Back in Japan

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2023_Blog 31_Japan



April 20 Port of Call: Otaru, Japan – Weather: Overcast with a chance of rain. - 54°F/12°C - Wind: 1.9 mph.



After our one-day visit to Busan, South Korea, we are back in Japan and have to have a face-to-face inspection once again by the Japanese Immigration Officers. Early, 6:00 am, yesterday morning we lined up to draw numbered tickets which corresponded to the time slots allocated for the inspection. I have to give high marks to the crew for their organizational skills in channeling 1,900 guest and crew through the process in just over 5 hours. Now if they could only direct that level of efficiency to their shore excursions.

Crew safety exercises have been conducted throughout the cruise and today was no exception. Junior officers had to launch one of the rescue craft and do a simulated “Man Overboard” rescue. We watched them from our balcony scooting around the harbor. They were fully engaged in that exercise while sou chefs and other galley staff were learning how to launch one of the inflatable life rafts. The lifeboats are allocated to the guest while the life rafts are for the crew.

Otaru is another of the ports where shore excursions were in limited supply, so we opted to take ourselves ashore on a self-guided walking tour to the downtown area. Along the way we encountered: a large flock of seagulls, the most we have seen all cruise, a steam powered clock and a small carillon. One of Otaru’s claim to fame is their fancy glassware production. There were countless shops lining the streets offering all manners of glassware.

Today was an early sailing time so we cut our exploration of the shopping district short and returned to the ship. On the way we were passed by several vans blaring messages for different candidates in the upcoming local elections

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