This April, we took a tour with Smithsonian Journeys and the cruise company Ponant around Japan, we visited multiple ports in the inland sea, the Sea of Japan, and across to South Korea. We flew to Osaka via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, an excellent airline, we arrived a day early and stayed at the airport hotel at Kansai Airport. We met the tour and boarded the ship at Kobe harbor which was about an hour bus ride from Osaka.
After boarding and unpacking in our very nice cabin with a generous sized balcony, we had dinner on board ( all of the food on the cruise was excellent ). The ship sailed for our next port Takamatsu and we attempted to sleep the confused sleep of the jet lagged.
Kobe Harbor from our balcony
After waking up multiple times I finally got dressed and found the lounge where they serve coffee and small pastry at 6:30 AM. One of the best things about tours that are cruises is that like magic you wake up in a completely new place every morning.
We had two excursions that day to Ritsurin Gardens and Shikokumura Museum. The garden was an enormous strolling garden along a river and multiple ponds. There were multiple tea houses, bridges, and other traditional buildings in the park. Many of the trees had been carefully maintained following the aesthetics of Bonsai but in full size trees. The landscape was very carefully designed to reveal views as you walked along the various pathways.
Shikokumura Museum was a collection of Japanese traditional buildings collected and moved to the site. The age of the houses spanned from the 1600’s to the 1920’s. Many of them were furnished with period interiors.
After returning to the ship, having lunch and a nap and some drinks and dinner, we again attempted to sleep and the ship departed for our next destination Hiroshima. Our cabin was great, the bed was very comfortable and we had plenty of storage space to unpack and put our big bags under the bed. The shower and bathroom were good sized for a cruise ship. We were on the third deck which was pretty much at the center of the ship so the amount of motion at this level was minimal. There were noises from the ship but most of them were various kinds of droning or continuous sounds so it wasn’t hard to fall asleep to them.
Hiroshima harbor view
We woke up at Hiroshima harbor which was very pretty. This trip really reminded us how mountainous Japan is, apparently only 30% of the land is flat. Every harbor we went to was ringed with mountains. After breakfast we got off the boat and took a bus to the Hiroshima Museum and memorial. The museum was very crowded so I don’t have any pictures but it was very well done and filled with devastating personal stories of the impact of the atomic bombing. The memorial park is beautiful, and it is incredible that the city has been rebuilt and is one of the nicest cities in Japan.
We returned to the ship and had lunch while the ship moved to anchor off of Miyajima Island where there is a huge Shinto Shrine that is built directly on the beach. We took tenders aka the life boats across to the town dock, the transit was very smooth and comfortable. The island is a very important sanctuary which was very important in Japanese history. There is also a Buddhist Temple at the same site. The town that surrounds both of them was also very cool looking. As with a lot of other sacred sites in Japan there were deer wandering all over the place, they are protected as “messengers of the Gods.” This makes them quite bold and they will steal things from tourists if they aren’t paying attention.
After taking the tender back to the ship, there was a special briefing in the ship’s theater. The captain explained that there was going to be a pretty strong storm coming that evening and into the next day. We had been scheduled ( if you notice on the map) to go to Hagi the next day. This was canceled due to the weather because they would have had to use the tenders again and in six meter plus seas the tenders wouldn’t be safe and or comfortable and also because they are also the life boats the ship couldn’t be without them in those conditions.
So, we had a day at sea and caught up with our sleep. There was a bit of motion but on the third deck where we were at the center of the ship the movement was much better than higher up. The Smithsonian experts that were traveling with us caught up on giving lectures on various topics of Japanese history and culture as well.
The next day we arrived at Sakaiminato which is on the west coast of Honshu Island on the Sea of Japan. We went on an excursion to Matsue Castle which was built during the Edo Period, notably a period of peace in Japan which lasted for about two hundred and fifty years. This castle never had to be defended and was surprisingly well preserved. We started with a river boat tour through the moat around the castle, we had to lay down in the boat so that they could lower the roof as we went under several of the low bridges. Our boatman was a local retired gentleman who sang us traditional songs at various junctures.
We then went up and visited the Castle which in reality was more of a fortress and less of a castle because it wasn’t a residence, but mainly a defensive military installation. The beams and joinery were very impressive and the architecture of the fortress on the landscape was lovely.
That evening we departed across the Sea of Japan headed for Busan, South Korea. We woke up and had breakfast outside on the front deck with a great view of the very space age modern city of Busan in the background.
Our excursion that day was to Gyeongju, The Capitol of Ancient Silla this included visiting ancient royal tombs, the incredible Gyeongju National Museum which we could have spent a week at, and the Bulguksa Temple, one of the most important and oldest Buddhist temples in South Korea.
The temple complex was incredible, beautiful grounds, colorful buildings, many temples and statues. The entire place was decorated for Buddha’s Birthday celebration.
We had lunch out at a local Korean restaurant.
It was a wonderful day, and I would like to return to South Korea someday and spend more time visiting more of the country.
During dinner that evening the ship set out to Moji, Japan on the other side of the Sea of Japan. The ship had two dining options, a formal restaurant on deck two and a buffet restaurant on deck six. The buffet restaurant also had outdoor seating which was great when the weather was good. The formal restaurant on deck two was good when there was a lot of ship motion because it had less motion than deck six and the waiters brought the food so you weren’t trying to carry food and manage your “sea legs.” The ship also had 24 hour free room service which we used a couple of times.
Our excursion in the morning was to Akiyoshido Cave which is a huge limestone cave in an area that is dominated by limestone karst. It was a beautiful cave with huge chambers, lots of water features, and colorful minerals. Unlike lava tubes, the path was smooth and it was a pretty easy walk without requiring any special equipment.
The next day we arrived in Uno, Japan where our excursion was to the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area and the Ohashi Family House, a two hundred year old merchant’s home.
The historical area had many historic buildings and shops that sold indigo dyed clothing which is a local product.
Finally the ship returned to Kobe, Japan and we disembarked in the morning. Due to the schedule of flights we stayed over one more night at the hotel at Kansai Airport before flying to Hong Kong and then on back to Boston.
It was a good trip and a great way to see more of Japan while traveling very comfortably. As always when we visit Japan I learned a lot more about their complex and unique history and culture.