I Am A Celebrity!: 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.

I Am A Celebrity!

Sunday, June 9, 2024

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

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