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.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

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 are held every five years, and there have only been

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