PORT OF YOKOHAMA AND COMMODORE PERRY

Best as I can tell, nothing much has changed about the world at large. Also, no newsworthy items from Japan. No threatening typhoons. This is important because we board the Diamond Princess as soon as I complete this blog today.

I wrote about our day in Yokohama yesterday. Last night, just another enjoyable visit to the Sheraton Club Lounge.

Sunset.

Sunrise this morning.

We were warned that the Diamond Princess, when it returns to Yokohama this morning at 6:30AM, would dock at a different pier. So I searched.

The Diamond Princess must be the one to the left. Yokohama Port is not as complicated as Sydney Harbor, where we had a difficult time getting to the Seabourn Odyssey earlier this year.

The Port of Yokohama opened to foreign trade in 1859.

Osansbashi Pier has ten piers with 24 berths and opened to international passengers in 2002.

The MS Asuka II is home ported here. I remember enjoying three cruises when it was called the Crystal Harmony. The conversion occurred in 2006. This remains the largest cruise ship in Japan.
Detamachi is known as Banana Pier, where fruits and vegetables arrive.
Several new berths are in the process of being built to handle larger ships.
Seven berths are used by the U.S. military.

I provided some history of American involvement in this area earlier this month.

Yokohama, which means horizontal beach, is just south of Tokyo, and is the second largest city in the country. This is where in 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry demanded that Japan open its ports for commerce. The 13th Tokugawa Shogun, Iesada, acceded in 1854. He was born in 1824 as the son of Tokugawa Ieyoshi and a concubine. Iesada was a weak person, Perry came at the right time, for in 1854 came a series of earthquakes:

So on to the Diamond Princess.

Comments

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that Oktoberfest in Germany is mostly in September? The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3. Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September? The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich? These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11. Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town. It was drizzling a bit. We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served. We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall. So no one came to serve us beer. After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine. Thus, we might have been the ...

Search This Blog