“Better to see something once, than to hear about it a thousand times” Asian Proverb

Tonight is October 16th and we are enroute to Shimizu, Japan.  We spent two days in Yokohama which is the port city for Tokyo.  We had a tour each day we were here; one a private tour that we found out about from the Cruise Critic roll call site for this cruise and one from Holland America.  When we docked her on Sunday the weather on our daily program said “Chance of Rain”....well, it really should have just said “RAIN”!  That is what we have had steadily for two days.  Our Sunday tour took us to shrines, Asakusa, Tokyo Tower, Odaibo which means artificial islands (shopping area) to a traditional Japanese restaurant where we had lunch, and to a ride down the Sumida River. We toured the Hamarikyu Gardens which is home to the 300 year old pine. The Pine was planted to commemorate Great renovations made by the 6th shogun, Ienobu. The garden now is a family garden of Tokugawa Shogun and functioned as an outer fort for the Edo castle.  Tidal ponds of seawater flow in and out of the area.  At one time it was known as a beach palace for the shogun that ruled. There is a water bus landing here also that follows the Sumida river.  All along the river are lock gates that control the flow of the tides. Salt water fish such as sea bass, striped mullet, goby, and eel inhabit the ponds. As you travel the river you will see 14 bridges that span it. In the spring the gardens fill the visual senses with peonies and rape blossoms: in the fall there are large masses of cosmos.  Close by you can enter the very busy and expensive Ginza shopping district. 

The photos for the last two days are rather grey and dreary looking because that really was experience.  There are over 13 million people in Tokyo and it is evident everywhere you go.  The city and the port area is layer upon layer of apartment complexes.  The areas are clean but not really beautiful if you ask me.  The parks and gardens we saw were very small and at this time of year rather bleak.  We dodged puddles and wet areas everywhere.  It was a challenge to dodge all the umbrellas!  I gave up on carrying an umbrella because pulling up your jacket hood was so much easier.  It also took quite a bit of focus to follow our tour guide and keep up.  It seemed like everyone was out on Sunday paying homage to the shrines or dressing in their beautiful kimono’s to wander about the shrines and gardens having their photo’s taken or just entertaining all the tourists with their traditional dress.  Our guides both days gave us information coming and going almost to the point of tiring us.  For Dan and I we would not return to Toyko...just too many people and really not that much that interested us.  Shopping seems to be big here and so are the prices!  Sunday our tour began at 9 and it was almost 7 pm before we returned to the ship.  They took us to several shopping areas which just wasn’t all that exciting for us.  One of the big things people looked for were the different flavors of the KitKat bars.  We finally found the green tea variety and we didn’t care at all for the flavor.  One tour guide told us that their biggest holidays for sweets is Valentine’s Day and Christmas which is similar to ours but one thing that makes theirs different is that women receive ONLY chocolates on Valentine’s Day; a month later men then are treated to chocolate by women.  At Christmas the biggest sweet thing they have is a decorated cake that typically they buy.  The love having fresh strawberries on the cake which at this time of year is very expensive.  They never have turkey in Japan but their meal is typically chicken.  They still often have rice three times a day and many mothers will cook a very large pot of rice once a week and then freeze portion sizes for later in the week which is much easier for them.  More women are working in Japan and fewer are marrying or becoming mothers.  They actually have lowered the voting, drinking and smoking age from 20 to 18 because they need more voters!  The mayor of Japan is a woman which is very unusual but she is very respected and supported by almost 80% of the population.  She asked people to wear green to show their support for her...everyone took to the stores to find green apparel and soon nothing green could be found!  So then they went to green vegetables that they would purchase and again all the green vegetables were hard to find!  They say she is so loved and respected that they expect her to easily move up the ranks to the next level of authority.  

We were educated about bowing in Japan also and told that for most people a simple nod is the most appropriate response given to others.  

I included a few photos of things the ship provides us when we get to a port.  They easily exchange our currency for the currency of whatever port we are in; each night before a new port they provide us with a small card that has typical sayings, has the currency exchange rate and also provides other usual information for that area.  Often times a free shuttle bus is provided by the city or the port taking passengers easily into town.  

Another interesting fact about Japan is that only 1% of the population is Christian.  The rest are Buddhists or Shinto’s.  But they love to celebrate Christmas and Halloween.  The average age for women getting married is 39 and men is 32.  

We are looking forward to a bit warmer temperatures and less rain.  We will be on our own tomorrow with no specific tour.  Our day there is a short one docking at 8 and leaving by 3.  

Our card for this port

Waterways are everywhere

One of the few gardens with few flowers

Our Sumida River cruise which was more like basic transportation 

Colorful billboards and advertising are everywhere

You can rent a kimono!! It can be very expensive to purchase the traditional hand sewn silk ones. 

Umbrellas everywhere!!

It was the thing to do on Sunday to wear your traditional dress in the gardens and around the shrines to be purified and make your wishes known. 

If you get a bad fortune you tie it to a rack!

Buddah’s are everywhere and its important to notice the position of their hands.  Most of them are holding their hands in a thoughtful gesture contemplating what they will say to you. 

Huge pots in the shrines carry the aromas of incense which seems to relate to good luck when you place your incense stick in the fire. The Japanese  are very superstitious. 

This was our traditional meal.  We had to remove out shoes and sit on cushions with our feet hanging down under the table.  The meal was raw fish (sashimi) miso soup,  tea, bean sprouts, sticky rice, fish soup, an egg pudding and radish pickles.   Not very tasty :(

We will give it a try!

Some of the Shoguns at the temples.
This was the giant Buddha is Kamakura

The toilets in Japan are so unusual!   This one  has a place for you to place your child while the mother uses the bathroom so the child doesn’t get  into trouble

A  purifying water station by the shrine. 

Notice the  most important caption on the map





Notice the sign on the ship as we board today. !   The other photos were the long walkways to the shrine in Kamakura and the huge lily pads in the ponds.