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...

The fireworks at midnight bringing in the new year is now a shadow of what it once was when the local government clamped down because of noise, air pollution and injuries.  However, below you can see some photos I took of that moment last night, and there were some major fireworks out there, much of it probably illegally brought into the state.  One of these accidents at one home  killed at least two, with 20 more seriously injured .  It happened in the Salt Lake area of Honolulu, where I took most of the shots.  But this photo to the left was sent to me.  That must have been the incident. In New Orleans, a 42-year old Texas man, rammed a pickup truck New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street,  killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more .  Apparently, the driver was flying an ISIS flag, so authorities are calling an act of terrorism.  It's possible he had partners.  A lot more will be coming on this tragedy.  The Sugar Bowl gam...