Osaka bound

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<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday 16^th March 2012:

Not much to say about today really other than dossing, dozing and dodging indoors to hide from the cold. OK, it’s not exactly cold at 21.5º but when you’ve been used to over 30º, 21º feels cold by comparison. It’s been a very lazy day with a lecture this morning about the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth – the original great liners from the 1930s. Then we saw a show in the planetarium which can give you neck ache but also a very interesting half hour. We sat in the wonderful library on board for a couple of hours this afternoon browsing some lovely books. And then we went to the cinema this evening for the film The Last Emperor. It was long at just over 2½ hours but beautifully filmed and quite thought provoking. I wonder how different the world would be now if he had managed to retain his crown? Actually, I also wonder how different it would have been if the dialogue hadn’t been interrupted for a few minutes for an announcement about the power problems in the theatre, which meant no show there tonight?

We met with Japanese immigration officials this afternoon – they insist on a face-to-face check of all the passengers – and we had our fingerprints taken, our official looking forms checked, our pictures taken (again), and then we were issued with passes which we must use instead of our passports when we go ashore in Japan in a couple of days’ time. Thank goodness for red tape, providing employment for so many. At least they were efficient and polite (unlike some of the crew), and they got to sail with us for a couple of days on a jolly.

Tomorrow was due to be a full day at sea but because we didn’t land on Saipan, we’re getting to Osaka in Japan earlier than expected. We should dock there tomorrow evening, although it’s likely to be very late in the evening, so it’ll be too late to go sightseeing.

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