ARRIVAL IN AOMORI

The Israel-Hamas War seems to be escalating. However, Egypt is beginning to allow foreigners to enter from the Rafah Gate in southern part of the Gaza Strip. Updates here,

From the morning New York Times:

That is the conclusion of a new study by Patrick Sharkey and Megan Kang at Princeton. Stricter gun laws passed by 40 states from 1991 to 2016 reduced gun deaths by nearly 4,300 in 2016, or about 10 percent of the nationwide total. States with stricter laws, such as background checks and waiting periods, consistently had fewer gun deaths, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows:

But on to our cruise. Aomori is the the capital city of Aomori Prefecture. Means Blue Forest, with a current population of around 265,000, the northern most of Honshu Island. There were 319,000 people living here in 2000, and this number has since then been declining, as is the entire country, which was up to 127 million in 2007, but is today down to 125 million.

What distinguishes Aomori is that although it is located far south of Sapporo, Aomori experienced 82 inches of snowfall in 2009, while the heaviest ever for Sapporo was 65 inches in 1939. Mount Hakkoda has a reputation for forming snow monsters, ice covered trees. Take the Hakkoda Ropeway, a 10-minute ride for $12.

Aomori was subjected to air raids in World War II, losing 88% of city structures. The city was connected to Tokyo by highway only in 1979. Their landmark building is the pyramidal Aomori Prefecture Tourist Center, which opened in 1986. It is the only capital city without a national university. For a population of only a quarter million, it does have 45 public elementary schools.

Aomori is known for apples, and I've always wanted to picked one, The apple-picking season began in August and extends into mid November, It is Japan's leading producer of apples, first cultivated during the Meiji Period in 1868, The most famous is Hirosaki Apple Park, home to over 1300 apple trees of 65 different varieties.

Hirosaki Castle is unique in that it was built 1611 and has survived battles and wars. You especially want to visit during cherry blossom period. The buds are especially thick. Also there is Hirosaki Castle Botanical Garden.

The city is best known for the Aomori Nebuta Festival in July. Three million visitors come each year. The event has 20 dynamic nebuta, or enormous lantern floats based on myths or kabuki stories. Anyone welcome to join in the float parade, but you need to wear the correct uniform, the traditional haneto costume, which you purchase for around $50, or rent for $20.

Dining out at Miroku Alley is the prime cuisine site. Local foods are served at Hachinohe Yatai Mura (food stall village) in Hachinohe. This whole alley is one giant outdoor street food party. Down the meal with Aomori Sake, which should not be confused with Awamori, a sochu from Okinawa.

One more attraction is Inakadate's Rice Paddyfield Art. Rice has been cultivated for over 2000 years.

Sunrise at sea.

We were serenaded while the staff began stacking up champagne glasses.

A Silverado Cabernet Sauvignon and McCallan on rocks.

Bob had two margaritas.

Entrance to Sabatini.

I had a Spaghetti Bolognese with giant meatball, plus truffles risotto.

Dessert.

Dinner was excellent, so we decided to return in a few days. After dinner drinks.

This couple was in an adjacent table. They celebrated a birthday. We began to talk to them, and he is a professor at Nagasaki University.

We approach Aomori at sunrise.

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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