At Sea 4-3-26

​Today was entirely at sea, since the ship decided to skip our last stop before Tokyo, in order avoid bad weather by arriving in Tokyo a day early. I had thought we would experience rough seas, but that has not materialized and the forecast is for decent weather between now and when we dock tomorrow morning in Tokyo.

Even though we did not get off the ship today, I was able to walk over 12,000 steps, principal by doing laps around the walking deck.

For dinner tonight, my entrée was Beef Bourgignon, one of my favorite French dishes.  I order it whenever I see it on a menu, including in Paris. This version was the best I have ever eaten!

The beef in the dish was very flavorful and most importantly, it was so tender that I could cut it with my soup spoon.  This photo doesn’t do it justice. The waiter said that the beef had been simmered over four days.

Kobe 4-2-26

​Today we landed in Kobe.  As usual, we took the shuttle bus to a downtown area, and walked a covered shopping mall. 

This mall seemed like the longest one we’ve been to. My iPhone showed that we had walked 10,500 steps, or about 3.9 miles today, all at the mall.  

Normally I don’t like shopping malls, but the ones in Japan are more entertaining.  All of the merchants were in small shops, and many had English explanations about their wares, or, in the case of eateries, pictures.

As usual, our 1st stop was a small shop were I bought a manju (sweet rice cake):

It was worth the calories!  It was so good that after lunch, on our way back to the shuttle bus pickup, I bought another to bring back to the ship.

We stopped for lunch at a place that served Kobe beef. My Kobe beef dish was served with a shrimp croquet.  

The beef was ok, but I think my taste buds are shifting to pork.

We stopped at a shop that sold knives and small tools, where I bought a toenail clipper and a nose hair trimmer, I think both are made of stainless steel. Not the most glamorous items, but the craftsmanship are what enticed me:

For dinner, we decided to eat in the main restaurant to see what we had been missing the past few nights.  

We both had an excellent pea soup.  

We shared a Caesar salad, which had too much dressing. 

Marge had a rack of lamb but she didn’t care for the sauce:

I had sweet & sour pork, but I only ate a few bites because I had some of Marge’s lamb.

For dessert, I had a very good coffee & chocolate trifle:

One thing that detracted from our dinner was that we sat next to a group of 4 people which included a loudmouth woman who had an opinion on everything. I had my Apple noise cancelling earphones, so I put one in my right ear to dampen the sound.

During dinner, the ship announced that  we would skip the next port, Nagasaki, due to poor weather concerns that the Port of Tokyo might close if we tried to dock at our normal date of April 5.  We will dock in Tokyo a day early and will be able to remain on the ship until April 5.

So we will be at sea the next 2 days in rough weather.

Kochi 4-1-26

​Today we docked in Kochi.  Late am, we took the ships shuttle to town.  It was raining, but there was a big covered mall near the shuttle stop so rain wasn’t a problem.  We walked to a large food mall filled with food booths.  Our 1st stop was a small booth that served zenzai & tea:

For lunch, I had a bowl of ramen and Marge had spring rolls:

Beppu - 3-31-26

​Today we landed at Beppu.  We took an excursion to a mountain overlooking the city, but the mountain was shrouded in clouds, so we couldn’t see much until we were on our way down and we could see the city.  Next we went to an area featuring steam vents.  We were able to soak our feet in a hot water pool, which felt nice and relaxing:

Cherry trees are in full bloom- here’s Marge in front of one in the stream vent area:

We wanted to cut back on food, so for dinner, we ate the afternoon antipasti brought to our room by our butler

and had an early dinner at a sandwich bar on the ship:

As the ship departed, a Taiko drum team played at the dock:

Kagoshima 3-30-26 Favorite Food Day

​Today we docked in Kagoshima.  We didn’t book any excursions today, so we just took the ship’s shuttle bus into town.  

All I knew about the city was that there was an area of shops, cafes and local shops.  Luckily the shuttle dropped us off next to that area. For this trip to Japan, I wanted to eat some of my favorite Japanese foods: grilled manju (sweet red beans wrapped in a rice cake), Zenzai (sweet red bean soup) and ramen.  Within an hour of getting off the shuttle, we had eaten the 1st 2 items and were sitting in a restaurant eating the best ramen I’ve ever had.  

Here are some photos:

Manju in front of shop making them:

Zenzai:

Ramen:

Also on my list was to buy a sunblock that I had discovered on a prior trip to Japan and to buy umbrellas for both of us. We had read that we would encounter rain on the trip and that Japanese umbrellas were very good.  After long, on our way back to the shuttle bus, we found my sunblock and umbrellas.  It started to rain as we walked to the shuttle stop, so we lucked out again.

Back on the ship, after resting, we went to the afternoon tea.  We ate about half of what was brought to us:

Late in the afternoon, our butler brought some appetizers:

After all our treats today,  we skipped dinner.

Fukuoka 3-28-26

​Today we docked in Fukuoka, our first stop in Japan.  We took a shuttle bus into downtown Fukuoka and went exploring. 

I’m a sucker for sweets, so this young lady making a connection in a department store food floor caught my eye. It’s a ball of sweet red beam paste with whipped cream wrapped in a small pancake.

I bought one and they put it in a bag along with 2 cold packs.  It was really good!

We spent time & $ in our favorite Japanese store, Uniglo.

Tonight’s dinner on the ship was at a restaurant with the menu designed by Nobu Matsuhisa. 

Here are photos of most of the dishes:

Grilled eggplant:

Eel sushi:

Assorted sushi:

Vegetable tempura:

I thought it was a good meal, but not extraordinary as one would think a Nobu restaurant would be.

Busan 3-27-26

​Today we docked in Busan, South Korea, just before 8 AM. Here’s a photo of the port:

After breakfast, we went on a tour of Busan.  

One stop was the Busan fish market, which reminded me of Tokyo’s Tsukiji market, but on a smaller scale.

Here a photo of our ship on our return:

Later this afternoon, our butler brought us a tray of enticing appetizers:

My favorite dish is French onion soup, so when I saw it on tonight’s dinner menu, I had to order it.  This was the best FOS I’ve ever had, even better than the one at Papillon in Fremont, my former favorite, or FOS I’ve had in Paris:

You can see that there were plenty of simmered onion pieces, but they didn’t overpower the taste.  I also had another favorite dish, chicken pot pie, but it was disappointing.