Kochi

Today we are docked in Kochi, where our excursion was called "highlights of Kochi". We started out with a visit to Kochi beach, which was very pretty.

After that there was a trip to Kochi castle, which is the oldest castle at 400 years old. There are many castles where there has been a castle on the site for longer, but most castles are made of wood and end up being burned down and reconstructed. For example, Osaka castle was most recently reconstructed in 1931.

Then we had free time at Kochi market. However, it being before 11am, many shops were not open. We ended up having take away food from a convenience store and sitting in the main square to eat.

Finally, we visited yet another shrine.  I'm starting to feel the same way about shrines as I did about foss (waterfalls) in Iceland.  It was novel on the first day, but by the end of the trip I was thinking "not another bloody foss".

Oh Deer

Today's excursion was to Nara. Nara has a park with many temples and shrines, where deer roam free. The deer are sacred as they are seen as messengers of the gods.

We started at the Todai Ji Buddhist temple, which houses the biggest Buddha statue in the world.

After that we had some free time to feed the deer. You can buy deer "cookies" which are made from rice husks and wheat, but the deer were not shy, and if you didn't feed them fast enough they were happy to take a nibble of your clothes instead.  I have no photos of me feeding the deer because I freaked out and threw all my cookies on the ground and ran away when this happened to me.

After the Buddhist temple we went to a Shinto shrine.  The deer here were a lot more polite and bowed at you, but I had no cookies left.  

We were then dropped off in Naramarchi to go shopping. Unfortunately, it was Sunday,  so not much was open.  For the 3rd day running our guide was telling us something was made out of ooder, which I assumed was some sort of new fangled construction material rather than a mispronounced version of the Dr Who species the Ood.  Turns out they are saying "wood" in a very strange accent!

Back onboard we won 2 rounds of trivia, before trying out the main restaurant for the first time. Becky had the beouf bourguinon and I had chicken roulade. Then it was off to bed for yet another early night.

Osaka Castle and Dotombori

We were up early as usual. The ship wasn't docking at Osaka until after 11am, so we spent the morning in the solarium hanging out in the hot tub. There's  also a very nice coffee shop onboard that opens at 5.30am and has become our goto place first thing.

Our excursion today started at the Dotombori shopping district . It was exactly what I'd imagined a Japanese shopping street to be like, and I bought too much stuff.

After that, we went to Osaka Castle. The main tower is 8 storeys tall,  so it was a long way to the top. The weather here is pretty hot, so after all that climbing we found a nice rooftop bar at a nearby building and had an ice cold drink, sitting in the breeze.  The castle complex was lovely, but I wish we'd had more time to look around.  

The hot day really took it out of us and we didn't have the energy to stay awake for the Taiko drumming show and went to bed at 7pm.  Party animals aren't we?

A Cloudy Day at Mt Fuji

Today we are docked at Shimizu, which is the closest port to Mt Fuji.  Our excursion took us to Hongu Shrine first.  This is a Shinto shrine.  The gate (which looks like a bird perch in shape) is called a tori, ans you should bow before walking through it.

After that, we went to the Mt Fuji World Heritage Centre. The building is designed to look like an upside down version of the mountain. Inside, you walk up a spiral ramp to the top, where there is a viewing platform. Unfortunately,  the mountain (who is female) is shy and is often hiding behind a bank of cloud. That was the case for us today. So we had an ice cream in the cafe to make up for our disappointment. 

Despite missing out on the view of the mountain, I found it really interesting to see the ordinary Japanese houses along our coach route.  The areas around the airport and the cruise port were very industrial and all modern high rise buildings. They have so many earthquakes here that there aren't a lot of older buildings.

Back on the ship, we took part in a couple of trivia quizzes but didn't win.  There are more Aussies on the ship than Americans, so the competition is a lot stiffer!

All Aboard Celebrity Millennium

 We were up early this morning,  about 4am to be exact.  After taking the hotel shuttle back to the airport we managed to locate the Celebrity rep and took our private car transfer to the port at Yokohama.  The car was very luxurious and our driver was called Nishio. 

Boarding went quickly and efficiently and we started with a celebratory cocktail. I had an appletini

We'd made sure to pack our swimsuits in our hand luggage, so we were able to spend the afternoon with the hot tubs to ourselves

Having been up since 4am we were completely knackered and ended up going to bed at 6pm. Yes, you heard that right. We're really pushing the boat out.

Arrived in Tokyo

This is just a short update to tell everyone we've arrived safely in Tokyo.  Had a nice overnight stay at Vancouver airport and it was a lovely morning as we waited at the gate for our flight to Tokyo.

It was a long flight and it took us almost as long to get through the queue at immigration when we landed. It reminded me of the queueing system at a Disney ride: you'd think you were getting close to the immigration desk and then it would veer off again and take you in a big loop somewhere else.

We were so knackered by the time we got to hotel that we just ate in the coffee shop and went to bed at 7pm.  We've now been up since 4am. It's quite hot here.

Didn't see much of anything except the airport yesterday,  so I don't have any photos of Japan except for this nice one of our high tech loo at the hotel. 

We should be meeting the cruise rep this morning and then heading to Yokohama to board the ship. 

Off to Japan

 Setting off for Japan tomorrow for a cruise, followed by a week in South Korea. Check in here for daily updates.