March 19th

Kagoshima

We saw the mist, and missed the view……………

We were awoken by an announcement from the Captain. Usually the Captain only makes announcements in the cabin if there is some dire emergency like a fire or we are taking on water. I sat up quickly, apprehensive about what disaster was about to befall us. No disaster, just that because of adverse weather conditions our stop in Pusan, South Korea, had been cancelled, and we will head right to Osaka after our stop in Kagoshima.

I know that safety comes first, but I must say I was disappointed. I had really been looking forward to exploring a new and fascinating country. I also feel sorry for the people in the port who must also be looking forward to our day in their city, and who lose out on the financial gain from our visit. No Taiwan, and now no South Korea. Well at least we will always have Japan.

It was time to get up, and get ready for our day in Kagoshima. I looked out the window hoping for brilliant sunshine, but there was none to be seen. Visibility was very limited, and it was pouring. Although the weather report had made no mention of rain, I was not surprised. Brian and I are well known internationally for our rain making capabilities. We can cause rainfall in the middle of a country’s dry season, states that have experienced drought for years, have flooding shortly after our arrival. Rumor has it that water deprived Cape Town is anxiously awaiting our visit.

We grabbed our rain gear, and headed to the Queens Room to get our stickers for our tour.

We were not meant to be in the Queens Room. There was a news crew there filming the captain and several local dignitaries. Obviously our arrival in Kagoshima was a big deal. We were able to locate the tour desk, get our stickers, and disembarked in the pouring rain. Luckily our bus was close by, but we were still soaked.

We had chosen a leisurely bus tour today, which luckily did not involve too much walking in the rain. Our first stop was at a distillery where they produce shochu, a rather nasty sweet potato based drink. We learned how they first make a sake like drink from fermented rice, and then they add sweet potato and distil the product. Everyone else on the tour seemed to enjoy sampling it, and ended up purchasing bottles. Even if added to orange juice I think it would still be nasty. However, we learned all about the health benefits from it, including how it reduces the chance of blood clots due to its enzymes. This really didn’t make much medical sense, but they added that it was one and a half times more effective than wine at preventing blood clots. This is good news. Who knew that drinking wine could prevent blood clots? On my next long plane flight I plan to drink one and a half times more wine, to get the same effect as drinking shochu.

After we had had our fill of shochu, and were feeling a whole lot merrier, we drove through the city, past Kinko Bay, and briefly glimpsed the bronze statue of Saigo Takamori, one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, who was dubbed the “last true samurai”. He was the model for the movie “The Last Samurai”.

We then went past the site of Kagoshima Castle, but there is no longer a castle there. The original buildings experienced a series of unfortunate incidents. Next was the part I had really been looking forward to – the sight of Mt Sakurajima. Mt Sakurajima is one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, often having several small eruptions daily. I love volcanoes, and was really looking forward to seeing it spewing steam even if it wasn’t spitting out lava. We got off the bus and walked to the view point in the rain and saw – nothing! No view of the mountain at all, let alone seeing it erupt. There was also meant to be a “spectacular view of the whole of Kagoshima and the bay”, but no, that was not to be seen either. Totally soaked we sadly returned to the bus, and started on our journey back to the ship.

We had an extremely perky guide, and she had arranged all sorts of educational excercises and activities for us on the ride to the port. These included Japanese number bingo and a Japanese sing a long. We needed more Shochu I think, but even without it several of us sang our hearts out, and I had a good time. At the end of the tour she gave each of us an origami crane that she had made, a lovely touch. All of our guides have been such nice people, even though some have been difficult to understand.

At the port they were playing music and there had been dancing. Every port we have visited has really made an all out effort to make us feel welcome, even in adverse weather conditions.

Back on the ship we changed into dry clothes and went to the Commodore Club to meet up with Evana and Alan. It is always great after months of communicating with fellow travelers via Facebook and email to actually meet them in person.

Then it was time for sail away. There was a band playing to wish us farewell, and after blowing our whistle we sailed off into the rain and fog. We observed the sail away from indoors. I am a huge fan of watching sail aways, but with the weather so far on this trip, I realized that apart from when we boarded in Osaka and had to walk along the promenade deck to get inside the ship, I have not been out doors yet. This is ridiculous.

Despite being a port day, it was a formal night, and the Madam Butterfly ball. I had purchased a beautiful bow tie for Brian on Etsy. It is red with black Japanese characters, very unique. I wore my ever present long black dress, with a teal silk shawl with stylized cherry blossoms. I felt that we were acknowledging the theme, but then the song by the Vapors “I think I’m Turning Japanese” entered my head, and stayed there the rest of the evening.

There were long queues to get formal photos taken, longer than I have seen before. However, the Kimono crowd looked so spectacular it was great to see them. Again, everyone I saw had made at least some effort to go along with the dress code. There were a few gentlemen in sports coats and ties, and a few women in rather casual pantsuits, but at least they weren’t in jeans and T shirts. The majority of passengers looked splendid. I do love formal nights.

I like our tablemates, but they are just not a very chatty crowd. On other cruises we never finished dinner before 10:30, but now we are usually done by 9:45 at the latest. We had wanted to see the show at 10:30, I love the production shows. However, we made the fatal mistake of going to the cabin after dinner to download photos before the show. I removed my high heals to give my feet a rest. I then realized that I would much rather crawl into bed than put my shoes back on and go to the show. So we missed the show. I know that in future we will have to wait for 10:30 in one of the lounges if we want to go to a show. It’s just so tempting to go to sleep if we go to the cabin.