OCEANIA RIVIERA: Sendai to Hakodate

The Shinkansen takes around 3 hours to get from Sendai to Shin-Hakodate. A car, perhaps 8.5 hours. Our cruise ship leaves Sendai at 3PM and is expected to arrive in the Port of Hakodate at 7AM, or 16 hours later. Our ship would need to cruise at 22 MPH. The Riviera's top speed is 23 MPH.

The largest cruise ship today is the Icon of the Seas. She has a top speed of 28 MPH. The Titanic could just about reach that speed.

The Oceania Riviera was supposed to depart at 3PM, but instead left at 2:50. So this is the only photo I took.

Sendai is a special place for me. I have stayed at the Sendai Westin at least ten times. Photo to the left, sunset from the Executive Club. The room price now is around $350/night. I remember a few months after the 11March2011 Great Tohoku cataclysm, with the Fukushima damaged nuclear reactors only 50 miles away, I only paid $45/night.

2012: In April, 13 months after the Great Tohoku disaster.

2014: Beef tongue. I thought I had ordered steak. This meat was crunchy. Then I realized what happened. I still feel the tongue in my intestinal track. Sendai is especially noted for beef tongue.

2016: Sakura and Snow in Sendai.

2017: Here am I in the lobby of the Westin Sendai.

2017: Later in the fall, I returned, went walking, shopped at Daiso, and bought all those items below...for a grand total of $7.56.

2018: Sakura.

2019: Iseya, a restaurant that specializes in wagyu beef, is a spot I always have lunch. Is located in the Sendai Station. They sizzle the wagyu close by so you can smell and hear it all.

2023: Here is the Westin Sendai below.

I have made around a dozen Japan Rail Pass trips, and almost every time I go north, I stop in Sendai.

But back to the Oceania Riviera, Adam Tanner gave his second lecture on Japan, featuring the reign of General MacArthur from 1945 to 1952. All totally new to me.

Tanner shared facts few know about the reign of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur. For example, how dedicated he was, and yet so isolated. It would take me too long to list everything.

One key point was that he went against popular American opinion, and maintained the role of Emperor Hirohito for a more peaceful and successful occupation, and for the overall stability of Japan. Many felt that Hirohito was complicit with leaders like General Hideki Tojo, and should have been executed.
You can read all the details about MacArthur's seven years in Japan.

Here are some facts you might not have known about General MacArthur.

His mother came from a Confederate family.
Only Robert E. Lee, leader of the Confederate, surpassed MacArthur in West Point performance.
He was president of the American Olympic Committee for the 1928 Summer Games in Amsterdam.
During 1933, he was tasked by FDR to mobilize 300,000 in the Civilian Conservation Corps.
He promoted a nomination as a Republican nominee to run against FDR in 1944.

Was fired by President Harry Truman on April 11, 1951. On April 19 he gave a speech to a joint session Congress, where he was interrupted by 50 ovations, and closed with: Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. MacArthur was more popular than the president, and received a ticker tape parade the next day.

The MacArthur Bowl awarded to the top college football team? Named after him, and the 25-pound trophy is shaped like a football stadium, featuring his quote: There is no substitute for victory.

Went to Terrace Cafe, a buffet, for dinner. They had a sushi/sashimi bar.

We just arrived in Hakodate. It's raining.

We are getting ready for our first tour from this ship. Tomorrow, our visit to this city on Hokkaido.

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 ...

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