I could feel it coming on, that scratchy throat, the overnight postnasal drip. So, I decided to skip the tour we had booked in Toyama and spend the day resting. Suzi went out on tour to look at temples and … Continue reading A Robotic Cartoon Cat and Taiko Drumming as a Martial Art.
On Saturday we called at Sakaiminato. There were temples and gardens we could visit, and it is a fishing port, so I could have wandered the docks. But we were only in port for half a day, and I wanted … Continue reading A Street of Whimsey and Delight
The Kanmon Strait separates the main Japanese Islands of Honshu and Kyushu. It is the way to get from the Inland Sea (which connects with the Pacific) to the Sea of Japan and is sometimes viewed as the gateway to … Continue reading Kanmon Strait
At least until after some thought. For now, pictures and captions. The “Atomic Dome” The one surviving building close “Ground Zero” or as the Japanese call it the Hypo Center. Scenes from the Peace Park, on an island across from … Continue reading Hiroshima – No Words
Paper is important in Japan. Not only is it made for documents, newspapers, books, and currency but fans and origami paper for creating three dimensional designs. Clothing was also made of paper. It was cheap and it retained heat well. … Continue reading Making Paper
Taiko Drummers and an animated Ferris Wheel ended our visit to Osaka. Each community tries to outdo the next in sending off cruise ships. This is an experiment. I have never tried to do a video before. Check out the … Continue reading Osaka Farewell
Leaving the train station, we had a lot of choices. Tour companies offered to take us on a bus loop to the major palaces, castles, forts, shrines gardens and temples that people go to Kyoto to see. We opted to … Continue reading Full and Empty
The bullet train takes 13 minutes to travel from Kyoto to Osaka. On the return the “Hello Kitty” liveried train took us back in about twice that time. Today was my train day. The Shinkansen, or bullet train, links most … Continue reading From Bullet Train to “Hello Kitty.”
Nine is the new midnight. After a relaxing day (we only went to one lecture, but it was a difficult one to hear, on the atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki delivered by a retired officer and military historian) the … Continue reading Osaka Night (ok early evening)Life.
In the classic days of ocean crossings, the sail away was an event. After partying on the ship guests would heed the call “All ashore that’s going ashore” and line the pier. Travelers threw paper streamers from the ship and … Continue reading I Take Pictures of Sunsets and Volcanoes
It was a three-day weekend in Japan. Sunday, September 22 is the first day of fall. We had blustery weather throughout the night and the captain aborted his first attempt to enter Shimizu harbor because of high winds and squalls. … Continue reading Looking for Fuji, Finding Halloween
Our first stop in Tokyo was the Asakusa district. It had started as a fishing village the Suida River. The legend is that some fishermen in the 7th century, caught a small statue in their nets. They built a temple … Continue reading Holiday Kimonos
The thing I noticed about Tokyo this trip is that I could breathe. The first time we spent the night in Tokyo I had trouble breathing. It was1969, Suzi and I were on our way to a summer study program … Continue reading When Tokyo was Edo
When we got back to the ship the air conditioning was working again and the engineer we spoke with said the ship had already cooled down by 3o Celsius. The view of downtown Yokohama at night from our balcony was … Continue reading Yokohama Comes to Us.
When I was kid there were a lot of myths about Japanese Baseball that I later learned were not true, like the myth that they ran the based clockwise go give more advantage to right handers. Not true. On … Continue reading …and Baseball!
After our son, Brian, graduated from college he and his roommate bought a house in South Minneapolis with the intention of fixing it up and flipping it. Halloween completely slipped their minds so when goblins started knocking they gave out … Continue reading In Praise of Ramen!
I stepped onto our balcony as we pulled into Hakodate. A group of school girls in white uniforms with sailor collars waved enthusiastically calling out “good morning mister.” I waved back and called out “ohayō.” They started jumping up and … Continue reading Hakodate
Gori was a Japanese student at Sitka’s Outer Coast College. We worked together to produce a radio program on the Japanese nature photographer Michio Hoshino who was killed in a bear mauling and was beloved in Alaska. I asked for … Continue reading …and Bears, Oh My!
At breakfast this morning the omelette ladies asked me if I was excited about getting to Japan tomorrow. The proper answer, of course, is yes. But while interested in Japan, I love the sea days. One of the reasons we … Continue reading A (Sea) Day in the Life
Friday the 13th does not exist for me. It’s the day we cross the dateline, we move directly from the 12th to the 14th. To compensate we will have two October 12ths on the way back. A lost day at … Continue reading Cruise Conundrum
When I first started cruising, I suffered from FOMO, Fear of Missing Out. There was so much to do, I didn’t know where to start, but I wanted to get my money’s worth. Now I’ve relaxed a bit, I’m choosier … Continue reading FOMO and ROMO
I started this blog to share photographs. When working in international media development I wrote weekly letters to family and friends. I asked then not to share them because I made observations that may, if publicized, compromise my work. But … Continue reading Unalaska Photo Gallery
A Coast Guard Cutter pulled rank and Westerdam had stand offshore and tender passengers into Dutch Harbor, the port for Unalaska. We disembarked at the Carl E. Moses small boat harbor. “Small” is a relative term in Alaska. The harbor … Continue reading Fresh Blueberries
In 1986 the Hubbard Glacier was a circus and Raven Radio covered it. In May pressure from the Valorie Glacier, that feeds the Hubbard Glacier, Alaska’s biggest tidewater glacier, pushed the glacier forward. The glacier pushed the glacial till of … Continue reading Covering the Hubbard Glacier.