It was an embarrassment of riches for tours in Hiroshima. History, castles, calligraphy classes... I chose Miyajima Island and Itsukushima Shrine for its iconic "floating" torii gate. Rain was forecast and it was overcast all day, so I was a bit worried about photography. It was a 45-minute bus ride to get to the ferry, … Continue reading Hiroshima

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