Japan

Okinawa - Japan

Famous for being attacked by the US in WW2, & now famous for an attack on me - later.

A few old US forces onboard, asking questions of the guide about where places are that are memories for them. These guides were not even born then.

I visit the Castle at Naha.

It's mostly castles I will visit in Japan....

These ladies - looking fabulous. They pose with tourists to have their photo taken. I was a mile away so no Yen for them i'm afraid..

My dad once bought me a pair of socks like that.

Lots of tourists...

Here's Don who is on an independent tour, pointing me out to his wife...

Jenny...

Inside the castle which is not like an English castle at all. It does have walls, but that's where the similarity ends..

The famous Shoji screens......

Wonderful toilets....

Lots of creative posing going on..

And a visit to the shopping district of Naha...Being Japan, there are signs like this...

It was just after I took my McDonalds photo that I was attacked on the street by an old Japanese guy.

He was very small but doing his best to throttle me or grab my camera from around my neck.

We walked up the street for a good way with me screaming at him & he screaming at me.

I scream for police - he screams for police.

The street was crowded but nobody helped. Him or me!

I come across 2 girls of the crew & ask for help to get rid of him. They suggest going into a shop. We go in and try to get he shopkeeper to call the police & then It dawns on me what his problem is.

He thinks I have taken a photo of him.

After I show him the pictures on the camera & he is not on any, he calms down.

I calm down & we part.

2 minutes later he is trying to throttle a young Japanese guy.

I move on..

And into a covered market.

Easy to get lost in here, which I nearly did. Unfortunately, I missed the food court.

Then back to the ship.

Now in Kobe, famous for it's beef but at 100 dollars for a steak, I pass.

The band is out to greet us as we are the first cruise ship of the season..

and maybe Miss Kobe 2013...

Tour guides in Japan were very appreciative of our visiting Japan. They need the money of course, but said we are brave for coming. We are miles away from the Tsunami damage & Nuclear meltdown so I do not consider myself brave.

I was in Vietnam when the 2011 Tsunami hit Japan & luckily it did not affect us there.

Driving through Kobe...

I am heading to Osaka castle but call into a temple on the way. Much simpler in design than the temples we have been seeing..

Some great art pieces...

& then to Osaka castle. Nice curved walls..

A lone player on the ramparts....Japanese version of the bagpipes..

The guide was telling a story about this wall but I was not paying attention.

I got to the top of the castle and this is the view down...

Notice the crane coming into land on the tree??

& perched in the tree...

Osaka castle is famous in the series & book - Shogun. Great book. I have read it several times. Richard Chamberlain was in the series. Baki, my friend in Hawaii is a friend of him.

Samuarai feature a lot...

Back to Kobe.. I bump into Jenny & Don in the shopping mall by the ship & we see this amazing see-through wedding dress in a shop window.

Jenny buys some great looking leather shoes for a really good price - like 35 dollars. Later in Japan I hear that these shoes are called 'Chemical shoes'. Not real leather. Nice though.

Our ship...

From the ship there was a nice light show going on in the shopping mall opposite..I sat in the bar on board watching it for quite a while..

I think this might be a seamen's chapel, looking very serene

Still parked in Kobe, I head to Kyoto & the Golden Pavilion....

Passing through Kobe...

You have to look closely, but you can just make out this girl has a youngster in the shopping basket on the front of her bike...

It is quite common here but I failed to get a good photo of it.

a quick glimpse of a Kimono clad lady..

And we arrive at the very aptly named - Golden Pavillion..

and it's gardens..

I break away from my group to get served tea by this girl

These girls are also enjoying some tea..

& then move on to Kyoto castle...

These people are looking under the building at how the Nightingale floor is 'sprung' so as to make a noise whenever someone walks across it. An early warning system of sculduggery in the court.

No photos were allowed indoors. Too bad

These are girls are students who are celebrating their graduation by renting Kimonos & touring the castle. A popular thing to do apparently. They seem quite happy to pose for lots of tourists taking their photos.

Then it's passing street life on the way back towards Kobe

these ladies may dress like this for real..

must be time for dinner...

Now moved on the Hiroshima...

.......where there was just about nothing left at the end of WW2.

Maybe just the RO on the embankment like there is now...

& I now know that Hiroshima is pronounced Hiroshima & not Hiroshima or can be pronounced either way it seems.

Confused??

But I will not be spending any time outside the bus in the City.

I am heading to a ferry to go to Itsukushima more commonly known as Mayajima island - Isle of Shrines.

We pass these Oyster beds.....

.....waiting for the ferry, it's a tad chilly.

The Torii gate from the ferry... you will be heartily sick of photos of this in a while, but I make no apologies.

Wild deer roam the streets of the small village...

This is Zora? .She is the tour leader for a university alumni group on board. Quite the job.

Zora again... She was very pleasant

More deer...

& this is possibly Japan's most famous Shrine - iksushima.

There are plenty more on the island which is bigger than I realised & I saw only a fraction.

the Torii gate leading to the shrine...

And this classic shot of the Tori - gate.. Pity the tide was not fully in, but still a nice shot.

Lot's of posing as per usual....

Bags of rice...

Zora making friends...

A walk through the village.

Check out the little girl in the foreground.. Quite the outfit.

Along the street I tried Baked Oysters, Octopus & leek rolled in something, Rice cake wrapped in seaweed & some really nice ice cream with a lime sauce.

School kids out for the day...

and the ferry back towards Hiroshima....

...where we were not scheduled to go here, but the guide made a detour so we could get a shot of the only building left standing after the bomb dropped.

We were scheduled to be in Hiroshima til 6:00 pm & this tour to end at 1:00 so I had organised a walk around Hiroshima for a couple of hours starting at 2:00. It was with a 76 year old retired Architecture professor named Yoshi. The group he belongs to offer free tours in Japan. You just pay the guides expenses so that they are not out of pocket.The night before arriving in Hiroshima I was playing roulette in the casino on board & mentioned my schedule for the next day to the croupier. She told me I would not be doing all of that as we set sail at 2:00. Somewhere along the way the ships schedule had been changed. I was unable to contact Yoshi from the ship as the Japanese do not allow the ships Internet to work in their waters.

Anyway - I never did get to meet him. We have been E mailing a lot since I got home. Shame I missed him & his wife.

Our guide. Quite the chatterbox...

A nice touch on the dock as we left was the local tourist board broke open a barrel of Saki & gave away paper cups full. Cold Saki - usually it's hot. Not to my liking as a rule but this was excellent. I went back for seconds.

Here the boat is in the Inland sea. A really nice stretch of water to sail through, a lot of which we did at night.

So - that's it for Japan. My reason for this particular cruise was to visit Japan & it was not a disappointment. Just a little bit too early to see the Cherry blossoms. It was not available when I booked this cruise but I see Princess now offers some really interesting looking cruises in Japan. Yoshi & Yushiko will be on one in July with 6 or 7 stops in Japan from Tokyo plus one stop in Russia. Maybe next year.

I won 200 dollars on the roulette. Jenny & I were playing & the croupier gave Don a roasting for taking our photo. A big no-no in casinos.