Staying in Osaka this time, we took a bus to the other side of town to visit the Katsuo-ji temple. Our guide explained there has been a temple here for over 1300 years, so it was high on the "important temples to visit" list (despite it's very short Wiki entry). I understood where we were … Continue reading Osaka Daruma

Silversea offered a free day trip to Kyoto for the Grand Asia Voyagers. I spent several days in Kyoto in 2019, so I was thinking about not going. However, the itinerary was mostly places I have not visited yet, so what the heck. We started with a 15-minute ride on the Shinkansen, the "bullet train", … Continue reading Kyoto Return

Long-time Cruiseboysians will remember when I visited Osaka in 2019 I had a wonderful evening meal at a teppenyaki restaurant. When I saw such a meal was offered as a tour in Tokyo I had to sign up. The Sumida teppenyaki restaurant is on the 20th floor of the Royal Park hotel. In short, it … Continue reading Tokyo Teppenyaki

Tokyo is a major port stop. Over 250 guests are leaving and new ones arriving; in addition, many crew are also swapping out. On top of that we are still in the middle of Japan spring break, so there are not many tours being offered. The 9-hour (five of it on the bus) tour to … Continue reading Tokyo Speed Run

Shimizu, Japan is known as the "Gateway to Mt. Fuji". I wonder why... Fuji-San That was the actual view from my cabin veranda. Sugoi (wow). Mt. Fuji is over 3700 meters high and is an active volcano, but the last time it erupted was 1707. Even stranger, my tour of the Mt Fuji area was … Continue reading Shimizu Tea