Tokyo/Yokohama was our first Japan port city. We had a quick layover in Tokyo during a previous trip but we were still very excited to get off the ship after nearly a week trapped on the ship. Whew! Just being able to walk around and explore on our own restored a little bit of sanity. First stop was to find some lunch that didn't involve a buffet (we're quite clearly a little fixated on food during this trip). We wandered into a tea room'ish type place and had a Japense version of a combo meal. It included a rice bowl with sashimi tuna and avocado, miso soup, green tea and for dessert mochi balls served in sweet adzuki bean soup. If you've never had mochi, imagine some very chewy, zero flavor gummy balls. I'm sure there are mochi fans out there but we haven't acquired a taste for them yet.
Our day in Tokyo was during one of their holidays so the famous Tokyo fish market was closed - guess we'll have to hit that next trip. However, because of the holiday, we lucked into a bunch of neighborhood festivals. Very fun! There were local food vendors, music and unicycle dancing. Wow- had never seen that before.
Kobe was our second port in Japan. Hey look! Kobe has craft brew too! Sake! Of course we had to hop on the metro to the brewery area to take the tour and do some sampling. We learned about the proccess of making it and all the different styles and flavors - they even had a sparkling version. You know me - I love any drink with bubbles in it so Brian didn't get much sampling of that one. Our only previous experience with sake was the sake bombs you get in the US - kinda like if our only previous experience of beer was shotgunning Natty Light - so we definitely have a better appreciation for the good stuff now.
Brian dropped some Yen in a pachinko machine - it's an interesting cross between a pinball machine and a slot machine. There were lots of bells and flashing lights but we had no idea what was really happening. In the end, it ate up all the Yen he fed it so I guess it works about the same as any machine in any other casino. I wanted to take a picture of him playing, but the manager gave me a stern stare when I pulled out the camera so you'll just have to google pachinko if you want to learn more.
The last port city was of Miyazaki - the area reminded us a little bit of the Oregon coast. This was another very small town off the regular cruise ship paths. Again, we were the largest cruise ship to ever stop in this port so they were a bit overwhelmed by the rush of tourists.
Oddly, when we finally got off the ship, we found most of the resturants were closed. Didn't they get the memo that two thousand fat and leaky wallets were about to splash into town? We did luck into one great little sushi spot that was willing to let us slip in for a late lunch. The waitress got a giggle out of what the Google translation app spit out during ordering but it must have been close enough. We had some excellent tasting and very pretty looking sushi. I have no idea what any of it was - but it sure paired great with the cold beer and local atmosphere.
There were also some food stands at the dock as we got back on the ship. As you can see by the expression on my face I'm still not a fan of the mochi balls, even grilled with teriyaki sauce. Brian gave me points for trying them again. I'm kind of hoping this is the only country that really gets into those chewy gummy balls.
We noticed that Japan is such a clean place, part of the reason is everyone buses their own table - what an idea! We also experienced their crazy high-tech toliets, buttons for everything. Some with pictures on how to correctly use them. We are definitely losing to the Japanese in toilet technology.
As we travel through these port cities it's very visable how much industrial infrastructure is needed to supply the world with stuff. These are very busy ports with huge ships coming and going all the time. It's all very interesting for us coming from land-locked Iowa and Colorado. This photo even has all three modes of transportation we're taking on this trip - trains, boats and automobiles.
We're not looking forward to cramming all our stuff back in that small little backpack but we are definitely ready to move on to the next leg. After two weeks, three countries and ten time zones, we're completing this segment of the big journey - the transpacific cruise from Vancouver, Canada. Next up is Shanghai, China.
"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." - Henry Miller
