I Am A Celebrity!: June 2024

Sunday, June 30, 2024

Cruising in Japan - Sakata (Don't do what we did)

WE LEARN something new on almost every cruise. This time it was: "don't believe everything you read," and "when in doubt, go ashore." Partly because of the last-minute re-scheduling by the cruise line, and partly because of our own lack of diligence in pre-cruise planning, we arrived at Sakata with zero plans. For only the second time ever, we did not get off the ship. We had tried but could not get on any of the ship-based excursions and were not able to find any independent ones. Others from our group were more successful, and reported that while not their best shore excursion, it was satisfactory.

When in doubt, go ashore

MY NEW friend, Frank, pointed out a site I wanted to go see and had tentatively decided to seek out and visit: The Ken Domon Museum of Photography. When I found it online, it was officially advertised to be closed on Mondays! Bummer. I also - after the fact - discovered a cool spot to have walked and photographed: The Sankyo-Soko Rice Storehouses. These are a series of old, weathered buildings that were at one time storehouses for rice. Today, at least one of them houses the historical Museum of Shonai Rice. From what I have seen they are very photogenic.

THIS IS why I say in not to do what we did. At the very least, we should have gotten off the ship and done a bit of walking/sightseeing. It was cool that day and the weather seemed unsettled. We had not found (at the time) anything we thought was compelling to see on shore (that was open). It turns out, however, that (maybe they do it specifically for cruise days) the Ken Domon Museum was open (Frank visited it on his ship-based tour and was kind enough to bring back some literature for me).

TO GET to either of these sites (museum and/or rice storehouses) would probably have meant more than some strolling. The storehouses were over 2 miles from the cruise port and the museum nearly 3 miles. A taxi would have worked, though. Still, at just around 100,000 inhabitants, it is not a large city. Should have. Could have. If you go, get off the ship. I will if there is a next time. In the great scheme of things, it was nice to have quiet, relaxing day aboard, with a small number of passengers.

I HAD to satisfy myself with pictures of the port. What makes this port unique from the others we had been into was the presence of the large, snow-covered mountain (Mt. Chokai) as a backdrop. It also has a much more rural and less developed look.

Mt. Chokai - From HAL Westerdam - Sakata, Japan
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

NOR WAS Sakata to be outdone with its welcome ceremonies down on the dock. Once again, we were treated to colorful dancers, drumming and chants from local performers - it appears - of all ages.

Sunday, June 23, 2024

Cruising in Japan - Kanazawa

FROM SOKCHO we sailed the 400 miles back across the Sea of Japan, back to the Japanese main island, and the town of Kanazawa. This voyage included one of our "at sea" days. The weather was a bit cooler on the Sea of Japan side of the island, and windy, so not our best at sea day. Kanazawa is on the southwesterly side of the Honshu coast, nearly 200 miles northwest from Tokyo.

KANAZAWA WAS one of the stops where we arranged for a private driver. Their literature emphasized that he was a driver-only and not a registered tour guide. Nonethless, we thought he did a great job taking us to some of the high points, including Kenrokuen Garden, at the gateway to the Kanazawa Castle ruins.

UNFORTUNATELY, OUR stop in Kanazawa was on Sunday, and some of the attractions, like the marketplace, were not open. We also learned that (even though the Cruise Line's rather dissembling sales pitch was something like "see authentic Geisha girls in the "Geisha district,") that there really wasn't an opportunity to see that anymore. There are in actuality, 3 different districts where these Japanese dancing girls perform in tea houses in Kanazawa. However, these days, they are only open on certain evenings and only to select clientele. No sure what the latter means, but pretty sure we weren't "select." The culture surrounding the Geisha is somewhat secretive. They are known to be highly trained artists and performers. They are not "ladies of the evening" as some ignorant of the culture may have once believed (and perhaps ruined the experience for others to enjoy).

ACCORDING TO Japan-Guide.com: "Kanazawa's unchallenged main attraction is Kenrokuen, one of Japan's "three best landscape gardens" and by many considered the most beautiful of them all."

BEING, IN all probability, the highlight of our stop, Kenrokuen was our first stop on the tour. In my LightCentricPhotography Blog, I highlight this special garden with its own post, in much more detail and with many more photographs. Noted by many sources of one of Japan's 3 best such gardens, Kenrokuen sits just outside the gate of the Kanazawa Castle ruin site. Originally developed more than 700 years ago by a Samurai Daimyo, it is impressive. There is a large pond, many lanterns, and a few bridges, among some very mature, old trees, and shrubs. My pre-cruise research suggested that it would be the best garden we would see, so I was looking forward to it. As much as I did like it, I am not sure I agree about the "best" thing. Very good, but not really better than the others we saw while in Japan.

KANAZAWA CASTLE has its own interesting history. It burned nearly completely two different times (1631 and 1759). The first time, it was restored. Following the second time, it was not, but the remains of the storehouse - which looks like it should - a part of a castle, remains. The approach is probably more dramatic than the actual thing. As you enter the gates, you are anticipating something more than what you actually see. Still, it is a pretty impressive sight.

THERE IS a certain amount of exaggeration in the flowery claims of the cruise line literature about what awaits the visitor to each of these ports. I have always leaned toward setting realistic expectations in hopes of exceeding them. This is an area (and I have certainly stated this before - see, for example, my comments on reaching cities like Florence and Piza from the port of La Spezia) where I think that though they may think they are engaging in hyperbole, they are really just being disingenuous. Regarding the "Geisha District," our driver told us that there was really nothing more than the architecture to see there.

INSTEAD, HE took us directly to the old Samurai Village. That was a good use of our time, and as we walked the small streets of the village, it was pretty easy to see how this village at the base of the Kanazawa Castle might have been centuries ago.

NEAR ONE of the entrances to the village, there is an old Samurai home. Visitors may enter and walk through the home, seeing many old tools and artifacts used by the typical Samurai occupant. There is also a nice restaurant, and a couple shops that have been made to nicely blend in with the style of the village.

AT SOME point following the first great Kanazawa fire in 1631, a canal was dug from the mountains, through the village, bringing water to the castle. Dug at a constant slope, the water moves rather quickly along the canal.

ONE OF the things we had asked our tour company to provide was the ability to do some sake tasting. Sunday, of course, nearly thwarted that request, but our driver found a shop where we could at least look and perhaps buy sake, and even though they were not technically doing tours or tastings (which, we learned, were by appointment only), the young woman who conducted the tastings happened to be there, and very graciously offered to do a short tasting for us (we would get the opportunity to tour a sake distillery later in the week). It was very interesting. Not huge wine drinkers, it was fun to get a feel for the different flavors and processes that created them. It was a nice ending to the day in Kanazawa.

Sunday, June 16, 2024

Cruising in Japan - Sokcho, South Korea

WAIT WHAT? South Korea! Why would I include a blog about South Korea in a series about our cruise around Japan? Because we "stopped" there. 😎 Sort of. If you look at a map, it is well over 300 miles all the way across the Sea of Japan from Fukuoka to Sokcho, and probably less than that to just continue northeast around the Japanese Island. While I cannot authoritatively explain this, I think much of it has to do with maritime laws, fees and penalties, rather than a burning desire for HAL to add one, single stop in South Korea. My research didn't unearth a "straight" answer, but I do know that the U.S. "Jones Act " and certain related laws exact a heavy penalty on a non-U.S. flagged ship with a majority of non-U.S. citizens as crew members, if they go from U.S. port to U.S. port. I guess until somebody smarter than me enlightens me, I will go with the thought that the same may hold true for the Japanese cruise. For whatever reason, it is my understanding that during the cruise embarking from and terminating in Japan, the ship must make at least one port that is not in Japan. Previous cruises actually stopped in Busan South Korea. Recently that port changed to Sokcho. That may well be a good thing, going forward. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this city on the border between South and North Korea.

SOKCHO's POPULATION is right around 80,000 (the geographical area). That's not huge, and the city itself felt very compact. It is apparently a popular tourist hub for Korea, and that is probably mostly on account of its nice beaches, and surrounding mountains and natural resources. Before becoming a major Korean port, Sokcho was a small, fishing village. It is also - I think significantly - the closest city to the border between North Korea and South Korea, along the coast.

THAT MEANS, of course, that it is also very close to the DMZ. I suppose there is a certain "pilgrimage" to that part of the country. I wanted to go, but there were no tours left by the time we got around to signing up. Instead, we got a nice tour of the small city, with a few of its landmarks.

I HAVE said before that one of the high points of any cruise for me is the ability to photograph from the top deck of the cruise ship. This is nowhere truer than in the various ports we visit around the world. A favorite activity for me is to be out on the deck as we enter a port (assuming it is daylight). I also love to photograph a sunset at or before the sail away, or if we are already in darkness, nighttime images of the port and city.

Tour Buses, staged and waiting
Cruise Port - Sokcho, S. Korea - Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

SOKCHO IS no exception, and it was actually probably my favorite photographic port of the entire cruise. Not only was there a nice harbor area with the city in the background, but on one end, there was Sokcho's iconic and photogenic lighthouse, and at the other, the ubiquitous Ferris wheel. They make nice points of interest, and I knew that we would be in port after dark. While the daytime pictures were nice, I looked forward to making some nighttime images, before we pulled away. Like most of our other ports so far, there was a contingent of local performers there to greet us as we docked. They would also be there to bid us farewell later that evening.

Seolak Bridge (main span over the Lagoon Channel) - Sokcho Port
Sokcho, S. Korea - Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

ONE UNIQUE feature of the Sokcho Port is the twin bridges that cross canals into one of the two lakes for which Sokcho was once noted for its proximity - as a fishing village. There are two spans: one at the main channel into the lagoon and a second span to the north, crossing a second channel into the lagoon. The daytime color of the primary bridge is red. The second span is blue. At night, that changes, especially in the most prominent, main span. A couple Decembers back, I photographed one of the primary bridges into Tampa, Florida at night, and was very much taken by the changing colors of the bridge. The Sokcho Bridge had the same characteristic (as did the Ferris wheel), and it nice to have enough time before sailing away, to be able to wait to record the different colored scenes.

ON SHORE, there were a couple of interesting sites, including a pier out to a traditionally designed and decorated gazebo, with a nice view to the Sokcho Light.

AFTER WANDERING the street for a few minutes after seeing the light, we re-boarded the bus and headed for Sokcho's Municipal Museum and (replica) Village for Displaced Citizens. As always, I found the bright colors used in advertising and signage in the retail areas throughout Asia interesting to my photographic eye. While less oriented to cartoon and digital cartoonery than in Japan, the Koreans still make use of large graphics and graphic models in their displays. We saw this everywhere we went - along with the accompanying bright colors.

WE LEARNED from our guide that at one time a substantial majority of the population of Sokcho were displaced North Korean citizens. While they probably no longer make up the majority, Sokcho's inhabitants are often descendants of their North Korean ancestors, and the city is still very much influenced by North Korean culture including food, architecture, and other things. The Municipal Museum's, interior was kind of "ho-hum." I did find the traditional Korean structures in the "village" interesting. These were presumably housing for North Korean refuges for many years after the separation of the country into north and south. Though originally designated as part of the south, Sokcho was briefly captured by North Korea and became part of the north. Shortly, however, the South Koreans recaptured it, and it has remained part of the sovereign territory of South Korea since then.

Sokcho Municipal Museum - Displaced Citizen Replica Village
Sokcho, S. Korea - Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

WE ALSO were treated to one of the seemingly omnipresent drumming ceremonies. We had good seats and it was fun to watch. The "dancers?" were very athletic. I made a few pictures, but not was as interesting to me as the closeup here. The dancer was signaling us that he was having trouble hearing our enthusiastic applause. 😀

WE FINISHED our day with a stop for about an hour in the city marketplace. Like many of these places, it was very crowded. For our part, we did a quick walk-through and went in search of an ATM machine. We had a difficulty finding one, and difficulty getting any help, as English did not appear to be widely spoken and our Korean was non-existent. :-). We wanted to get some Korean currency to tip our guide. In the end, she was happy enough to accept our U.S. dollars.

WHEN I first started writing this blog, I promised the occasional (sometimes funny) story, or anecdote. This one is not - on its own at least - all that interesting or humorous. With the accompanying photo, however, it becomes mildly funny. Good enough to tell, I guess. I think I may have mentioned here (or in a recent post about this cruise) that this was only the HAL Westerdam's second stop in Sokcho. Even though our guide was a Korean citizen (interestingly, originally from North Korea), the city was relatively new to her. Before she took us into the market, she stopped us at an intersection on one of the main streets, and pointed out a coffee shop (which, it turns out, was part of a chain, so they were on multiple intersections, as we discovered later) as our meeting point to re-board the bus. Once we were in the marketplace, her directions upon leaving were not crystal clear, and our group ended up in two separate groups, one which found their way back to the original meet point; and us :-) a group who thought we had followed her directions. Fortunately for us, we ran into her on the street, but she seemed to be a bit lost herself. She communicated with the bus driver and asked us to stay where we were. She then left in search of the other half of the group. The image below is made from across the street where we eventually waited for the bus to "rescue" us. While there was some consternation from some of our group, it all ended well.

Somewhere near the Sokcho Tourist Market - just follow the cross-walk :-)
Sokcho, South Korea - Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

BACK ON board, we took a couple hours to rest (in my case, smoke a cigar on the back deck), and get ready for dinner. We did not pull away from Sokcho until 10:00 p.m., which gave me yet another opportunity to take my camera and tripod out on deck and try my hand at some more nighttime photographs.

AS I mentioned earlier, this was one of the best ports we visited in terms of its photogenic potential. I took as full advantage as I could. As we sailed away, I thought about our one and only stop in South Korea. I enjoyed it and would have loved to travel again to South Korea one day. For now, this would have to suffice as our only visit to a new country on this trip.

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Cruising in Japan: Fukuoka (Hakata) and the Kanmon Strait

I WILL cover two days of cruising in this post. After leaving Kochi, we would have a full day at sea - though the cruise line calls it (euphemistically?) "cruising the Kanmon Strait." We were originally to arrive early in the morning, but still have an overnight at Fukuoka. Instead, we arrived at Fukuoka in the late afternoon at the end of that "at sea" day. That was all good. Once we got into the protected waters of the narrow strait, the sun shone, and the breeze was nominal. A great day to spend cruising, and I spent much of it in my customary spot on the back in the cigar area.

IN THE 10-plus years we have cruised (25 some-odd cruises), there have been times when the schedules were changed. The first was when we were scheduled to tender into Porto Fino in Italy and the conditions were simply too rough and windy. Expected and the possibility predicted. Disappointing, but fell under the "stuff" (or you can add your own descriptive term) happens characterization. The second time was when the sociopathic lunatic president of Russia started his self-serving and sel-aggrandizing war. In that case, St. Petersburg came off the table. Again, pretty disappointing, but pretty easily justified. We had another instance when cruising re-opened immediately following the 2020 pandemic. That was just and overall bizarre time. Otherwise, our cruises have gone as scheduled (well, there was the time the ship broke down :-) ). In every one of those instances, the schedule changes were pretty easily understandable.

We believe HAL owes us an explanation

THE JAPAN cruise was a long cruise. There were stops in 11 ports (not counting our origin and finishing point of Yokohama). I get that there are some logistics involved. Shortly before we left the U.S. for Japan, we were notified of some schedule changes. No explanation. Just notified. Problem: days were changed, making any plans we had made for shore excursions useless. On such short notice, the couple we had during the changes were unable to accommodate our changed schedule. There could be any one of many reasons for the changes, including things regarding one or more ports that are not within the cruise line's control. We think, though, in this instance (and it is nothing more than a gut feeling), somebody messed up at HAL. In any event, we believe HAL owes (owed) us an explanation.

THE KANMON Straits ("Straits of Shimonoseki") is a narrow, winding passage between the two main islands of Honshu and Kyushu, which connects the Sea of Japan with the inland sea formed by those two islands to the west, and the smaller island of Shikoku to the southeast. Coming from Kochi (on Shikoku), we sailed northwest up through the inland sea, and then through the Kanmon Strait, on our way to Fukuoka, on the northwest coast of Kyushu. The strait is a nearly 15-mile run, under a bridge that connects the two islands with a few cityscape sights along the way. It reminded me just a bit of the passage from the Baltic to Stockholm, Sweden. At only about 15 miles, the passage took less than 2 hours, but much of it was scenic.

THE BRIDGE is impressive enough as bridges go. It was one of those hazy, overcast days, and getting a good photograph from the moving boat was a challenge. There is also a tunnel (not shockingly, The Kanmon Tunnel) under the ocean between the islands. Build between 1936-1944, the original, approximately 2-mile, tunnel is said to be the first under-ocean tunnel in the world. Today, there is a newer one, nearby. Interestingly, the current bridge, (The Kanmonkyo Bridge) was build many years after the tunnel, opened in 1973. Both the bridge and tunnel connect the cities of Shimonoseki on the mainland (Honshu) and Kitakyushu (the originally - planned target for the atomic bomb: Fat Man) on Kyushu. Fukuoka would be our only stop on the island of Kyushu. Once we cleared the straits, it was still another 80 miles around to the south to Fukuoka. We arrived late in the afternoon.

FUKUOKA IS a major cruise port/stop. One of Japan's largest commercial ports, at least one source tells me it is the largest (by number of cruise passengers passing through) in Japan (and the 34th largest in the world). There is no secret about why. I very large, 2.5 million population, it has numerous castles, shrines, and other historic sites that can be visited. It also has a number of beautiful parks, beaches and the Fukuoka observation tower. It has an "old town" shopping district (Tenjin) and is known to have great food and entertainment. It should be easy to find more to do in Fukuoka than a day in port allows. Originally, we would have had time to go ashore in the afternoon of arrival, and again on the following day, which was scheduled as a full day in port. Instead, we stayed on board that evening and with our excursion cancelled and no available alternative (either private or offered by the cruise line), we were relegated to simply walking off the ship and trying to find our own things to do.

I WILL say that one advantage to being on board at an overnight port is the ability to make night photographs. This is especially nice when the port is photogenic. I would say that, as ports go, this one was pretty photogenic. We saw the colorful towers in many places around the country. In the daytime, they give the splash of color that sometimes may be lacking otherwise. There were two here, which allowed for some "framing" type composition, using them as elements. You can see that while during the day, the port is reasonably photogenic, its real "magic" is when things light up at night. I spent about an hour up on the aft deck making night images here. We were blessed with a reasonably still, dark night.

WELL. ONE of the primary reasons you book an excursion (and the very reason we tend to book private guides whenever feasible) is because you need the local knowledge of where to go, when to go, and how to get there. Without that going for us, we were swimming against the current. Our excursion promised us some of the highlights of the city, and based on the things I have read on-line and in the Visitor's Guide we picked up in the center-city, there were lots of them. In addition to the Hakata retail district, the oldest Zen shrine in Japan is there, as well as Fukuoka Tower, a vantage point from which sweeping views of the city can be seen. The city is also known for its Hakata Ramen. Our planned excursion would have given us a "taste" of these spots. If we ever get back to Fukuoka, we will make special effort to secure a tour/excursion of the city.

SOME MAY be reading and wondering what the deal is with Fukuoka/Hakata. At one time, they were two adjacent cities. Fukuoka was a Samurai city; Hakata a merchant city. In 1889, the two were merged and after some controversy, Fukuoka was the ultimate resulting name. It appears that there may still be some strong feelings, especially among the older generation and it is common to hear the city referred to as Hakata even today. Many of Hakata's remnants remain, including the famed "Canal City" (the largest commercial/retail development in the history of Japan), and both the port and the main rail station are named Hakata.

FUKUOKA MAY be the oldest city in Japan and was once the administrative capital (back in the 600's A.D.). Today it is a very modern city, having sustained substantial damage from the Allied bombing raids during WWII. There are very few buildings remaining from before that period. The 6th largest city in Japan, the port is also one of the largest and most important in the country. It is the closest significant seaport to Korea and China, making it a major trading stop (and historically, target for invasion). Its proximity to the Kanmon Straits, makes it logical for passage into the inner sea and many of Japan's other important ports and cities.

NOT WANTING to waste a port day, the 6 of us took a taxi (actually 2 taxis - they are small :-)) from the ship to the city-center, where there was a large city administration building and information center. As is the case everywhere in Japan, they were very polite and very friendly. They were not, however, particularly helpful. In their defense, it is not their job to plan an excursion itinerary. After striking out on finding an independent guide/driver, we ultimately decided to go to Ohori Park. There were some other sites (notably Tenjin and some of the shrines) we could have tried, but without a guide or driver we could see that being an exercise in frustration. Getting to the subway and getting to the stop near Ohori Park was doable.

WE HAD a demonstration along the way of Japanese hospitality. I asked one of the women we had spoken to at the information desk who happened to be walking out on to the street directions to a taxi stand, as 2 of our party of 6 had decided to go back to the ship, while the other 4 of us "soldiered on." She not only gave us directions, but she insisted on walking us to the stand. The subway stop was just around the corner, and we made our way there.

I POSTED a much more detailed accounting of this park on my other blog here, with a few more photographs and some history of the park. For us, an hour or so in the park was the extent of our useful time in Fukuoka. Hopefully, we will be back one day and will make more of the stop.