4. Into Asia

Sun, Sep 28, 2008 Muroran, Japan

We’ve arrived in Asia! We have traversed 3100 miles from Whittier to the Port of Muroran, on Hokkaido island - the northernmost of the 4 main ones that comprise Japan. We chuckle with our American friends that Canada’s population of 33M is equivalent to California’s, which is 1/20 or less the geographical size. Well, Japan is slightly smaller than California, geographically, but has some 136M residents!


Our 5 days was not without some rough weather, as mentioned above. The detour we took added 150 miles, according to the Captain’s announcement after the fact, and brought us through a night of 16 foot seas, with Force 7 (light gale) winds, but we avoided the 36 foot Force 9 (full gale) seas that had been heading our way. (Normally, we have Force 1-3 winds and calm seas). In the Pacific, hurricanes are called typhoons, and this was one of the minor ones flaring up out at sea. In the end, the official report was “rough seas”, but it really wasn’t bad at all, and most seasoned passengers would have been through far worse at other times.


We decided to spend this port day travelling 2 ½ hours by coach to the city of Sapporo with friends Stephanie & Peter, and Sharon & Hugo, from Germany. Sapporo is known for hosting the 1972 Winter Olympics, so therefore is cold and snowy in winter, much like Ottawa – and it is only slightly to the south of Ottawa’s latitude. The scenery en route was impressive: very green, with multiple steep ravines and distant rolling mountains. The road system is totally modern, as one would expect of the efficient Japanese, but they drive on the other side of the road. Once to Sapporo, however, we were less impressed. The city of 1.6M is all modern but not architecturally striking, or even pleasant. We were quite surprised that there was no English spoken anywhere, including at the tourist office – even young people knew only hello and OK, and we never met one soul who could piece together a sentence. However, they were friendly and extremely courteous and smiling. Sapporo was laid out in the 1870s by a team of invited American advisors. It has the western-style grid system with wide avenues and parks, so is easy to explore and the downtown core is stabilized with the 2 x 14 block long Odori Park.

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This was Fall Festival Day, and the entire park was filled with residents, entertainers and vendors, many of whom were giving away samples of local favorites corn on the cob, potatoes or yakitori – skewers of chicken or pork.

Their neatness and order immediately strikes you, as well as the strange situation of not being able to read or understand ANY signage. There is no litter, no garbage, and no mess. Recycling bins are everywhere, and there is 100% participation. Young people are not dressed sloppily or as hoodlums. This is a society based on discipline, and respect, and it is obviously enforced.



The 6 of us wandered around for 3 hours, including 3/4 hour of free high speed internet time in the Apple Store and then headed back to the coach for the 2 ½ ride back to the ship. Overall, we would not go out of our way to return to the city of Sapporo, but we found the island of Hokkaido beautiful, and next time would instead try to see more of the countryside, maybe including tours to the active volcano of nearby Muroran.

Mon, Sep 29, 2008 At sea

We slowly proceeded due westward across the Sea of Japan towards Russia’s far eastern outpost, the city of Vladivostok. The seas were quite calm, and we even saw the odd fishing vessel and freighter. Days at sea are wonderful: wake up late, have room service breakfast – in our case just our usual yogurt, cereal, coffee, fruit, and muffins, but you can get very elaborate meals delivered if you want, all at no extra cost, of course – then maybe attend one of the on board lectures by one of the well-credentialed speakers (today’s 11:00 am talk is on Vladivostok’s history which also plays on the cabin TV). Alternately, we sometimes go to the morning trivia game, or get some sun on the balcony, or try helplessly to get internet access – our lack of internet for the past 14 days has been outrageous and very frustrating for us and Princess, whose own data systems have been impaired by no connectivity. There is some major technical glitch, we are being told, plus a huge contract issue back on land, that is blocking all service. It is unprecedented, and already Princess has refunded all our pre-paid usage, and given frequent cruisers, like us, $400 to pacify us… we would all rather have the internet.

The balance of the day is much the same: meals, planning for upcoming port days, conversations with new friends, maybe shopping at the on-board stores, giving the casino a few dollars, more eating options, perhaps a movie or a comedian or a stage show, posing for formal portraits, or dancing in one of several late night lounges, then bed, and the cycle starts again.



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Tues, Sep 30, 2008 Vladivostok, Russia

Lettered atop the sea terminal building adjacent to us as the slowly sun rose on this temperate morning, is ВΛАДИВОСТОК. What it says is Vladivostok, the eastern gateway to Russia, and home of the Russian Pacific fleet. It is also one end of the famed 6,000 mile Trans-Siberian Railway, which to judge from the train cars we can see on the nearby tracks, is not a trip you want to be booking. Rust is the main observation here: ships, trains, buses, cars and buildings are all rusting. There are a few striking buildings – like the restored train station, and some Russian Orthodox churches, and a few big hotels – that are attractive, but in general, the buildings are old, gray, dirty, and under various stages of reconstruction or repair. The roads are chaotic and full of potholes, and litter is everywhere. Vladivostok has a population of just 200,000, but is totally congested all day long, according to the student guide we hired on the dock to show us around. She called a taxi – no seat belts - and we piled in to tour the highlights for an hour. There aren’t many: a submarine, some churches, the 4 universities, an outdoor arsenal with several warheads on display, some lookouts, and that was it. Total cost for the guide and taxi: 800 Roubles, about $32. Fittingly, it began to rain and became even grayer. We had been warned about the locals, so before we set out, Colleen had a cruise passenger returning to the ship take our picture with our guide, and gave him the guide’s name and cell number in case anything untoward should have occurred. Fortunately, this was not necessary to follow up on!

We found an internet café and for $2.50 in Russian Rubles had an hour on high speed, (monitored perhaps by the KGB?). Walking back, we entered a small supermarket and looked for some baggies. The shelves were well stocked but mainly with soups, drinks, liquors, canned goods and fresh fish. We found no baggies, paper towels, cleaning products, or even toilet paper, items that normally take an entire aisle in N. America.





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As we left, hundreds of working Russians, and their families gathered at the port to see our huge ship sail off at 5:30 pm. What must have been going through their minds, we wondered. Their hopeless, dreary lives were quite a contrast to how North Americans live. Such experiences remind us of our good fortune.


Thurs, Oct 2, 2008 Pusan, South Korea

Pusan – or Busan as it is now becoming known for reasons we have yet been able to discern, no matter whom we asked – is a major Asian city, the 2nd largest in S. Korea after Seoul, and a major seaport. This city of 3.6M is situated in the cauldron-shape formed by several mountains that ring the port and harbour. Both Japan and Korea have been a breath of fresh air: scenic, interesting, efficient infrastructures, with lovely, gentle people, extremely clean streets and absolutely no graffiti. These places are SOOOO different than the hubbub, noise, graffiti, brashness and pushiness of Europe and N. America, that it is hard to picture it without being here. There is high density, however. Pusan is packed with people – 4,750 people per square kilometer, compared to Ottawa’s 305 - but is an appealing, non-threatening city (just the opposite of rusting, decaying, and rather menacing Vladivostok). These countries also are filled with very short people…!

With friends Stephanie & Peter, and Sharon & Hugo, we took the free 20 minute shuttle from the ship to downtown, and then boarded a clean and efficient subway train for 30 minutes – and 23 stops – to the outskirts of town, walked 500 meters along a street of tiny cafes and local food stalls to catch a local bus for 2 miles to the Beomeosa Temple complex. This is a collection of restored Buddhist temples of varying sizes that have been on this site since 678 AD.

The setting is on the side of a mountain, buried in thick bamboo groves and babbling streams. It is all very serene and meditative. Buddhism is one of the main religions in the Far East – along with Shintoism in Japan and Taoism is China - and there are some billion adherents, worldwide. The beliefs and morality of Buddhism permeate modern Japanese and Korean life, especially the Zen Buddhist emphasis on simplicity, generosity and mental control. A cornerstone of the religion is meditation, which is believed to be the road to enlightenment, and this active temple complex has many visitors and practitioners interacting with the gray-clad monks.


During the subway ride back to the city, we – but not the locals - are surprised by a passenger/entrepreneur who suddenly stands up and gives a 30 second sales pitch for a shopping bag full of cloth suit bags he is selling. Two or three passengers buy, and he collects his goods and heads to the next car! Soon after, he is replaced on this very orderly and clean train car by a quiet vendor carrying a huge bag of rice cakes (10 for a 1000 won, or 1 dollar). Interesting ride.

The Koreans, like the Japanese, are gentle, courteous, humble people who – in stark contrast to Europeans and N. Americans – give way rather than push, nod hello rather than avoid eye contact, and maintain an extremely clean environment. There are simply no butts, bits of paper, drink cups, or litter anywhere. And MANY people are wearing smart clothes. Taxi drivers and bus drivers are in suits and gloves. Grocery store workers are in masks and uniforms. School kids are uniformed, too. Lots of old and young men are in navy suits. It is all quite impressive. While there are lots of mini-skirted young women, there are hardly any sloppily-attired young people. We saw no body tattoos or piercings, despite the pressures of the Western world in posters for perfume and Hollywood that are omnipresent.

We wandered some streets of one of the downtown markets – much like Chinatown anywhere – then returned to the ship after a wonderful day.


Fri, Oct 3, 2008 Kagoshima, Japan

Konnichi-wa. Hello. We are back in Japan, after sailing southeast overnight some 300 nautical miles from Korea. The pleasant city of Kagoshima, on the south island of Japan, Kyushu, has a population of 600,000 and is quite temperate, getting next to no snow, despite being at 34 degrees latitude. The city even has its own active volcano – Mt. Sakurajima – on an island a few miles away, and it was even puffing smoke for us during the day.

This part of Japan was samurai warrior territory for 3 centuries until almost 1900, and later home to the infamous Chiran kamikaze air base in WW2. Despite this militaristic heritage, the people are again humble, gentle, and very courteous, and can’t do enough for you when you ask a question.

A few people we encountered spoke good English, but only a small percentage. But everyone loved to talk to us, and hear us talk.


With Stephanie & Peter, we located a hop on/hop off bus for a 45 minute tour off the city. We paid our 600 Yen – pronounced en, and worth about $6.00 - for the right to get on and off all day, but stayed on for one circuit and never did hop on and off. Still, we had a good look around, and got some narration in English on the bus. Kagoshima is clean, orderly, and quite green. Bamboo grows thickly in parks and on hillsides. We were surprised how much English signage there is amid the Japanese characters. And this is just on regular businesses and storefronts. Imagine Oriental characters on stores signs along the main streets of Canadian cities. Japan is clearly preparing long term for Western investment and tourists.

The weather was still good, and was probably 72 degrees all day. We prowled around some higher end stores, and even did the food halls of one terrific department store. Just before we headed back to the ship, a gentleman stopped us and wanted to speak English for a few moments. He wanted to know if we liked his city, and what were our impressions of Japan. At the end of our brief chat, he pulled from his bag a small bamboo fan on which he had painted the Japanese character for hope, and gave it to us, asking only that we send him an email when we returned to Canada. Charming man and gesture.

Back on the ship, we were treated to an hour long traditional Japanese folkloric show. Fabulous.