Random thoughts from the sea
Day 34, 2024 Majestic Japan Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024; Naha, Okinawa, Japan As much as I like discovering new places, there is something comforting about returning to familiar ports. Today’s stop in Naha, on the island of Okinawa, was just one of those days, combining a new experience with a
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Day 33, 2024 Majestic Japan Friday, Oct. 4, 2024; Ishigaki, Japan The beauty of Ishigaki lies north on the island at Kabira Bay, “where on a sunny day the blue, turquoise and emerald-green water contrasts against the white sand beaches.” At least, that’s what I wrote last February when we
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Day 31, 2024 Majestic Japan Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024; Nagasaki, Japan Today was the second of our visits to historic atomic bomb sites in Japan. The tour this morning in Nagasaki went to this city’s Atomic Bomb Museum, the nearby hypocenter (ground zero) and Peace Park. In many ways, the
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Days 28-29, 2024 Majestic Japan Sunday and Monday, Sept. 29-30, 2024; Toyama and Kawazawa, Japan Japan has its share of large cities, and we visited several of them on this cruise. Now that we are on the north coast of Honshu, the ports are still cities, but small enough that
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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
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Day 25, 2024 Majestic Japan Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024; Hiroshima, Japan In early 2023, as I considered booking this Westerdam cruise, I also considered a voyage to Japan on Holland America’s Noordam. Each cruise had its advantages over the other, but the deciding factor was the Westerdam’s itinerary, and more
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Day 24, 2024 Majestic Japan Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024; Kochi, Japan Bragging rights to the largest cities by population in the world can depend on just how you define a city (city proper, urban area, metropolitan area, etc.) Regardless, Tokyo is likely to top the list, with an estimated 37
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Day 23, 2024 Majestic Japan Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024; Osaka, Japan An hour isn’t long enough to sketch and paint a castle – at least not for me. But an hour of free time was all my shore excursion to the Osaka Castle gave me. By skipping the tour of
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Day 20, 2024 Majestic Japan Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024; Yokohama, Japan When I sent my cold weather clothes out for cleaning a few days ago, I requested they be returned folded so they could go straight into my suitcase. The Alaska temperatures in the 40s and 50s are a distant
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Day 17, 2024 Majestic Japan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024; Hakodate, Japan When I am painting on site, I can almost fall into a trance, barely aware of what is happening around me. Today, a Japanese man broke through, offering to airdrop to me a photo he just took as I
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