When I awoke the electricity was still off. Confused, I called the desk and learned the following; there is a switch just inside the door labeled MS, the switch controls current in the room, I hit the switch by mistake when I entered the room last night and tried to turn on the lights, and I really didn’t need the lights at all. My New Zealand Hotel had a similar system. I had to insert my room key in a slot to get power. They are interesting power saving techniques that we may see in newer hotels here at home. [View Full Entry]

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Adventures in Japan. I disembarked at 8:30 am and taxied to the Hotel Okura Kobe. Rick, it was a great choice. Thank your friend for the recommendation. The hotel overlooks the port and caters to Japanese businesspeople. Since it was way to early to check in, I asked about tours. Unfortunately the tours were in Japanese. So I decided to visit Osaka Castle of Shogun fame. The desk provided detailed directions in English and I checked my bags and set off. The hotel shuttle dropped me off at the Sannomiya station where I bought a ticket and headed to the platform. [View Full Entry]

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Impressions of Japan This past week I have visited Naha, Okinawa, Nagasaki, sailed the Inland Sea and explored Kobe and Osaka. The Japanese are the most polite people I have ever encountered. They bow to each other, when getting off the bus, when shopping, when greeting one another on the street or in the hotel. The port Police salute each other. When a Japanese woman or man helped me or waited on me or answered my questions their eyes smiled as well as their mouth. The only unfriendly folks were the taxi drivers and one “took me for a ride” just [View Full Entry]

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Obviously, the visit of the Statendam to Nagasaki on her WWII cruise is a big deal. Representatives of the local TV stations greeted us and passengers are being interviewed as the leave the ship. This evening a representative of the Prefecture Governor’s office will make an appearance. Nagasaki has been an important port of trade from the time Portuguese merchants landed in 1543. As we enter the harbor we pass an LNG tanker. Oil tankers are unloading their cargo on a small island at the mouth of the harbor. Along the shore are tank farms, then dry docks of all sizes [View Full Entry]

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Arrived here yesterday after a great adventure in Japan. Will post details later. Would love to go back and explore further. Hope you are all well. Now it's time to explore Honolulu. CAL [View Full Entry]

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March 21-25 We are having a day at sea and what a day it is. Since last night we have been tossing and turning in high seas and gale force winds. The barf bags are out, the women are in flats and we hang onto the rails whenever we are moving about. The stabilizers are out. The sea is rough with 7-12’ swells though the wind is 22 knots. I am on the lowest passenger deck. The crew quarters are one deck down. I am certain that the waves are crashing on the crew portholes as the foam is drenching my [View Full Entry]

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The Okinawa Peace Memorial Museum is located on the southern tip of the island. In 1945 the bloodiest battle in the Pacific began. It started with 90 consecutive days of bombing a “typhoon of steel” that disfigured mountains; leveled cities, destroyed the cultural and changed the topography forever. The Japanese military had sent large forces to fight a battle of attrition to gain time to fortify the Japanese mainland. Civilians were conscripted and the propaganda machine continued to tell of barbaric treatment if one was captured by the Americans. One particularly tragic consequence is fathers killing their daughters to spare [View Full Entry]

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Once the immigration process is complete we are on our way an hour late. The day is sunny and the temperature is 64. It is a perfect day for touring. Our guide is Hatsuea (call me Sue). Sue speaks English fluently and appears to love what she does which makes our day quite wonderful. She is assisted by Nana. Nana is about 4’8” and weighs about 85 lbs. Her duty is to insure the group stays together and the count is right. Her English is limited but her smiles are not. We take to calling her “our sheep dog” as at [View Full Entry]

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We approach Iwo Jima just after dawn. The peak of Mt. Suribachi rises from the sea. The weather is appropriately cloudy with rain predicted later in the day. Pads of whales greet us both port and starboard. As we sail closer, the rest of the island appears looking like a flat plain to the east. But that is an illusion. The island has terraced ridges in the east, is flat in the middle with Mt. Suribachi on the West. It is currently a military base for the Japanese and we were lucky to receive permission to cruise within five miles of [View Full Entry]

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There is very little native forest left in Saipan for the same reason that Guam is covered by introduced species. What little is left is conserved and allowed to thrive. We took a short walk down a trail and heard birdsong, saw butterflies. Before the war, Japan had possession of Saipan for many years. The population spoke Japanese and many Japanese nationals lived here. During the war, the Japanese propaganda machine convinced the inhabitants that the Americans were evil captors who would rape the women, butcher and torture the men and children. Despite leaflets dropped during the invasion, many, many families [View Full Entry]

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