Akita is even smaller than Niigata. You may recognize the word "akita" from the dog breed. There is a bronze statue of an akita dog "Hachiko" in Tokyo - the story is worth reading about, but I'll leave that to Wikipedia. Today is a relaxing day, because I need a bath. An "onsen" is a … Continue reading Akita

Niigata is even a smaller port than Kanazawa, and it's the first time I've noticed rust on the infrastructure. It's also darn cold and overcast. Last week in Osaka I was walking around in shorts. This morning it is 34 defF (1 degC). It got warmer as the day went on, but yesh. And we … Continue reading Niigata

Kanazawa is the start of our "smaller ports" section of this cruise. This area has an "olde time Japan" feel to it. We started by visiting a samurai's house, and the bus parking lot only had space for four buses. That alone is a step to the more mellow. We walked down single-lane roads to … Continue reading Kanazawa

After weeks in Japan we jumped to Busan, South Korea for a day. Seems that Japan has a rule or law similar to the US's "Jones Act", where if a ship only visits Japanese ports it must be owned and crewed by Japanese. So, we had to go thru Japan customs and immigration leaving Fukuoka … Continue reading Busan

We've returned to Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. Fukuoka is near one of the four National Museums of Japan, which is where my tour began. With the other three national museums all being in major cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara) on the main island of Honshu, I was confused why this museum was here … Continue reading Fukuoka