Journey to the Center of the Earth: An Asian Cruising Tale

[ARandomTraveler]

Thank you for all the updates on ports during your return journey @bonsai3s! 
 

We've spent the duration of your second cruise leg touring Japan and it's been amazing. There are endless things to do and see, and we've spent every single day walking and taking trains and shopping and just kind of adventuring wherever the day takes us. 
 

Japan is so very unlike America in every way you can imagine, and it's been a good experience to immerse in the culture for a couple weeks to get a good feel for it. It's extremely safe here. Everything is very orderly and organized and clean. Their customer service everywhere is very diligent and detail oriented. You can have 200 people waiting for a train and nobody cuts in line, pushes or shoves. The trains are spotless, and they're quiet, and readily available and easy to navigate once you figure out how to do it. 
 

You can leave a pile of money in the middle of the street and come back the next day and it will still be there (I actually saw this exact occurrence in a train station one day when someone forgot to grab $6000 yen from a ticket machine and it was just set to the side for them to come back and claim and nobody touched it). Nobody locks up their bikes here. There's no aggression, no arguing, no yelling. It's chaotic and hustle-bustle because of all the people around all the time, but at the same time very orderly and peaceful. It's hard to explain, just something you have to experience for yourself. I've never felt so safe.

 

We visited Kyoto and the old geisha streets of Gion. We attended a tea ceremony with a maiko (apprentice geisha). Visited Nara (the land of the bowing deer). We hung out in the famous Harajuku neighborhood, witnessed the Shibuya crossing (the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world), visited the Tokyo Sky Tree and the Tokyo Tower. We spent a day at Tokyo Disney Sea. We spent lots of time in various shopping malls (many of which are attached to train stations) and Taramachi (outdoor malls), saw many shrines and temples, ate lots of good (and cheap) food, and spent a lot of days just immersed in the day-to-day going's-on of Japanese life in Tokyo.
 

This is not a trip I'd recommend to an inexperienced traveler. There are not a lot of tourists here, and there have been many days where we don't encounter another English speaking person. It's been a great experience and I'm so happy to have gotten to spend all this time here. But I'm ready to go home. 30 days is a long time to be on vacation and living out of a suitcase and being off my daily routine. 

 

I hope everyone who will get the opportunity to do this very unique cruise route will have a great time, and will be better prepared now having some more info about the ports and what to expect. I hope that if you have the vacation time and money to do so, that you spend a few days in Singapore and in Japan at the bookends of your cruise. It's a really long and far trip to make to this side of the world and a once in a lifetime experience for most people, so I hope you're able to make the most of it, and that you have a great time and a safe journey!

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by ARandomTraveler

[aussierangers]

Thanks ART, everything you say about Japan backs up what we've read, and we are really looking forward to experiencing it for ourselves.  Our plan is much like yours - 3 days prior to the cruise in Singapore, then the cruise, then 10 days in Japan, mostly based in Osaka, which seems like a good place from which to take day trips to Hiroshima, Kyoto and Himeji.  Then we throw ourselves into the Tokyo frenzy for the last few days.  The port information has been so reassuring and helpful, and I'm glad to hear that you've found Japan such a safe and orderly place, but with a culture so different from ours.  I'm so pleased you did this blog.☺️ Safe journey home

[little britain]

Adding my thanks for the info. 
We plan to 🚄 back to Kyoto ⛩️ after disembarking to spend a few days there as that really does seem to be the most fascinating place.  We also get to experience the Shinkansen 🚄 at full speed! 
 

For anyone considering a trip to Japan - on Amazon Prime watch James May Our Man in Japan… funny and informative 

Edited August 26, 2023 by little britain

[sgmn]

Thanks to ART and bonsai for all the information on these ports and in particular Japan .

My DH has been wanting to do a far east trip for years and I've put off mainly because it seems so far from my comfort zone plus its such a long way. But I am definitely going to start investigating it more and maybe we will actually get there in the next couple of years 

[dltaeg]

On 8/15/2023 at 10:32 AM, bonsai3s said:

Kumamoto...Goal: DIY to the iconic Kumamoto Castle...built in 1607.

 

* Docked in Kumamon Port in Yatsushiro.

 

* Shuttles were available at the dock...one queue going to a mall, and one queue going to the train station. ($10/person roundtrip...you can charge it to your seapass card)

 

* We got off the ship at 9:30am...and were told all shuttle tickets to the train station were already sold out. Some passengers took taxis to the train station. About $25 one-way.

 

* A group of us waited a few minutes and were told additional buses are coming...wooweee...off to the Shin-Yatsushiro train Station. Travel time...about 25 minutes.

 

* Two ways to get train tickets: vending machine or the window. (The machine wouldn't accept our Visa card, so we got our tickets at the window.)

 

* We wanted to ride and experience the "Bullet Train"...Cost: ¥1530 per person each way...travel time: 10 minutes!

 

*** While standing next to Track 11, waiting for our train, a "Bullet Train" literally flew by us and took our breath away...if you're wearing a wig, it's gone...a hat, it's off...everyone standing there were smiling...the train was so fast, no one managed to videotape it.

 

* Kumamoto Train Station to the Kumamoto Castle...3 ways to get there...1. Walk...2. Bus...3. Tram...we opted for the tram. Cost: ¥1.80 per person each way...this time, the tram accepted our Visa.

 

* The train station was Stop #3...Kumamoto Castle was Stop #10. Travel time about 15 minutes.

 

* From the tram Stop #10, you immediately see the castle walls and moat...but it is another 400 meters to the entrance. Cost to enter: ¥800 per person.

 

 

 

 

 

Hoping you got home safe and aren't missing the open ocean too much 🙂 

I don't suppose you remember which shopping mall the shuttle bus went to at Yatsushiro? We are going to skip the castle (due to the long drive and having a travel sick child with us) so I'm trying to plan something else for us. 

[bonsai3s]

1 hour ago, dltaeg said:

Hoping you got home safe and aren't missing the open ocean too much 🙂 

I don't suppose you remember which shopping mall the shuttle bus went to at Yatsushiro? We are going to skip the castle (due to the long drive and having a travel sick child with us) so I'm trying to plan something else for us. 

Dtaeg...thanks, got home safely. We'll be on Symphony next month.

 

Sorry, we don't know the name of the mall...and genuinely hope your child gets better.

[aussierangers]

I'm pretty sure it's the Aeon shopping mall, which is still quite a distance from the town centre and train stations, but I believe there are local buses from there.  We're also skipping the castle and have decided to explore Yatsushiro, which has enough things to do to fill in the day, and will give us a less touristy experience, and a feel for a small regional town.  As we are staying on in Japan after the cruise, we figure that we will see Osaka and Himeji Castles, and my DH has a Castle Limit which we will probably reach with those two 🙂