RETURN TO THE DIAMOND PRINCESS

On this nostalgic Tuesday, I return to our first Diamond Princess cruise that was close to starting the Covid Pandemic. As you know if you read this blog, two weeks from today we again board the Diamond Princess for a 9-day cruise around Japan.

But first, just one news flash. The U.S. House of Representative remained paralyzed when Congressman Jim Jordan lost the vote today to become speaker. In a way, this was embarrassing, for he walked unto the floor with a sense of confidence, but was rebuffed by 20 Republicans who voted for someone else. Democrats all voted for Hakeem Jeffries, who beat Jordan, 212-200. But with no majority vote of 217 or more, no winner. Next vote will come at 11AM on Wednesday. I said yesterday there was no way he could prevail, and GOP sources today said that opposition to Jordan could actually grow in future votes. I still think that Kevin McCarthy will ultimately return to the speakership, with unofficial cooperation from Democrats, effectively, then a bipartisan House.

We have not toured Japan for just about four years. On 19November2019 we left Honolulu on Japan Airlines for Tokyo.

We stayed at the Yokohama Bay Sheraton, and will again use this hotel as our base of operations. We had a view of Mount Fuji from our room.

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:

9July1854: Iga-Ueno earthquake, 7.25 magnitude, killing 995.
23December1854: Tokai quake, 8.4, which killed 2,000.
24December1854: Nankai quake, also 8.4, killing 10,000.
26December1854: Hoyo Strait quake, 7.4.
Also, 11November1855: Edo quake, 7.0, 6,641 deaths.

Ultimately in 1868, the 15th Tokugawa shogun, Yoshinobu, resigned, restoring power to Emperor Meiji, #122, initiating the Meiji era to 1912, a period when Japan began modernization and westernization. The capitol in 1868 was moved from Kyoto to Edo, now Tokyo. Kyoto had been capitol from 794, nearly a millennium. He ruled from the days of the samurai to Japan becoming one of the world's great powers. Actually, he was throughout his reign known as Mutsuhito, and Meiji, or Enlightened Rule, came at the end.

I might mention that the first day of our stay in Japan, I noticed Tropical Storm Fung-Wong forming east of Taiwan, with a projected path over Okinawa, then on to Japan. These were our cruise stops.

Lucky for us, but Fung-Wong never did attain typhoon strength, and only peripherally affected our cruise.

We walked to Yokohama pier, where we saw the Diamond Princess.

We then took off on a 7-day Japan Rail Pass to view the Fall colors, first dropping by Sendai where we had our traditional Japanese Wagyu Beef meal at Iseya, located at the train station.

We then went on to Matsumoto:

Back to Tokyo, on to Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens.

Then on to Nagoya on the bullet train, where we had an unusual view of Mount Fuji.

We stayed at the Marriott Associa Hotel at Nagoya Station. Their executive club is the best we ever experienced, ending with a fabulous Japanese breakfast the following morning.

Kyoto was colorful.

On to Hiroshima and Shukkeien, a Japanese Garden.

On day 10 of our Orient trip, we boarded the Diamond Princess.

A stop in Okinawa took us to Churaumi Aquarium, the best in Japan.

Okinawa hosted the 1975 Ocean Exposition with Aquapolis, a floating structure as the highlight.

Another stop was Taipei.

Returning to Yokohama, we took a walk around, focusing on Sankeien Garden. Spectacular colors.

And this was not the end of our Orient trip, for we flew on to Seoul.

We stayed at the Sheraton D-Cube City, my favorite hotel in the country. Alas it closed during the pandemic is now an office building.

Then back through Japan to Honolulu. Home, sweet, home.

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...

THE BULLET TRAIN

Japan had the first bullet train more than 60 years ago. It was 10October1964, when the opening ceremony was held in Tokyo in anticipation of Japan's first-ever Olympic Games, which began that day. The Shinkansen, meaning new mainline , with a separate track, arrived when normal train traffic had reached the limit for carrying passengers and freight. A train trip between Osaka and Tokyo dropped from 6 hours and 40 minutes to 4 hours, shortened to 3 hours and 10 minutes by 1964, and is now 2 hours and 30 minutes. From the Shin-Osaka Station to the Shin-Yokohama Station only takes a little more than 2 hours. In 1964 the track was 320 miles long. Today, it's up to 1484 miles. The original itinerary incorporating Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka now carries 159 million passengers/year. In this 6 decade period, more than 10 billion passengers have been safely handled. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT NOT ONE PASSENGER HAS YET BEEN KILLED IN A DERA...

Search This Blog