Quasi-Live Westerdam Oct 1st Japan

[wearesiamese]

Didn't   make the  fwiw have a great time!cruise

[SUESEABE]

Late to the party...Thanks for the live thread. Looking forward to follow along.

 

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

My Monday (your Sunday).  Breakfast was in the main dining room, which I enjoy, but if anyone can share a tip on how to get out of there in less than an hour and a half plus, I would love to hear it.  The dining room opens at 8 am, and often times there is some event beginning at 10 am, and with all the sea days, the lectures/presentations are a big draw, even filling up the World Stage Theater, and generally you need to be there at least 20 minutes beforehand, if not earlier.

 

At 10 am it was standing room only for Cruise Director Nick's Port Talk on our first port-of-call, Kushiro.  There will be a shuttle bus available to transport passengers to a central tourist area. He talked about the area's history, what sites to visit, suggestion on where to get some Japanese Yen (as that what most of the merchants use, especially for smaller purchases, as oppose to credit cards).

 

At 11 am, Dr Kam gave his presentation about Japan's shrinking population dilemma.  Reasons include: more young folks living in very expensive cities; very demanding careers and job responsibilities; women enjoying the freedom of single life, and not having to be responsible for the majority of the household chores, children, in-laws, etc; men dating less due to jobs and social issues, and finding comfort in virtual dating, and unwilling, or unable to transition to a real world relationship.  All of this contributes to Japan's dwindling population.

 

After the two presentations , we decided to skip lunch and use our Thermal Suite pass.  The heated loungers were available, and the therapy pool was quite warm.  It was all very relaxing.

 

The ship seems quiet today, maybe losing a day crossing the International Date Line just tired everyone out.  😂

 

Do you ever look ahead to the dinner menu and bemoan the fact that there are too many delicious choices all in one night?  That is my problem this evening.  Tonight's menu has a traditional Canadian Thanksgiving meal, Eggplant Parmesan (a personal favorite), and Weiner Schnitzel, which I haven't had forever. It's an embarrassment of riches.

 

At 7 pm this evening, the Captain and the Hotel Director will be available for photos in the Atrium.  Now that I know who the Captain is, I see him every where, especially in the evenings as he makes his rounds of the common areas.  Very impressive.

 

[TheMichael]

10 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

At 11 am, Dr Kam gave his presentation about Japan's shrinking population dilemma.  Reasons include: more young folks living in very expensive cities; very demanding careers and job responsibilities; women enjoying the freedom of single life, and not having to be responsible for the majority of the household chores, children, in-laws, etc; men dating less due to jobs and social issues, and finding comfort in virtual dating, and unwilling, or unable to transition to a real world relationship.  All of this contributes to Japan's dwindling population.

 

Interesting - did he mention that while the problem has become acute in Japan, birth rates are declining around the world? Or touch on Japan's unwillingness to allow guest workers?

 

(The "freedom of single life" part always kills me in a time when women in the "Western world" are basically expected - and often financially required, even when married - to work. Doesn't seem all that "free" to me.)

[Ferry_Watcher]

21 hours ago, TheMichael said:

 

Interesting - did he mention that while the problem has become acute in Japan, birth rates are declining around the world? Or touch on Japan's unwillingness to allow guest workers?

 

(The "freedom of single life" part always kills me in a time when women in the "Western world" are basically expected - and often financially required, even when married - to work. Doesn't seem all that "free" to me.)

Dr Kam did mention that the birth rate in Japan began it's decline awhile ago, and at this rate it may not be able to catch up.  The reluctance to allow immigration was also touched upon.

It was interesting discussing Dr Kam's lecture with my husband later in the day.  DH shared that he was really surprised and disappointed that so much time of the lecture featured that Japanese guy who married an avatar/virtual girlfriend. 

Living in the Seattle area, we probably have more of an interest in Asian culture, news, entertainment, so this story or trend wasn't a surprise to us.  It was uncomfortable during this part of the lecture to hear all the laughter from the audience, rather than seeing the sadness/tragedy in the inability to form a human connection with another person.  I am hoping it was  a nervous/uncomfortable laughter, and not anything more. 

My DH's point was that Dr Kam began his first lecture explaining that Respect is a huge principal tenet of everyday Japanese, and that Dr Kam didn't portray this serious social problem in Japan in a respectful manner.  Dr Kam could have taken the high road and presented this as a social concern that needs to be addressed/ studied, not a weird trend in current Japanese society.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Final recap of the day (my Monday, your Sunday): decided to have the traditional Canadian Thanksgiving dinner, which was very good.  The restaurant manager stopped by our table and asked if I was celebrating Thanksgiving, which I thought was very thoughtful.  I even had the pumpkin pie for dessert.

And before going to dinner, we had our pre-dinner cocktails (a Brooklyn for me) at the Pinnacle Bar ( the Jazz band had a day off).  We then stopped by the Atrium and had our photo taken  with the Captain and Hotel Director.  

After dinner, we caught the show at the Rolling Stones Lounge, which is very good, and it's evident that the band definitely has a loyal fan base who attend their shows.  And you can tell the band appreciates it 

 

The seas had been calm for the entire day, the sun made an appearance ever now and then.  It was pleasant enough to be outside without a jacket for a minute or two.  The Captain let us know that as of noon we were about 1200 nautical miles from Kushiro (the day before we were about 1700 nautical miles away).  

[Ferry_Watcher]

Good morning, today is my Tuesday, and your Monday.  The ship is rocking, although yesterday the Captain did warn us that we would have strong winds today.  I have been up since 6 am ( on this cruise I been getting up around 7 am).  My wonderful DH (who is usually up and out around 5am) has brought me my morning latte and I am catching up on the news and also catching up on my Quasi-Live postings.

 

For those interested the towel animal count is now at 4: penguin; baby Yoda; elephant and last night a bunny rabbit.  Bedtime chocolates have been only on the two Gala/Dressy nights.

 

Dr Kam's talk on Japanese Trains will be at 11am, so at least we won't have to run out of breakfast at 9:30 to get a decent seat in the World Stage Theater.  Although the presentation of Origin Story a look at HAL's 150 Year History is at 10am, so there may be a majority of folks who will stay for both presentation.  Luckily for us, we saw that presentation on last month's Zaandam cruise,  and since we were fortunate enough to have been in Japan in Oct '22 and traveled by train, we feel pretty confident with our abilities to get around on our own and with Google Maps!  So, not having good seats is less of a concern today.

 

This evening is the Orange Party at the Rolling Stone Lounge.  We didn't really enjoy the Orange Party at the Zaandam's Crow's Nest, in part due to the layout of that venue, but I think the configuration of the Rolling Stone Lounge might make it a better spot.

 

I also just noticed a movie this afternoon that I might go to: The Ramen Girl.  This will be held in the World Stage Theater at 2:30 pm.

 

As of today, Canaletto's is now Tamarind today thru this Saturday.  The menu looks amazing, so I think we need to reserve a night or two there!

 

Until later my friends....

[Ferry_Watcher]

Forgot to mention that there is a Mariner Lunch today.  From talking to some of our table mates, there was one yesterday as well.  We received our 2*Star pins on last month's Zaandam cruise, so my DH teases that today's lunch is for 'baby' Mariners.  LOL

[TheMichael]

3 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Dr Kam did mention that the birth rate in Japan began it's decline awhile ago, and at this rate it may not be able to catch up.  The reluctance to allow immigration was also touched upon.

It was interesting discussing Dr Kam's lecture with my husband later in the day.  DH shared that he was really surprised and disappointed that so much time of the lecture featured that Japanese guy who married an avatar/virtual girlfriend. 

Living in the Seattle area, we probably have more of an interest in Asian culture, news, entertainment, so this story or trend wasn't a surprise to us.  It was uncomfortable during this part of the lecture to hear all the laughter from the audience, rather than seeing the sadness/tragedy in the inability to form a human connection with another person.  I am hoping it was  a nervous/uncomfortable laughter, and not anything more. 

My DH's point was that Dr Kam began his first lecture explaining that Respect is a huge principal tenet of everyday Japanese, and that Dr Kam didn't portray this serious social problem in Japan in a respectful manner.  Dr Kam could have taken the high road and presented this as a social concern that needs to be addressed/ studied, not a weird trend in current Japanese society.

 

Japan is like the bellwether for population decline in developed countries - we're getting close in the US alone to equal birth and death rates (I think it's a birth every 9 seconds and a death every 11) and our average age keeps rising (now almost 10 years older than it was in 1980). 

 

The "Japan is crazy" trope is kind of annoying, and I think it even makes people here (US) see things that make sense (to me at least) like cleaning up after themselves at the World Cup (which is something they always do, and actually easy as hell when you don't just drop all your trash on the ground in the first place) as somehow odd. 

 

I'm from Seattle too, and the Northwest (Vancouver to a much greater degree) is a great place to learn and appreciate Asian cultures. Plus, I can get better sushi here than I had when I was in Tokyo.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Easy start to the morning with a leisurely breakfast in the dining room.  We have been selecting from one of the two rotating 'fresh' breakfast selections, and the one I chose today was a Spanish Potato Torta spiced with chorizo.  A very good choice.

 

Dr. Kam's presentation on trains was good, especially on the Bullet Train (Shinkansen), as well as the regional trains, the local trains and the subway.  He did spend a fair bit of time on the subway, and strongly suggesting that it should be avoided during rush hour, or else be prepared to be packed in.  He even scared me, and I have had a tiny bit of experience with the subway in Tokyo.

 

I was surprised that he didn't mention using Google Maps to navigate the subway, as we found it a lifeline in getting around Tokyo.

 

After train/subway talk, we headed down to the dining room for the Mariner's Lunch at noon  It was open seating and folks just sat wherever they wanted, or if you arrived late, wherever there was an open seat.  There were two choices for the starter, three choices of entree, and just coconut cream pie for dessert.  A mimosa was offered to toast with.  The welcome speech was short, the lunch was quick, and we were all finished in about an hour.  The food was good, and it was well attended.

 

While we were there, the Captain and the Cruise Director still gave their all shipboard daily speech.  The Captain said we would be entering a low pressure weather area, and that a potential typhoon was developing off the southern island of Japan which they were watching, but believed that it probably would not affect us.  Fingers crossed.

 

I did call for reservations for Tamarind, but the best I could get is this evening at 8pm.  Not ideal, but we took them.  I think I need to be more proactive for the upcoming half of our 26 day cruise.

 

Tonight is the Orange Party, so that will be an excuse to dress up a bit (that, plus going to Tamarind).

 

 

[Kristal Blade]

I’m enjoying your report immensely, thanks for posting so frequently.

 

I have a little question for you, if you don’t mind.

Are there any free fitness classes? I remember HAL ships used to have a daily stretch followed by a more active class each morning and there were sometimes afternoon classes.

Thanks for any info about that.

 

Hope you have found something to do in Kushiro. We hired a taxi to take us to 3 different places to see cranes. We got up close to the ones in captivity and saw some wild ones in the fields as we drove around. We had time for a stroll round the town afterwards but it wasn’t as interesting as some of the other ports we visited.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Wrapping up the rest of my Tuesday, your Monday:  finally made it to one of the afternoon movies shown in the World Stage Theater.  The movie was The Ramen Girl - a story about an Western young woman, who follows a new boyfriend to Tokyo, gets dumped, but finds herself working in a local ramen shop, where she decides to become a ramen chef.  Parts were kinda' cringey, and  course it has a predictable ending.  Overall it was fine, and there were bags of popcorn available.

 

At 6 pm, dressed with a slash of Orange, we headed to the Pinnacle Bar for a couple of pre dinner drinks.  We had 8 pm Tamarind reservations, so to fill up the time, we sat in on the first 25 minutes of the featured entertainer, Annie Frances.  She sang very early songs from the 6o's, many we didn't recognize.  Honestly, I am glad we had a reason to leave the show.

 

At 8 pm we made our way to Tamarind which is housed for about 5 days in Canaletto's.  I haven't been on any larger HAL ship, so I don't know if on those ships Tamarind is an actual stand-alone restaurant,  or if it is more like a 'pop-up' restaurant like on the Westerdam.  I know I didn't see it offered on the smaller Zaandam.

 

We both ordered the mixed satay skewers (beef, chicken, pork and shrimp).  That was nearly a meal in itself.  Entree for me was the beef tenderloin (and I was so happy it was small), DH ordered the Thai Basil Chili Shrimp, and it was very generous with the shrimp.  The dessert was amazing - we both ordered the coconut macaron, mango ice cream, mango puree.  I am not doing it justice just listing most of the ingredients, but this dessert alone was worth the $29 dinner fee - it was that good.

 

Needless to say, we were stuffed after that meal.  It was after 9:30 by the time we left Tamarind's, and the Orange Party started at 9 in the Rolling Stone Lounge.  Since we know that there will be another Orange Party on the second leg of our cruise, we decided to waddle back to the room and call it a night. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Ferry_Watcher

[WriterOnDeck]

4 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

We had 8 pm Tamarind reservations, so to fill up the time, we sat in on the first 25 minutes of the featured entertainer, Annie Frances.  She sang very early songs from the 6o's, many we didn't recognize.  Honestly, I am glad we had a reason to leave the show.

I'm glad to hear that Annie is still performing on HAL. I saw her on two Grand Asias pre-pandemic, but not since. I really enjoy her -- such a big voice from such a petite woman.

 

I'm enjoying your postings. Enjoy Kushira. I like walking to the fish market and selecting my lunch. I'll be back to Japan in February on the Grand World, but not Kushira. That will have to wait until the Majestic Japan cruise in September.

 

If you want to hear about my Japanese port experiences, I wrote about them in  my blog, http://www.WriterOnDeck.com. Just use the search.

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

On 10/9/2023 at 10:10 PM, Kristal Blade said:

I’m enjoying your report immensely, thanks for posting so frequently.

 

I have a little question for you, if you don’t mind.

Are there any free fitness classes? I remember HAL ships used to have a daily stretch followed by a more active class each morning and there were sometimes afternoon classes.

Thanks for any info about that.

 

Hope you have found something to do in Kushiro. We hired a taxi to take us to 3 different places to see cranes. We got up close to the ones in captivity and saw some wild ones in the fields as we drove around. We had time for a stroll round the town afterwards but it wasn’t as interesting as some of the other ports we visited.

Tai Chi is offered every day at 8 am in the Rolling Stone Lounge.

In the fitness center it looks like they offer a free 30 minute class @ 7 an most days which changes:  abs class; total body conditioning; walk a mile; and sunrise stretch.

 

We have a HAL excursion that will take us to the Crane Reserve.  I didn't mention this earlier, but everyone has to go through a face to face immigration meeting when we get to Kushiro.  Having the HAL excursion got us out of lining up early (6 am) to get an appointment time ticket.

[Kristal Blade]

17 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Tai Chi is offered every day at 8 am in the Rolling Stone Lounge.

In the fitness center it looks like they offer a free 30 minute class @ 7 an most days which changes:  abs class; total body conditioning; walk a mile; and sunrise stretch.

 

We have a HAL excursion that will take us to the Crane Reserve.  I didn't mention this earlier, but everyone has to go through a face to face immigration meeting when we get to Kushiro.  Having the HAL excursion got us out of lining up early (6 am) to get an appointment time ticket.

Thank you very much,

that is very useful info. I will pack my fitness gear.

 

I did have a giggle at your comment about waddling back to your room post dinner. That is often how our days end on a cruise. Good intentions of going to a show, but then deciding that digestion is a top priority!

[Ferry_Watcher]

I decided that my description of our dinner last night in Tamarind did not do it justice.  The following is what we ordered. So, one more time:

Lobster & Shrimp Potstickers

 

Satay Sampler:

*Malaysian Lamb

*Chinese Beef

*Thai Chicken

*Indonesian Pork

*Vietnamese Shrimp 

w/green mango and black bean powder

 

Entrees:

Thai Basil Szechuan Shrimp 

Wasabi & Soy Crusted Beef Tenderloin 

 

Sides:

*Asian Eggplant Spicy Coconut

*Sake Braised Oyster and Shitake Mushrooms

*Dungeness Crab Fried Rice

 

Dessert:

*Mango Posset

(Coconut Macaroon, Passion Fruit Jelly & Mango Sorbet)

 

 

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

 It's Thursday morning in Kushiro Japan.  We are waiting to be called for our face to face immigration meeting.  We are in Group B as we have a HAL excursion.  It was an early breakfast in the Lido, then back to the stateroom to gather everything we may need for our first day in Japan: Yen, sunglasses, fairly light jacket, masks, a handkerchief to be used as a drying towel in the public washrooms, a water bottle, etc.  In addition to our stateroom key, we were told to carry with us our passport and the temporary immigration clearance card.

The port doesn't seem to be near anything, but at a Q&A session we were told that there would be about 8 shuttle buses to transport passengers from the ship to town, and back.

 

Ready for the adventure to begin!

[Ferry_Watcher]

The face to face immigration check went fairly well. It was held in the World Stage Theater.  We waited in a line on deck 2 where crew checked to make sure we had our passports, and had filled out a immigration form that we received days earlier.  

[Kristal Blade]

7 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 It's Thursday morning in Kushiro Japan.  We are waiting to be called for our face to face immigration meeting.  We are in Group B as we have a HAL excursion.  It was an early breakfast in the Lido, then back to the stateroom to gather everything we may need for our first day in Japan: Yen, sunglasses, fairly light jacket, masks, a handkerchief to be used as a drying towel in the public washrooms, a water bottle, etc.  In addition to our stateroom key, we were told to carry with us our passport and the temporary immigration clearance card.

The port doesn't seem to be near anything, but at a Q&A session we were told that there would be about 8 shuttle buses to transport passengers from the ship to town, and back.

 

Ready for the adventure to begin!

Thanks for the reminder about the drying towel. I had forgotten that the Japanese toilets don’t have paper towels. I used to take the washcloth from our ship bathroom!

 

Enjoy Kushiro and hope you see the cranes.

[oakridger]

1 minute ago, Kristal Blade said:

Thanks for the reminder about the drying towel. I had forgotten that the Japanese toilets don’t have paper towels. I used to take the washcloth from our ship bathroom!

 

Enjoy Kushiro and hope you see the cranes.

 

 

Interesting.  What do the Japanese do for drying their hands?  Do they carry their own towels too?

 

I'm enjoying all the info on this review as I haven't been to Japan.....yet!!

 

~Nancy

[Kristal Blade]

27 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

 

Interesting.  What do the Japanese do for drying their hands?  Do they carry their own towels too?

 

I'm enjoying all the info on this review as I haven't been to Japan.....yet!!

 

~Nancy

Yes, the Japanese ladies all have their own hand drying cloths which they carry with them. 
I always have a few ziplock bags with me when I cruise so I would just pop a washcloth in one when we went ashore in Japan. But it takes a couple of days to get into the swing of remembering. I have had a few times of whirling my hands around to air dry them!

[TheMichael]

10 hours ago, Kristal Blade said:

Yes, the Japanese ladies all have their own hand drying cloths which they carry with them. 
I always have a few ziplock bags with me when I cruise so I would just pop a washcloth in one when we went ashore in Japan. But it takes a couple of days to get into the swing of remembering. I have had a few times of whirling my hands around to air dry them!

 

The men, on the other hand, either don't wash their hands (like 99% of American men - not to get into the logistics of the public men's room, but as in America, it is a bit differently configured than a ladies' room) or just shake and rub briskly. Then again, most of my shared public restroom knowledge comes from Japanese sports stadiums, where behavior may be quite different than that of an office building.

[TheMichael]

17 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

The face to face immigration check went fairly well. It was held in the World Stage Theater.  We waited in a line on deck 2 where crew checked to make sure we had our passports, and had filled out a immigration form that we received days earlier.  

 

If there's one think I had drilled into me before I went to Japan for the first time, it was the need to carry my passport with me at all times. Not only is it required by law, but stores use it to note your purchases for the duty-free allowance.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

1 hour ago, TheMichael said:

 

If there's one think I had drilled into me before I went to Japan for the first time, it was the need to carry my passport with me at all times. Not only is it required by law, but stores use it to note your purchases for the duty-free allowance.

Yes, it is quite common to have stores in Tokyo such as Bic Camera Electronics store have a large customer service department that you just take you receipt and show them your passport and they refund your tax paid. I have done that on several occasions. But to be honest it was only in Tokyo, when in other areas of Japan. It was not offered, when I asked they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about.

[Kristal Blade]

Having your passport can also get you senior admission prices.

Because we all look so young!!