After leaving the ship, we caught the shuttle bus into town where we had arranged to meet a friend of Sue's who now worked in Japan. It was good to have someone with local knowledge who could now speak the language.
​ We started by walking to the Kushida Shrine  which  annually hosts the city's largest festival, Hakata Gion Yamakasa. and the first thing we saw was one of the large floats from this festival. Each side of this was equally as impressive with detailed images. 
​Exploring further, on this impressive site, we encountered torrential rain and were forced to shelter for a while before we could move on.

 Because of the weather, we decided that it would be best to visit an art gallery in order to stay out of the deluge of rain which had descended on the town.
Catching a taxi, we made our way to Ohori park where the Fukuoka Art Museum was situated, containing Buddhist art as well as the works of western-style painters who hailed from Kyushu in the modern age and foreign artists such as Dali, Miro and Chagall.
The first room we entered had 14th century Buddhist art from the Tokoin temple. The centre piece featured the 12 generals attending to Yakushi-nyorai who was the protector of the dragon direction. We didn't really understand this but the sculptures were impressive!
​

 Moving to the next room, we saw studies that quite surprised us as they were depicting everyday scenes in Japan such as,  sweeping the ground, Father and Brat, Twelve views of Dazaifu and a Tiger as well as more traditional landscapes. As well as being interesting some were quite humorous.

Our final visit was to the more modern section containing several works by famous European artists such as Picasso. Once again, unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photographs in this area.  As we left the exhibition there was a large sculpture by Henry Moore and a small room with a temporary collection.

As we came out of the gallery, the weather had improved at last and the park looked very inviting, regrettably, it was time to get a taxi back to the centre and, having said goodbye to Sue's  friend, return to the ship.
​He was lucky enough to be staying for a couple more days to explore and sent us photographs of the city by night which made us quite jealous.

After reading the information about Sakaiminato, the idea of visiting a town where one street was lined with the 100 characters imagined by the Japanese Manga artist Shigeru Mizuki sounded really interesting.
So, leaving the ship and going outside, we found that there were two choices of free mini buses either to the Botanical gardens or the town. As we had done the research, we decided to go to the town and soon arrived at the centre. Walking along the main street was a fascinating experience with the sculptures every few yards and it helped that the town wasn't very busy.
​As we walked, it was difficult to decide which ones to photograph as they were all so unique. For children they could buy a book to collect stamps of the sculptures and there were stamps and ink pads dotted around the street. A lovely way to encourage tourism and added to the interest.

​Towards the end of the street was a museum portraying Mizuki's life story and his work. Unfortunately, when we walked around the museum, all the information was in Japanese although you could download an app which translated the information  into English. We hadn't brought our headphones, so we weren't  able to use this.  If we had listened to the commentary without headphones, it would have been too distracting for other visitors.
Mizuki's life story was fascinating as was a short film about his time in the army where he lost his left arm, and finishing with his final return to Japan.
His range of supernatural characters were published in magazines, but his fame outside Japan didn't start until after 2010 when his stories started to be translated into other languages.
​The museum showed  images of his work and one room was full of some of his quite scary figures. His main character was the 'Ghost boy,' Kitaro. The two pictures below show how he was drawn.

​Leaving the museum, we bumped into a couple we had become friendly with during the trip and they had come from the gardens and were now enjoying the town. We realised we still had some time left, so decided to visit the gardens before we had to return 
to the ship.  This proved to be a disaster as it took too long to get there.
When we finally arrived, we had to stay on the bus to go straight back to the ship! However, this journey allowed us to travel over a famous steep bridge, although this doesn't look so scary in the photograph.  

​To sum up, we enjoyed our visit to a really interesting town and were happy to have been given an insight into the origins of the famous Japanese culture of Manga.
 

For some reason, cruises around Japan have to leave the country for a day. In this instance, after a day sailing across the Japan Sea, we arrived in Sokcho, South Korea.
In a way the day at sea seemed to be a time to relax after a busy few days, unfortunately the ship encountered a Force Eleven gale, and many passengers endured a rough few hours, often just staying in their room. I did manage to get to the magic/comedy show at night where some of the biggest laughs were for the curtain behind him magically opening and closing as the boat rocked because of  the high waves.

Arriving the next day, we were pleased to get off the boat onto dry land. Having such a short time in port, we were limited in what we could do. Fortunately, there were buses laid on to take us into town. The first stop was at a local event, where there were craft stalls, activities for children and a dance group. This was interesting but we went around this in about an hour watching local people enjoying the morning. 

Catching the bus again, we went to the final destination which was a huge covered market selling a wide variety of goods and food. This was very busy, but not something that really appealed, although it was good to get a feel for the way locals shopped and purchased food.
Leaving the market, as we needed to get back to the boat on time, we realised that everyone else had come here and the queue stretched down the street. Having stood for over forty-five minutes  in the line and thinking we were never getting back, we remembered the saying, 'You wait ages for a bus and three come along at the same time!' 

An interesting day, but a shame because of the time limit that we couldn't explore further afield to find something more interesting. Boarding the boat, we just hoped that the crossing back to Japan would be smooth sailing.

 In the cabin we were able to watch short videos, on the television with information about the ports we were visiting. These were by the  specialist travel guide. Strangely, as Akita was quite an interesting place he spent most of the time talking about the famous Akita dog and little time about anything else. As this wasn't very helpful we used the excellent local tourist information guides, who we used for the rest of our ports of call. They were all welcoming, knowledgeable and helpful, with maps and advice. 
Travelling into town by shuttle bus, we were pleased to find that just a short walk from the drop off point was Senshu Park. With the weather being favorable, we decided to spend some time here. 
Crossing the road, we soon entered the park, and as fate would have it, the first open area had a walk in section where you could view the famous Akita dog!

Moving on, we explored the rest of the park with its stunning scenery, again being a little disappointed that the Autumn colours hadn't really set in. As well as interesting walkways with ponds and fountains there was also the Yojiro Inari Shrine and Kubota Castle to explore.

After a lovely walk in the sunshine and a refreshing ice cream, we left the park, crossing over the stunning moat, to explore more of the town. Seeing a poster for a Salvador Dali exhibition and using google maps we eventually found the gallery.
​
This exhibition, held on the significant occasion of Salvador Dalí’s 120th birthday and the 100th anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto, will provide an overview of Dalí’s life through the collection of the Morohashi Museum of Modern Art, one of the world’s foremost Dalí collections. It will also focus on Dalí’s activities after he moved to the United States.

Exploring the complex and delicate inner world of "Surrealist Dalí" that captivated audiences and the "human Dalí" behind it, this exhibition will reveal what kind of artist Salvador Dalí was, through oil paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and works by other Surrealist artists such as Miró and Magritte, who are beloved worldwide.

Unfortunately, again we were restricted from taking photographs in the main, Dali exhibition, although you could in the local contemporary gallery. It always surprises me how other towns in different countries manage to put these exhibitions on but Manchester and other large towns in our country can't.
After enjoying the exhibition, it was time to get the shuttle back to the boat after a lovely day in this port.

One thing that we enjoyed in every port was the arrival and departing ceremonies. As it was the first time the Noordam had visited this port, not only did we have a show to watch of drummers and dancers, the town even put on a firework display to honor our visit, which was quite special as was the night sky as we left.

Arriving in this town, the ship moored just across from the local fish market, and after walking through this we went to the  converted warehouses containing a range of craft and food stalls. Walking through this more modern area was interesting but we felt that exploring further was a better option. There was a full range of ice creams available although we saved this for a later time where we visited the 'second best ice cream shop' in the town. They even sold it in a bread roll.
Passing by a vending machine, we noticed this drink and although we were feeling thirsty, we didn't fancy seeing what this drink was.

As well as being famous for it's ice creams, Hakodote is also known for it's steep streets which we soon had to climb to see more of the town. Arriving up the hill, we encountered a lovely park with an  imposing building where several school groups were also wandering around, possibly as part of a project.

As we climbed further we reached the aerial ropeway gondola which took us to the top of the  334m-high Mount Hakodate. From here we had superb views of the town and surrounding area. In the distance we could see the harbour and even our boat in the dock.  As we looked over, I noticed this group pointing out the boat and decided it would be good subject matter for my next iPad memory sketch of the holiday.

Feeling more adventurous and having a lot of time left before we had to return to the ship, we descended from the mountain and decided to take our first tram ride out to the nearby Goryokaku park. Getting on the tram was easy but it wasn't until we had gone a few stops that we realised we should have collected a ticket from the machine on the way in. Fortunately, no one noticed and having collected a ticket (a couple of stops later)we sheepishly got off at the end having only paid for the last part of the journey.
Following google maps, we arrived near the park and decided to pay to go to the top of the nearby Goryokaku tower where we could have an aerial view of the park and the famous star designed castle remains.

This was well worth it and gave us a feel for the layout of the park and remains, before descending and walking to the entrance.

It was a pleasant walk around the park where we enjoyed the open spaces although we could see that the springtime cherry blossoms would prolificate here and unfortunately the Autumn leaves had only just started to appear.
Walking back to catch the tram, we remembered to get the ticket on entry and this journey helped our confidence on using public transport. A busy but fulfilling day.

After reading the information about Sakaiminato, the idea of visiting a town where one street was lined with the 100 characters imagined by the Japanese Manga artist Shigeru Mizuki sounded really interesting.
Leaving the ship and going outside, we found that there were two choices of free mini buses either to the area's Botanical gardens or the town. As we had done the research, we decided to go to the town and soon arrived at the centre. Walking along the main street was a fascinating experience with the sculptures every few metres and it helped that the town wasn't very busy.
​As we walked, it was difficult to decide which ones to photograph as they were all so unique. For children, they could buy a book and  collect stamps of the various sculptures. There were stamps and ink pads dotted along the street, which was a novel way to encourage tourism and added to the interest.

Towards the end of the street was a museum portraying Mizuki's life story and his work. Unfortunately, all the information was in Japanese, although you could download an app to use but we hadn't brought our headphones to be able to use this without disturbing other visitors.
His life story was fascinating, as was a short film about his time in the army, where he lost his left arm and his final return to Japan. His range of supernatural characters were told in the magazines but his fame outside Japan didn't start until after 2010 when these started to be translated into other languages.
​The museum showed his life throughout his time in the army, his military stories and his Manga work.
There were images of his work and a room of some of his quite scary figures.

Leaving the museum, we bumped into a couple we had become friendly with during the trip and they had come from the gardens and were now enjoying the town. We realised we still had some time left, so decided to try the gardens as well.
This proved to be a disaster! It took too long to get there, we had to stay on the bus to go straight back to the ship. We did go over the famous bridge though, although this doesn't look so scary in the photograph. 

To sum up, we really enjoyed this  interesting town and if we had been given a little more information before getting off the ship,  we could have visited both the park and the town.

When looking at what to see in Otaru, the Sushi street and canal were the ones most listed. Leaving the boat, and crossing the canal, to explore, we soon realised that this was quite a compact town. Here we saw our first sighting of the coming Autumn colours, as we made our way to the music box shop and museum. We could honestly say we have never seen so many items as this on one idea. It was a fascinating place and we even considered one for a reminder of our visit, but realised it would just be put in a cupboard on our return home.

 Walking back, we soon reached the museums and art galleries and decided to visit one of these, eventually settling on the one containing modern art. In Japan we soon realised that you couldn't take photographs in these exhibitions., which didn't bode well for remembering what we had seen when writing this blog. 
One room contained work from artists who had studied the impressionist's style and had used this to paint their own versions. The other exhibition featured several paintings by traditional Japanese artists.

Walking back through the town, we were impressed with the colourful shops but less so with some of the fish stalls selling a range of fresh produce,  as well as large tanks crammed full of king crabs.

With having some time left before boarding we decided to go on the advertised canal trip that looked stunning in publicity photographs although when we watched the small boat set  out, we realised that the tour was quite short and didn't look very interesting, so we decided to have a drink and a snack in a local cafe. Here we were introduced to a sweet cake called Panju.
Fortunately, I did manage to collect an image of a local shop to draw later on my iPad though.

Our second port was a lovely slice of Japan and we enjoyed our visit.

Getting into the swing of things we started to research the ports we were going to ( tip- the sheet given out on the ship was very basic but every port had a desk manned by English speaking local volunteers who were very helpful and had superb maps)
At Aomori we were interested in the local museum:
The museum is dedicated to the city's famous Nebuta Matsuri which is held annually in early August. The museum is housed in a unique building covered in red metal slats and stands along Aomori's waterfront district just north of Aomori Station.
The Nebuta Warasse museum attempts to capture the spirit of the festival and gives visitors a taste of its lively atmosphere, history and traditions. Upon entering the second floor entrance to the exhibitions, visitors are presented with the sights of the festival along a red corridor lined with images from the Nebuta Matsuri's 300 year history. Lanterns in the shape of red goldfish, another symbol of the festival, hang along the corridor where the recorded sounds of taiko drums, flutes, and voices play.

Going straight to this building, we soon became enthralled by the size and images of the floats carried or wheeled by the local people. We spent a good couple of hours exploring these structures. We were certainly impressed by the work that had gone into them. Leaving through the souvenir shop, we treated ourselves to one of the famous local apple drinks to quench our thirst. I even collected an image of one of the heads to sketch on my iPad. (shown here)

Moving on away from the port, we decided to walk through part  of the town eventually going to a local park. The town surprised us as many of the shops were called 'Vintage Clothing' (but looked like they were selling used clothes). In fact, the area reminded us of a our home town, in need of some  TLC,  although it was a lot cleaner, with no litter.
The park was also a little disappointing as again it was in need of a little love and care and the sole bedraggled, Macaque monkey in an old cage, summed this up. It was also a shame the Autumn colours hadn't arrived to this area yet.

To sum up, this town was a real case of two different images, the port with it's new buildings and the old town which was a little run down.

After quite a long drive from our hotel to the port, we were soon aboard the Noordam, one of Holland/America cruise ships. Whilst waiting for our cases we had something to eat and then went exploring as it was our first time on this ship.
We were fortunate that our cabin overlooked the port, so we able to observe the terminal as we left. To our surprise it seemed the whole town, had turned out to wave us off. A group of musicians entertained us and the crowd as we sailed out of the port. This was a fantastic experience and quite memorable. 

As we set off to explore this unique country, we also had a super sunset. A perfect start to our cruise. 

The next day was a sea day, so a chance to relax before arriving in our first town.