsake!  

 

 

Of course, there was a gift shop with some absolutely beautiful things to buy, but difficult to bring home in one piece. 
 

In the late afternoon, we finally arrived in Kaga.  Our Ryokan was a modern building bordering a lake but done in a spare, beautiful, Japanese aesthetic.

 

Our guide instructed us in the required etiquette, including how to tie our yakuta, when and where to go shoeless, how to place our shoes in the shoe case, and how to navigate the onsen - no bathing suits allowed, birthday suits required. 
 

Our kaiseki dinner was incredible.  I lost count of the number of courses we were served.  We waddled out.  I had to remind my husband that he needed to monitor his gaping yukata.  No flashing allowed in a kaiseki dinner!  

 

 

A final note- Georges had a close encounter of the third kind!  Not with aliens, but with an alien toilet!  The Japanese are known for their wonderful Toto toilets.  They are everywhere, both in public and private venues.  They heat the seat, play music to mask unmentionable noise, and clean your nether regions.  In the ryokan, he mistook a flashing button for the flush, got spayed in the face, couldn’t turn it off and yelled for help.  I couldn’t turn it off either and the bathroom was quickly flooding.  I finally unplugged the damn thing and showed him the flush which, remarkably, looked EXACTLY like the flusher we know and love.  

[Thundery]

Omg too funny

[marne-c]

@forgap Debbie-wife and I will be on the RSSC Explorer in Fall 2025.  I am VERY much enjoying your travelogue!!!

 

I love your itinerary to-date.  Please tell me how you planned and organized your tour.  Was it DIY?  Or did you work with a tour company?

 

--Marne

[forgap]

6 hours ago, marne-c said:

Please tell me how you planned and organized your tour.  Was it DIY?  Or did you work with a tour company?

We used Gate One Travel.  We have been on two other land tours with them (Cuba and Macau Pichu) and we think they run excellent tours. The itinerary is packed, though, but they always include interesting activities that we wouldn’t necessarily stumble upon on our own.  
 

We will be with them until Monday, when the group travels to Osaka for flights home and we return to Tokyo for two nights before joining the pre-cruise group in Tokyo.  
 

FYI, our Tokyo hotel was the Keio Plaza in Shinjuku which is right around the corner from the Tokyo Hilton.  We dropped two suitcases off there before leaving Tokyo and they will hold them until our return.  Japan also has a very easy to navigate luggage transfer system so there is never a need to lug your luggage around. 

[maryogreen]

@forgap So happy to see that your Japanese adventure has begun! Looks like a terrific pre-pre cruise. I hope your Regent pre- cruise and the main event are as wonderful as we experienced in November. I look forward to following along! 😊

 

Mary

The Modern Postcard

[marne-c]

@forgap  Thanks for the reference on Gate One Travel.  I'll look them up.

 

--Marne

[forgap]

Day Five - Kaga to Suganuma Village to Shirakwago Village to Takayama

 

We left Kaga in the early morning, traveling by the Sea of Japan until we turned east, traveling through a series of tunnels as we traversed a range of mountains.  

 

We soon arrived at Suganuma Village, a World Heritage site, known for its thatched roof “gassho” houses.   The houses are called gassho as the form of the roof is shaped like the praying hand gesture in Buddhism.  There are nine gassho houses in the village that are still used as homes for the villagers.  

 

Thatching roofs is an art form requiring renewal every so often.  There is fear in Japan that it is a dying art form as it is labor intensive and requires considerable technical skill.

 

Pools of water are required in case of a fire. 

 

Every family is also required to plant more thatch but they often need to buy more than they grow for repairs.  

Leaving Suganuma, we went on to Shirakawago Village, a much larger community bordering a river.  It was a cloudy morning that morphed into showers which then morphed into a steady rain and wind.  We were intrepid travelers but after an hour we were cold and wet and the picturesque gassho houses became increasingly less interesting. 

 

Our next stop was the city of Takayama.  Takayama is in mountainous Gifu Prefecture and is known for its wood, harvested from the surrounding mountains.  The narrow streets of its Sanmachi Suji historic district are lined with wooden merchants’ houses dating to the Edo Period, along with many small museums. 

 

Our first stop was lunch.  Takayama is known for its hida beef which is a variety of Wagyu beef.  Our lunch restaurant served us Hoba miso, a local dish of miso, beef, green onions and vegetables, grilled on a magnolia leaf. The koji miso is seasoned with sake, sugar, and ginger and the magnolia leaf gives it a unique aroma as it grills. 

 

It was getting late in the day but before getting to the hotel, we visited Jinya, the old government building.  It was a fascinating glimpse into the protocols and customs of old Japan.

 

 

 Our final stop was the Funasaka Sake Brewery.  Sake is still a very ritualized process, with a sake master, the toji, supervising all aspects of the process.  When a batch is finished in the fall, a cedar ball is hung outside of the brewery and stays in place until the next batch is brewed.   

 

 

Our hotel was located a bit above the city with wonderful views of the valley and mountains beyond.  

Its main feature, though, was not the view but the onsen - a communal bath and spa.  I was shy and tired the previous night so I skipped this experience at the ryokan.  The women in our group were very encouraging, though, and counseled me not to let my self-conscious body shaming from missing an iconic experience in Japan.  So, taking a deep breath, I donned my yukata, and shuffled along in my sandals to the bath.  It was incredible.  

 

The picture I included is from the hotel website as pictures in the spa are strictly forbidden, of course.  The spa protocol is to shower in your room or thoroughly wash in an area of the facility before entering the pool.  There was a steam room, an indoor pool and a series of small and large pools outside with varied water temperature.  The outside pools overlooked the valley and the night lights and low clouds made for a very atmospheric experience. 

 

 

Edited April 4 by forgap

[forgap]

Day Six - Takayama to Kyoto

 

We had an early start to a long day including a half day in Takayama and a long bus ride to Kyoto.  We anticipated free time in this beautiful town, but first we went to the museum that houses some of the floats used in festivals which is adjacent to a beautiful Shinto shrine.   

 

The city is famed for its biannual Takayama Festival, going back to at least the mid-1600s, celebrating spring and fall with parades featuring ornate, gilded floats and puppet shows.  

 

From morning to late afternoon of both festival days, the festival floats (yatai) are displayed in the streets of Takayama. Several of the festival floats are decorated with so called karakuri ningyo, sophisticated mechanical dolls that can move and dance. 

 

A portable shrine (mikoshi) is carried around the town in a parade during the two days of the festival. The mikoshi contains the shrine's kami (Shinto deity). The festival is the only time of the year when the deity leaves the shrine to be carried around the town.  

 

We then had two hours of free time to explore Takayama on our own, starting with the Morning Market which borders the river.  We walked past interesting shops and food stands, bought gifts, and coveted beautiful objects that we didn’t need.  

 

Lunch:  grilled hida beef brochette and minced hida beef in a warm sticky rice cake. 

 

This couple was in Takayama to celebrate their wedding.

 

The bus ride to Kyoto was about 3.5 hours and the landscape went from mountains to rolling hills dotted with cherry trees in full bloom.  Our hotel is in the city near the train station and packed with tourists.  All of our hotels have been spacious and well appointed.  I particularly liked the small metal sculptures above each door.  Every door was a different botanical with lovely detail.  

 

 

We were pretty tired at the end of the day and opted for a hotel restaurant.  It was an upscale buffet with Asian and western dishes, the highlight being the appetizer and salad bar.  They had interesting little amuse bouche that were absolutely luscious.  My favorite (bottom right corner of the picture) was a fois gras mousse wrapped in a fruit leather with a slice of dehydrated kumquat in top.  Mmmmmmmmm

 

Edited April 5 by forgap

[forgap]

Day Seven - Kyoto

 

We have had remarkably good weather this trip.  It is cool enough to wear a light puffer jacket without getting hot enough in the afternoon to devolve into a sweaty mess.  

 

Our first site was the Nijo-Jo Castle.  This is one of the seventeen historic monuments of Ancient Kyoto which have been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.  Nijo-jo Castle has witnessed some of the most important events in Japanese history in the 400 years since it was built. 

The castle was completed in 1603 on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867). Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan after a long period of civil war, and ushered in a period of over 260 years of peace and prosperity. The government that Ieyasu established lasted for fifteen generations, and was one of the longest periods of stability and prosperity in Japanese history.p

 

The Ninomaru Palace served as the residence and office of the shogun during his visits to Kyoto.  The palace consists of multiple separate buildings that are connected by corridors with “nightingale” floors, as they squeak when stepped upon as a security measure against intruders. The palace rooms feature decorated ceilings and beautifully painted sliding doors (fusuma).

 

The castle area has several gardens and groves of cherry and Japanese plum trees.  We are fortunate that Japan has had a late spring and the trees are just beginning to flower.  As the week progresses, they should be in full bloom.  

Sakura soft serve!

 

One of the distinctive features of our tour is that daily cultural experiences are included that we would not stumble upon if left to our own devices.  Our next stop was a Buddhist temple in Higashiyama area where we were instructed in Zazan, or seated Zen meditation.

 

It was a fascinating exercise and worth including in my day when we return home. 

We moved to an adjacent room for a tea ceremony.  It takes twenty years to become a tea master and the ceremony is infused with required symbolic gestures, including eating a sweet rice cookie before drinking the tea so that the bitterness of the matcha is not a shock to the system.

 

 

After lunch we went to the Nishishinjuku food market.  Although interesting, the crush of people navigating the small alley was not for those who tend to be claustrophobic.  All sorts of food and drink were in offer.  

 

 

I was charmed by the octopus lollipops!

 

There is a Shinto shrine at the end of the path where you can catch your breath before facing the gauntlet for the return trip. 

Our final event was a private Shamisen and Koto performance in a private house in a quiet neighborhood in Kyoto.  The shamisen is a three stringed instrument that is similar to a banjo.  The shamisen can be played solo or with other shamisen instruments and ensemble. 

lč

 

The koto, a type of Japanese zither, is the most popular Japanese musical instrument.  Much of the traditional music accompanied kabuki performances. 
It is a bit difficult for western ears to appreciate

 

but the musicians also included a piece composed in the 1980’s which was quite beautiful.

 

Another vista in Kyoto!

 

[boblerm]

Thanks so  much for this fabulous report!

[forgap]

Day Eight - Kyoto

 

We had a long and exhausting day touring Kyoto, seeing some of the most iconic sites.  Our first stop in the morning, and my favorite so far, was the Tenryu-ji Zen temple and garden.  

 

The garden was the most exquisite I have ever seen.  There were winding paths, bordered with manicured trees and shrubs so that every scene had an intimate view and a “borrowed” view in the distance.

 

 Many flowers and trees are in full bloom.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The garden borders the Arashiyama bamboo forest.  The forest consist of mostly moso bamboo, six inches in diameter and so tall they block the sky.  

 

After a long walk through the grove and down to the river, we wandered through a quiet part of the town until we reached a rickshaw stable.  Two to a rickshaw, we climbed aboard for an unforgettable tour of the village. 

 

 Our rickshaw driver had a good command of English and I had a very basic command of Japanese so we communicated well.  

 

 

All the drivers had formidable leg muscles but our driver said he  still goes to the gym to develop his upper body.  Legs and cardio are completed by pulling corpulent tourists through the street!  

 

Shameless flirting with the rickshaw drivers!

 

A short drive away, the Kinkaku-ji temple, or Golden Pavillon, completed our bucket list of iconic Kyoto.  The site of Kinkaku-ji was originally a villa called Kitayama-dai, belonging to a powerful statesman, Saionji Kintsune.  Kinkaku-ji's history dates to 1397, when the villa was purchased from the Saionji family by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.  When Yoshimitsu died the building was converted into a Zen temple by his son, according to his wishes.  

 

After lunch, we walked to a residential area near the food market we visited yesterday.  I had noticed that throughout Kyoto there are stores where you can rent kimono for the day, as many Japanese do to celebrate the seasons, or birthdays, or weddings and such.  We entered a private Kyoto-style home, where the women went to one room, the men to another to change into traditional Japanese dress.   

 

The kimono were beautiful but I had no idea how complex it is to put on and wear everything that is underneath the beautiful garment.  We stripped down and put on a white cotton short yukata.  This was tied TIGHT.  Then another strap was tied TIGHT around the waist.  Then a broad strap I called the Japanese mammogram, was tied TIGHT around the breast.  Then a wide plastic plate was placed on the upper torso and strapped in TIGHT.  The final step was the kimono and obi.  The obi was about six feet long and wrapped TIGHT and secured with decorative bow in the back.  At this point, it was hard to breathe and hard to move and it was hot!  My hair is a problem as I didn’t have anything to get it off my shoulders until I found pen in my purse and used it as a pin!  

 

Our final stop at the end of a very long day was the Gion geisha district.  No geishas to be seen but thousands of tourists milling around thanks to the cherry blossoms in full bloom.  

[RELS]

You probably answered this question before, but I am too dazzled by your amazing pictures to go back and find the answer:

 

Is this a pre-tour from Regent? A pre-tour you arranged through another tour company? Or a tour you planned on your own?

 

We haven't been to Japan, and this all looks so wonderful. Thank you for sharing!

[forgap]

We wanted a land trip prior to the Regent pre cruise so we booked with Gate Ine Travel.  We are a group of 22 (now a group of 20 as one of our group fell the other day, breaking several bones in her arm which requires surgery.  She and her friend fly home tonight).  Gate One always emphasizes cultural experiences.  This is our third land tour with them, the others were to Cuba and Machu Pichu.  

[briar14]

Your tour, pictures, and descriptions are wonderful! I hope to meet you and hear more about your tour when you board Explorer on the 13th. Thank you for this excellent contribution.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Your photos and commentary are so amazing, I'm so grateful. Never got to Japan, always wanted to.

[forgap]

Day Nine - Kyoto and Nara

 

Intense days of touring averaging 12,000 steps a day are taking its toll on our bodies.  G is now opting out of back to back shrine hikes and staying on the bus.  My job is to take photos so he can experience the tour virtually.  

 

Nara was Japan's first permanent capital, established in the year 710 at Heijo (the city now known as Nara).  Prior to that, the capital was moved to a new location whenever a new emperor ascended to the throne.  However, as the influence and political ambitions of the city's powerful Buddhist monasteries grew to become a serious threat to the government, the capital was moved away from Nara to Nagaoka in 784 and a few years later to Kyoto. 

 

We arrived at the Todai-ji Buddhist Temple before most of the tourist hoards. 

 

This temple is known for its giant bronze Buddha and about 10,000 dear in the surrounding park.  

 

Vendors sell packets of cookies for the deer who seem to be well aware that they have an advantage over the helpless tourists.  They tend to swarm and when the cookies are gone, they “remind” the fool who bought the cookies that they want more……they nudge with their shorn antlers and when that fails, they nip butts as the meal ticket makes a hasty retreat.  

 

One charming thing they have learned, however, is to bow their heads in order to get a treat.  

Outside of the main temple complex was an interesting wooden statue of a disciple of Buddha.

 

Pindola is said to have excelled in the mastery of occult and psychic powers. He was once remonstrated by the Buddha for misusing his powers to impress simple, ignorant people.  In Japan, Pindola is called Binzuru and is arguably the most popular of all the Arhats. Statues of him are usually well worn, since the devotees follow the custom of rubbing a part of his body that corresponds to the sick parts of their bodies, as he is reputed to have the gift of healing. 

 

The massive bronze Buddha is protected against evil forces from four directions. They include Jikokuten (east), Zōchōten (south), Kōmokuten (west), and Tamonten (north). 

 

In the temple complex there was an interesting pillar with a square hole cut out of the bottom.  We noticed people trying squeeze through the opening to great applause and laughter.  It is said to be the same size as Buddha’s nostril. It is believed that those who can pass through the hole will be granted good health and protection from bad luck

 

Our next site in Nara was the Kashuga-Taisha Shinto shrine.  Kasuga-Taisha is Nara’s most celebrated shrine.  It was established at the same time as the capital and is dedicated to the deity responsible for the protection of the city. 

 

Kasuga Taisha is famous for its lanterns, which have been donated by worshippers. Hundreds of bronze lanterns can be found hanging from the buildings,

 

while an equal number of stone lanterns line the approach to the shrine.

 

 

The lanterns are only lit twice a year during two lantern festivals, one in early February and one in mid August.  There is a room that is protected from the light so one can get an idea of the ambiance during the festivals.  

 

As we approached the shrine, there was a wedding ceremony taking place. The bridal kimono and the dress of the wedding party was very beautiful.

 

 

We had a couple of hours in a shopping arcade near the train station to grab lunch and buy anything that struck our fancy.  The Japanese tend to cue for everything and I don’t have a surplus’s of patience, especially when I’m hungry.  We strolled along until we found a udon shop without a line.  I had to be schooled, however, in using the touch screen (with an English option, thank God), where we tapped to “eat in”, tapped the number in our party, tapped our food and drink choice, and paid.  The machine spit out some paper, I handed it to the hostess, and in very short order, we got our food!  I still needed instruction on how to put it all together, but we muddled through.  

 

Who doesn’t love a vending machine filled with macarons!

 

Our final stop of the day was the Fushimi-inari Shinto shrine. Fushimi Inari Shrine is famous for its thousands of vermilion tori gates which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters. 

 

 

Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds. 

 

We returned to the hotel for a quick rest and cleanup before heading out again for our farewell dinner at the Kyoto Cultural Center.  We were treated to a very special performance by a Maiko, an apprentice geisha who sang and danced in a traditional style.  

She is 17 years old and in her second year of training. She will become a full fledged geisha after five years of training.  

 

She endured a Q & A session from our group and then showed us a game she plays with clients.  This was when she looked and acted her 17 years which was a delight to see.  

 

This event was very memorable and a highlight of our trip

[forgap]

Day Ten - Kyoto to Tokyo

 

I obsessed about our trip to Tokyo on the bullet train.  I read volumes about purchasing tickets, green car or cattle cat, reserved seats or non reserved seats, purchasing in advance or at the station.  I ended up purchasing our tickets a month prior to the trip, printed my QR code, and photographed the QR code just in case.  We arrived at the train station a bit early so I tried for an earlier train but learned that there is an advantage to booking ahead as seats were limited during the busy morning hours.  So, we found the waiting room, plugged into free WiFi, and waited for our time to get on the train.  

 

Shopping for snacks at a Japanese train station is a very interesting endeavor. Rice crackers and peanuts are an all time favorite, but I also was intrigued by little packets filled with orange jello.  They are sort of like jello shooters without the booze.  

 

Also, what’s not to love about miso flavored potato chips?  

 

The Japanese are very organized and very timely.  The information panels are clear and you are able to navigate to your platform and car placement and line up for a methodical boarding.  It took us two and a half hours to arrive at Tokyo Station and we took a cab to the Hilton Tokyo.  

 

 

 

Check in was easy for us, but more laborious for our check in person.  I had made two separate reservations as one was using points, the other was on our Hilton AmEx, plus on the third night we join the Regent pre cruise reservation.  Our poor guy put it all together so we had five nights in the same room.  Oh, and we upgraded to the Executive floor, too.  We had stashed two suitcases at the Hilton prior to going to Kyoto and within five minutes of entering our room, our Kyoto suitcases and our stored suitcases arrived.  

 

 

It was such a pleasure to rest after the last ten days!  We unpacked and just laid round until cocktail hour in the Executive Lounge.  It was pretty busy but they had an open bar with DYI cocktails, champagne, Prosecco, plum wine and sake.  They also had a nice selection of light snacks that could become a dinner, which it did for us as we just couldn’t face going out after a long day.  

 

Rain is predicted for tomorrow so that will become our Shinjuku shopping day.  

[liptastic]

Truly wonderful photos of your great pre cruise adventure. Thank you for sharing.  Jean. 

[DeepFreeze63]

On 4/3/2024 at 9:23 AM, forgap said:

Day Four - Tokyo to Kanazawa to Kaga

 

We arrived at the main Tokyo train station bright and early to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kanazawa.  It was a mass of humanity

 

and we quickly secured our bento box lunch for the ride and navigated to our platform where the train arrived and left exactly on time.  

 

 

The ride took us through Nagano, the site of the Winter Olympics, and the majestic mountain range in the distance.  

Kanazawa was spared from allied bombing during WWII so there are many picturesque districts dating back to the Edo and Meiji eras.    Our first stop was the Kenrokuen Garden, originally the outer garden of the Kanazawa castle.  This was an exquisite garden, reported to be one of the most beautiful in Japan.  

 

 

i was most impressed with the manicured moss, painstakingly attended by devoted staff.  

 

The trees were shaped into living sculptures, often supported by wooden beams to save them from the winter winds and snow.   

 

Kanazawa is located between the Japanese alps and the Sea of Japan, so it is known for its very rainy climate.   The winds blow from the north west (Siberia), and pictures of the winter landscape were beautiful and austere.

Kanazawa is also known for its production of gold leaf which is used in much of the Japanese decorative arts.  We visited a gold leaf workshop which was very interesting to see the process of fabricating paper thin sheets of gold.  We then went up to the classroom area and made our own gold leaf decorated chopsticks.   This will be such a nice keepsake!  

 

 

Of course, there was a gift shop with some absolutely beautiful things to buy, but difficult to bring home in one piece. 
 

In the late afternoon, we finally arrived in Kaga.  Our Ryokan was a modern building bordering a lake but done in a spare, beautiful, Japanese aesthetic.

 

Our guide instructed us in the required etiquette, including how to tie our yakuta, when and where to go shoeless, how to place our shoes in the shoe case, and how to navigate the onsen - no bathing suits allowed, birthday suits required. 
 

Our kaiseki dinner was incredible.  I lost count of the number of courses we were served.  We waddled out.  I had to remind my husband that he needed to monitor his gaping yukata.  No flashing allowed in a kaiseki dinner!  

 

 

A final note- Georges had a close encounter of the third kind!  Not with aliens, but with an alien toilet!  The Japanese are known for their wonderful Toto toilets.  They are everywhere, both in public and private venues.  They heat the seat, play music to mask unmentionable noise, and clean your nether regions.  In the ryokan, he mistook a flashing button for the flush, got spayed in the face, couldn’t turn it off and yelled for help.  I couldn’t turn it off either and the bathroom was quickly flooding.  I finally unplugged the damn thing and showed him the flush which, remarkably, looked EXACTLY like the flusher we know and love.  

Web have been in Japa n for 3 weeks and have had some “ near Today DW used a public facility and photoed a sign over the commode that stated: “Please do not stand on seat.”

 

[forgap]

Day 11 - Tokyo

 

We woke up to pouring rain which was predicted to last until the afternoon when the wind would pick up.  We took a long walk in an underground walkway from our hotel to the heart of Shinjuku.  Of course, all this was after a leisurely morning lolling around - a welcome relief after 10 days of travel.  As we exited the path to Shinjuku, of course it started to pour so we ducked into a building with shops and restaurants. Up and up we went until we happened upon a clothing store called, GU.  It seems to be associated with Uniqlo in some way and the prices were fantastic.  I signed up for a members only discount but i 

needed a lot of help as the website was in Japanese and even after filling in all the required fields, I still didn’t get my discount email code.  But, they took pity on me and I navigated the high tech check out with ease. 

 

 

We wandered a bit through the Kabukicho district is the red light district, now pink due to reform.  Still not my cup of tea.  We had sushi for lunch in a restaurant with mostly Japanese clientele.  It was good although squid sushi is somewhat like eating soft plastic. 

 

The highlight of the afternoon was encountering Godzilla .  Enjoy

 

 

[forgap]

 

Day 12  - Kamakura

 

We are now officially on our Regent pre cruise although most of our fellow travelers are still in transit or so bleary eyed that they haven’t quite surfaced yet!  
 

The day dawned bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky.  From our breakfast table on the 37th floor, Mt. Fuji courted us with her beauty.  

 

We had decided to spend the day in Kamakura which is about an hour and a half train ride from Tokyo.  We took the  hotel shuttle to Shinjuku station for a straight shot to Kamakura.  Shinjuku station is massive and we felt like salmon swimming upstream as a sizable percentage of the population of Tokyo rushed to work, school, or whatever they had planned for the day.  Our siuca cards we loaded onto our iPhones worked like a charm.  All we had to do was place it on the card reader at the gate, it recorded our entrance, then when we swiped again on exiting, it deducted the fare.  The one thing that I had not anticipated was that the trains to Kamakura are not that frequent. So we waited and waited and waited, walked around a bit, and waited some more until our train arrived.  Trains are packed in the morning but G’s age and walking stick got some respect so he was seated in short order.  

 

Kamakura is a charming town, known for many shrines, including a massive bronze Buddha.  Unfortunately, we never made it to the Diabutsu, as we went in the other direction to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shinto shrine.  It was beautiful.  

The cherry blossoms are starting to shed their petals which blankets the walkways and lakes.  

This shrine is also known for its display of peonies.  I’m sure they are all from a green house and regularly replenished as peonies are not known for their shelf life.  It was a charming walk bordering a lake with a tea house on the opposite shore and the shrine in the distance.  

 

From there we set out to see the Diabutsu.  After 30 minutes, we reached the train station and it was another 30 minutes to the site.  The line for cabs was long and we just looked at each other and bailed.  I had been to Kamakura many times as a teenager and G decided that his knees were more important than seeing another image of the Buddha.  

 

After a rest and a drink, we headed to the Tokyo Government Building for a spectacular light show projected on the side of the building.  This is the website with embedded videos of the shows on offer.  https://tokyoprojectionmappingproject.jp/en/event/20240225

 

 

 

[maryogreen]

@forgap Your wonderful posts and photos are rekindling great memories from our November cruise. I could completely relate to "obsessing" over taking the Shinkansen, which turned out to be a surprisingly easy experience. Looking forward to your continued travels and experiences on the ship!

 

Mary

The Modern Postcard