Beautiful Garden, Delicious Dinner Visit by Iron Chef Morimoto

Day 27, 2024 Majestic Japan

Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024; Sakaiminato, Japan

It’s not often dinner is the highlight of my day on a cruise ship, especially with the variety of ports we visit. But tonight was special, as not only did I eat with good friends, but Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto himself stopped by our table to chat.

Chef Morimoto is Holland America’s “fresh fish ambassador” and the creator behind the Morimoto By Sea specialty restaurant on the larger Nieuw Amsterdam. The other Holland America Line ships usually offer a Morimoto By Sea pop-up dinner, and I got word through social media that Chef Morimoto would be on the Majestic Japan cruise for ours, so I booked a table early.

He makes his home in Hiroshima, so Chef Morimoto joined the ship there. Earlier this afternoon, he took to the World Theater stage to break down a 150-pound tuna, which was served in the dining room.

Tonight I had one of my best meals on board the ship in his pop-up restaurant – pork gyoza (dumplings) as a starter and Angry Lobster Pad Thai for my main course. The “dark chocolate sphere” dessert was wasted on me, as I could only eat a couple of bites.

Earlier today we arrived in Sakaiminato, the first of three port calls on the northern coast of Honshu, Japan’s largest island. The Sea of Japan separates us from Russia, North Korea and South Korea. (I am a bit disappointed we didn’t stop at the latter on this cruise, as I have yet to visit the country, although my luggage did in 2020.)

I only mention North Korea because we passed by a mountaintop radar installation that our guide says is monitoring the sky for North Korean missiles. I guess I’ve never been closer.

When planning for these new-to-me ports, I had no idea of whether I could easy explore them on my own. My good friend Joyce visited some earlier this year, and I read a few other blogs and posts about them. But after poring over street maps and guides, I decided to book shore excursions. These days, you sometimes need to do that well in advance, as they fill up.

We usually have until 48 hours before the tour to cancel, and as we received excellent notices on this cruise about the availability of complementary shuttle buses, I reviewed my choices again but stuck with them. I deliberately chose excursions that would take me out of town to see the countryside, and in retrospect it was a good decision.

September is not the ideal season to visit a flower park, especially in a country known for its stunning spring cherry blossoms. But I’m here now, so I took advantage of visiting the Tottori Hanakairo, Japan’s largest flower park, near Sakaiminato. They did a fine job of highlighting fall flowers, especially with Mount Daisen in the background.

The park is spread over a wide area, but much of it encircles a geodesic dome. I ventured to the Flower Valley, which pays homage to the Netherlands’ Kuekenhof garden. Of course, it’s not tulip season, but it was a pretty area nonetheless.

Perhaps the highlight of my visit was a scoop of soft-serve ice cream, made with Tottori’s Nijisseiko Pear.

I took lots of photos, but chose not to sketch. Flowers are a whole sketching specialty, which I have tried in previous gardens. I’m sure I would get better if I practiced more, but I don’t think I would have been successful with just my travel kit. Flowers need details best painted with real brushes, not the water brushes I use on site.

I did pick up some ideas for Halloween garden decorating that I will pass on to my sisters.

Next, we stopped at Kotobuki (Candy) Castle to sample a variety of sweet and not-so-sweet treats – each of which was available for purchase. The building is fashioned after the ancient Yanago Castle, which now is in ruins. I left with small packages of pear and blueberry gelatin, an interesting treat you suck out of a plastic pouch.

On the way back to the ship we drove along a street lined with small bronze statues of ghosts and monsters that appear in stories by Shigeru Mizuki, a manga artist from Sakaiminato. I regretted that we just drove by and didn’t have time to stop, even though I’m not up on my Japanese yōkai manga. My nephews might have been impressed with my visit, though.