Sakata with a population of almost 100,000 is in Yamagata Prefecture. However, it was 127,000 in 1960.   Many immigrants to Hawaii came from this area.   From the 17th to 19th century, Sakata was very prosperous because it was a shipping route for the Sea of Japan into the country, November is the wettest month, but it was sunny yesterday.   This city escaped damage in World War II, with only one air raid.   The Sakata Festival from May 19-21 is their major historical event.   You can catch the bullet train from Tokyo to Niigata, then transfer north to Sakata. City most known for the 2013 film,  Oshin  (click on it to watch the entire movie), which followed the 297 15-minute episodes of  Oshin , the serialized morning television drama, which aired in 1983 and 1984.   Here is a typical episode . I had never before heard of Sakata, but if you decide to visit, here is Trip Advisor link on  Things to do in Sakata . We decided to skip any tour today and essentially did nothing.  We woke up

 The hot topic across the USA is March Madness, also known as the Big Dance Each of the men's and women's bracket features 63 games.  Men start today and women tomorrow. No favorite in the men's side, but South Carolina women will almost surely prevail.  Watch to see what Florida Gulf Coast does.  In the past five years, 19 of 20 final four berths went to seeds 1 and 2. The player to watch is Caitlin Clark of Iowa.  She makes 3-point shots from near the half court line. If you want a long-shot for men's, pick San Diego State, Creighton, Tennessee or Providence.  Princeton always surprises. Your chances of getting all 63 games right is 9.2 quintillion to one.  No one has ever been officially recorded to succeed since the beginning of time. Which beer should you drink?   Click on this.   Hawaii has no chance against LSU, but The Athletic says try 337 blueberry blond lager of Adopted Dog Brewing from Lafayette.  The brewery just opened, so this would be a first for anyone.

This was our best day on our trip so far.  However, first, Australia has some strange time zones.  We just changed our watches by 30 minutes, traveling south and west of Sydney along the coastline below the yellow zone. So what time is the Academy Awards program on TV?  Yes, it is being shown live on this ship.  Let's see now, New York start time is 8PM on Sunday.  Sydney is 16 hours ahead, so that would be 12 noon on Monday.  But wait, the USA just went on daylight savings time last night, so that would be 11AM.  Except we just moved half an hour towards, or is it away, from New York.  So 10:30AM?  Then on April 2,  Australia goes into Daylight Savings Time . Anyway, I am watching the Oscars as I write this blog, and for lunch plan to order a cheeseburger with beer and a red wine, plus Caesar salad, to continue viewing the program. Yesterday on the second sea-day we had a decent lunch with side skirt steak, chicken, Caesar salad, tomato soup and rosé. Then on to a Global Wine Ques