Glaciers & Geishas

By way of Toronto and Vancouver we will start in Alaska, the land of glaciers. Then we will sail west to reach the east, down the Aleutian chain to Japan, the empire of shoguns and geishas. Lots of surprises ahead, so check back often. Read more

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Glaciers & Geishas
Where did the day go?
September 30, 2023, Bering Sea ⋅ 🌬 48 °F
Well, we went to bed last night on Thursday, September 28 and when we woke up this morning it was Saturday, September 30. Somewhere in all of this missing day is that prime meridian/ 0 longitude line I stood on at Greenwich Observatory just outside of London so I am blaming the British for stealing a day from me. Either way, the sunrise this morning was glorious even if I am more confused than usual.Read more
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Glaciers & Geishas
Vespucci
September 30, 2023, Bering Sea ⋅ 🌬 48 °F
David Burgess brought an information-packed lecture on the life and accomplishments of Amerigo Vespucci. I had been led to believe that he was a minor figure in the charting of the New World. The fact that two continents were named for him was just a historical accident. According to Burgess, though, Vespucci figured much more prominently as a cartographer than I had been led to believe and actually discovered the concept of longitude. It took another three centuries to develop a chronometer sufficiently accurate to measure longitude, but Vespucci developed the idea based on a conjunction of Mars and the moon. His almanac told him precisely when the astronomical event would be visible in Seville. He observed it five hours and thirty minutes later at his location near present-day Brazil. The difference in the time of the conjunction gave him the idea of longitude. His maps, and those that followed his, were infinitely more accurate in depicting the shapes and distances of land masses on all maps.Read more
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Glaciers & Geishas
Sea day 3 of 7
September 30, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F
Today the Bering Sea has been like a lake but our captain has been warning us for three days that starting at midnight on Sunday we will be in 20 ft waves with high winds. The storm should last about 14 hours. So while Chuck has been in lectures today, I have been gathering up sea sickness remedies to have on hand. Viking is passing out Dramamine upon request and has candied ginger and green apples around the ship. All outside areas have been cleared and secured and so now we shall go to bed and wait. Updates tomorrow 🙏😱😳Read more
TravelerAsk them to pop popcorn!! USNavy answer to Dramamine!
10/1/23Reply
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Glaciers & Geishas
Dezhnyov-Forgotten Explorer
October 1, 2023, Bering Sea ⋅ ⛅ 46 °F
David Drewry just gave a lecture on the Herculean efforts of Vitus Bering in mounting two expeditions to determine the eastern limits of the Russian Empire. That story alone is monumental in scope. Dr. Drewry ended his lecture, however, with a brief but tantalizing comment about a Russian explorer who discovered the Bering Strait eighty years before Bering ever sailed there. Semyon Dezhnyov sailed through the strait in the autumn of 1648.

I had never heard of this. I had to find out why this information was lost. I did a bit of internet research, and the best I can come up with is this explanation. In the 1640’s Dezhnyov, seeking furs sailing up and down the coasts of northeastern Siberia. He reported navigating through a strait separating two land masses and then engaged in more fur trapping and trading in northeast Siberia. He returned home a fabulously wealthy man. Apparently he did not regard his voyage as especially significant. He simply described his trip through the ocean pass writing, “We sailed around a large, rocky point.” He needed neither the money nor the recognition, so he never pressed the fact that he had discovered the passage separating Russia from North America. Dezhnyov’s discoveries were simply forgotten.

In the 1720’s Tsar Peter the Great wanted to know the extent of his empire and whether the eastern part of Siberia was connected to North America. Apparently the Tsar knew nothing of Dezhnyov’s voyages. Tsar Peter enlisted Vitus Bering, a Dane in the Russian Navy, to make explorations to answer his questions. Bering proceeded overland to what is now the Okhotsk Sea. At the coast he built ships and sailed north, discovering in 1728 what he thought was a strait separating Siberia and Alaska. He returned to St. Petersburg and made his report. Even so, he was not certain and wanted to sail farther east to confirm his speculations. Meanwhile Russian Naval vessels traversing the area continued to probe and returned to the strait as early as 1732. The first westerners to sight North America from the west were on the Gvozdev-Fyodorov voyage in 1732 from the “Bering Strait”. Tsar Peter’s successor Catherine I commissioned a huge expedition of thousands of sailors, soldiers, scientists, artist and naturalists led by Bering. The entourage was larger than most of the towns in which they stopped to camp along their land route to Siberia. Governors and mayors along their route reported being severely strained by the demand for food, housing and supplies of Bering’s horde of adventurers. They returned to the strait, explored the south coast of Alaska as far as Mt. Saint Elias and confirmed Bering’s discoveries. He died from scurvy in Alaska on December 19, 1741 and was buried with twenty-six of his crewmen, also victims of scurvy, on Bering Island.

For more information check.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Fyodorov_(na…

About the same time many overland fur trading expeditions found a better route to the east of Siberia—float down the Anyuy River to the area of the Okhotsk Sea. They found ruins in many places Dezhnyov had claimed that his crew had camped. Therefore, even though they believed Dezhnyov’s report, the traders found his sea route to be useless. The river proved to be a more reliable pathway to the east than the frozen ocean strait. It was not important to these traders to make a fuss about Dezhnyov’s priority since the route he discovered through the ice-bound Alaskan strait was of no practical use to them. The Dezhnyov discovery declined in importance and receded from memory.

One other factor prevented some authorities from granting that Dezhnyov had preceded Bering to the Alaskan strait. In the nineteenth century eight attempts to repeat Dezhnyov’s voyage failed, all blocked by sea ice. Some historians argued, therefore, that the explorer had simply fabricated his tale. Dezhnyov’s sea route was not successfully retraced until 1879 when Adolf Erik Nordenskjöld finally did it. He proved that a voyage through the strait was at least possible. Some historians began to change their minds.

Since the 1950’s scholars have discovered a number a documents in Russian archives that corroborate Dezhnyov’s story, so it has gradually gained acceptance. Recent worldwide climatological studies also suggest that the period of 1687-1688 had an extremely warm winter, and ice formation in the Bering Strait was at unprecedented low levels. Dezhnyov just got lucky. Nevertheless, tradition is hard to break, so we will probably continue to call this area the Bering Sea.

To read more about this, check out the link at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semyon_DezhnevRead more
TravelerBering is easier to spell.
10/1/23Reply
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Glaciers & Geishas
Storm at Sea
October 2, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌧 54 °F
Today we are sailing off the tip of the Kamchatka peninsula with rough seas, heavy rain and winds 30 to 35 kn. The ship is rolling about 1° to the port and about 2 to 2 1/2° to starboard with about a 15 second period. The temperature is about 53°, and we’re staying inside in a lovely, warm, dry stateroom. We went up to the Star Theater at 2:30 pm to hear a concert by the classical musicians onboard. But the storm seems a bit stronger, and the ship is rocking more. Just as a safety measure, Glenda is lying in her bed reading and I’m staying seated in a chair. Walking down the passageway is a bit of a challenge, and people are actually bumping into one another. It’s a good day to stay inside and read.Read more
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Glaciers & Geishas
Decimal Time
October 3, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 61 °F
It’s another sea day, it’s still stormy outside, and I may have too much time on my hands.

Last night Glenda had already been asleep for an hour, but I was still up studying timekeeping. We had just passed into another time zone. My Apple Watch not only wanted to know what time it was, it also wanted to know where we were. Inside this floating metal cage, my gps would not work. Besides, we are sailing by the most remote of the Kurile Islands, and there is not a city Apple devices recognize within a thousand miles--uh, 1620 kilometers. And I wasn’t about to go outside with these twenty foot waves spraying this third deck to get a gps fix. When I had difficulty finding a city nearby, all of the solar and lunar indications went haywire. In the attempt to repair this, I discovered a watch face that divides the 24-hour day into ten equal parts, called “hours,” or “decimal hours.” One advocate of the decimal system abbreviates this to “dours.” Each decimal hour is divided into 100 decimal minutes or “dinutes.” Each decimal minute is divided into 100 decimal seconds, or “deconds.”

The day starts at midnight or 0 hours. The 24 hour day is divided into 10 equal segments. Noon marks the first half of the 10-decimal hour day, so it is designated as 5 hours, 0 minutes. Half a day, or .5 days. At six o’clock in the morning the day is one quarter through, so it is designated as 2 hours, 50 minutes--or 2.5. (The day is 25% through. Make sense?). At six in the evening the day is three-fourths through so the time is 7 hours, 50 minutes, or 75% through. Get it?

While I saw some applications that use local time, most adherents advocate using UTC. By doing so any time in the world could be designated by year, day of the year, hour, and minute. Ordinarily one could leave off the seconds. For example, I’m writing this on a Tuesday, the 276th day of 2023. Using decimal notation the time is Tuesday 2023.276.788. I could even leave off the name of the base 7 week and designate this time as 2023.276.788. No am & pm. As simple as a phone number. No odd-numbered months. And, God be praised, no daylight savings time. No time zones. This is the time everywhere on earth at this moment. I actually found a watch you can buy that has a ten-hour face. Like all things metric, keeping time is not hard—until you try to convert it to English, or Imperial, or base 13, or the length of King John’s nose.

I doubt that this system will ever catch on. Actually it was proposed by the French after their revolution. Their notion of the decimal system included not only length and weight, it also included time. While the decimal measurements for physical objects caught on, the measurement of time never did.

For more information check out this website.

https://forbrains.co.uk/education/decimal_time_…Read more
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We see Japan
October 5, 2023, Japan Sea ⋅ 🌧 64 °F
I was awake about 4 o’clock this morning and went up to the Explorers Lounge. The servers had not even arrived to make coffee. We had to set our clocks back again last night to Japan time. But we are in Japanese waters now. The Russian trawlers have disappeared. We can see mountains on our starboard side and a beautiful little island sticking up out of the ocean on the port side. we are so excited that we are about to see Japan.Read more
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Glaciers & Geishas
Nets, Nylons & Nurdles
October 5, 2023, Japan Sea ⋅ 🌧 63 °F
Nets, Nylons and Nurdles
Flotsam & Jetsam in the Oceans
Lecture by David J. Drewry

⁃ Charles Moore Natural History 2003 found plastics in ocean
⁃ Flotsam- debris floating in sea
⁃ Jetsam- garbage thrown deliberately into sea
⁃ Lagan-debris sitting on sea bed
⁃ 60-80% is plastic
⁃ 100,000 marine mammals die each year from ingesting plastic
⁃ Causes blockage. And starvation
⁃ Whale dead with 90 lb plastic in its guts
⁃ Tangling in fishing lines
⁃ Poisoning by sunlight degraded plastic
⁃ Chemicals interfere with reproductive system
⁃ Microscopic plastic fibers from washed clothing
⁃ Destroys coral formation
⁃ Why plastics?
⁃ Buoyant, durable, transparent, common
⁃ One million plastic bottles made each Minute
⁃ The miracle material of the twentieth century, we have become thoughtlessly addicted to using plastics for everything
⁃ Estimated decomposition rates
⁃ Plastic cups 50 yr
⁃ Beverage holders 400 years
⁃ Different types of plastics have different rates of decomposition. Some types of plastics are easy to recycle/degrade, others are difficult. Plastic cups are especially difficult and long-lasting.
⁃ Where does plastic come from
⁃ 80% comes from land
⁃ Pictures of waterways completely covered by plastic
⁃ Leading mismanagement of plastic is China followed by Indonesia, Philippines Bangladesh
⁃ Largest concentration of plastic comes from Asia and Indonesia
⁃ Where does the plastic go?
⁃ Land. It is swept into the ocean from coastal tides.
⁃ Collects in gyres
⁃ 300 tons per day on India coast
⁃ 20 T yr in Hawaii
⁃ Roatan Island seas covered by plastic
⁃ Midway Island-Albatross nests here. Eat plastics one-third of chicks die
⁃ Great Nike Drift. 6k containers/yr fall off ships
⁃ Movie: Robert Redford All is Lost
⁃ May 1990 Hansa carrier lost containers that broke open full of Nike products. Washed up on coast from Oregon to Alaska
⁃ Curious case of rubber ducks. Evergreen Laurel 1992. Storm. Lost containers of 29,000 rubber duck & toys. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, oceanographer said we could use rubber ducks to track ocean currents. Found 2 yr later in Alaska. By 2000 some were in Bering Sea. Hung in Beaufort gyre in Arctic. Went into Atlantic. Got into Gulf Stream in Cornwall.
⁃ What do we do?
⁃ Laws are in place. Increased manufacturer liability.
⁃ International ocean cleanup
⁃ Boyan Slat-
⁃ Float barriers, and let the current being the debris. We scoop it up and carry it away. Scaled up in Pacific.
⁃ Interceptors in rivers that feed into rivers.
⁃ Change manufacturing materials to biogradables.
⁃ Reduce our plastic consumption
⁃ Recycle
⁃ International legal measures
⁃ Education

Nurdles are pieces of plastic that get finally worn down into little pellets.Read more
TravelerIt is sad that we humans have made choices that are now killing our planet, the wildlife, the seas . We need to make some changes.
10/5/23Reply
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Glaciers & Geishas
Scrub Sapporo
October 5, 2023, Japan Sea ⋅ 🌧 61 °F
The captain just came over the horn to say that we are sailing into another storm. That, in addition to the fact that the officials in Otaru have changed the berth for the Viking Orion, has made it impossible for us to dock safely there. As a result, our stop in Sapporo has been canceled and we will have three more sea days before we get to Tokyo.Read more
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Windjammer
October 6, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 70 °F
At nine o’clock this morning the captain announced that the Viking Orion has been granted a temporary berth in Tokyo, so he has set course for that harbor. We should dock at 2 pm tomorrow. Our ship will stay there until Sunday morning, when we must vacate that berth and loiter at sea until the following day. On Monday morning Viking Orion will be able to occupy the spot previously reserved for it and our trip will continue as planned.

This morning the winds abated somewhat. A sunny day and calmer seas allowed us to relax a bit. But the winds increased again, and now I suspect we have gusts outside more than 75 mph. It is not raining anymore, but spray from the bow wave is constantly drenching our veranda on the third deck, and whitecaps extend as far as I can see. This is the roughest sea we have had so far. We decided that the safest place to be is in the rack, and since lunch we have come back to our stateroom to nap. The ship is jerking and pitching with an occasional jolt that wakes us. The sky is blue and sunny, but the wind is formidable.Read more
Traveler😬
10/8/23Reply
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Glaciers & Geishas
Surrender
October 7, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
This is where the USS Missouri was anchored on September 2, 1945. On board the Japanese signed the instrument of surrender ending the Japanese involvement in World War II. General MacArthur chose this spot because it was near here in 1853 at Kurihama Beach, Yokohama that Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay and demanded trade concessions from the Imperial Government of Japan. I’m sure we will do many more interesting things in Japan, but for me this was a high point of our trip. When I was a kid, I assembled a model of the USS Missouri. I read everything I could get my hands on about General MacArthur and the events leading up to the surrender. My father, who had fought in the South Pacific, told me about the event. To be here at the spot where the war ended was the fulfillment of a childhood dream. There was no arranged excursion to this place today. I just remembered that the latitude and longitude are emblazoned on a plaque aboard the USS Missouri. I made it a point to mark that spot on my Google Maps, and as Viking Orion sailed past the spot I went out on deck and snapped a picture.Read more
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Arrival in Tokyo
October 7, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
We have finally arrived in Tokyo, the bright, shiny capital of a remarkable nation. In many ways Japan is a paradox with a huge statue of the Buddhist Goddess of Peace welcoming us into the harbor where the warrior ethos of the Samurai and the Ninja are still revered. One of the most technologically advanced nations of the world Japanese still venerate medieval institutions, such as a four-hour-long tea ceremony, Kabuki theater and Sumo wrestling. Upwardly mobile executives and fashion models still adore the rural countryside with temples that come from the tenth century. Japan is the land of Noh and of comic books; the samisen and punk rock; the cherry blossom and the computer chip; of high tech and Hello, Kitty. Welcome to Japan, land of kaleidoscopic contradictions.Read more
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Walk in the Park
October 7, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F
Not a gum wrapper. Not a piece of trash. Not a hint of graffiti.

From the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, through the Odaiba Aomi Park, and then into the Shiokaze Park we saw not one piece of litter, nor a dab of paint not placed there carefully by the city authorities of Tokyo. There were thousands of people in the park, all enjoying a perfect Saturday afternoon. Food tents stood beside booths offering young men the opportunity to impress their ladies with feats of skill like ring toss or a Japanese variation on baggo. A local radio station had a tent providing the latest rock ‘n’ roll hits from Tokyo. An elderly woman helped her more elderly husband navigate with a cane. A squad of photographers recorded a young model wearing mustard-colored overalls in every possible pose for three hours. Parents strolling with pudgy-cheeked babies tried to keep out of the way of young boys playing in a fountain. Every blade of grass was in place, and every one of the thousands of flowers seemed to be deliberately placed in exactly the right spot. Even the letters identifying the cruise terminal stood out from a background of living, green pine boughs and other greenery.

It was a lovely afternoon with some beautiful people in the park. Japan is clean. Japan is kind. Japan is civil.Read more
TravelerI love Japan and the Japanese people! Hope your time in Japan is amazing.
10/7/23Reply
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Glimpse of the Future
October 8, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F
The tourist map showed a museum nearby called the Museum of Emerging Scientific Technology. When one walks into the building he sees a huge 3-storey globe of the earth that shows in real time such things as weather, seismic activity, sea temperature, precipitation and internet activity.

Other exhibits in the museum display cutting edge scientific discoveries. For example, some dealt with computer science, some with artificial intelligence, others with robotics, and some dealt with emerging medical technology.

One display dealt with iSP cells. Every person has these cells in their blood. They can be processed so that they transform into other types of cells. In the near future persons with kidney disease could contribute a blood sample that could be processed to create a clone of their own kidneys inside a pig. The kidney, which would be genetically and chemically the patient’s own, could be taken from the pig and transplanted back into the patient. The risk of rejection would be far less than that for a kidney donated by another human.

Some of the museum’s displays ended by raising certain ethical questions such as, “Who owns the kidney, the patient or the pig?” or, “Is it ethical to kill a pig to cure a disease a human contracted by his lifestyle choices?” In the display about AI and robotics ethicists ask about the difference between humans and robots. What moral questions emerge when you have a robot that acts, thinks, and responds as a human? What are the ethical issues when the line between human and robot begin to blur?

The Japanese people are so polite. As we left the museum the guards bowed and (in English) thanked us for coming. When we re-entered the cruise terminal a very kind Japanese immigration official held up her cell phone and her Google translator asked, “Did you have a good time in Tokyo today?” Her cell phone recorded my answer, “Yes, we had a very good time.” Again Google translator asked, “Where did you visit today?” I said, “The Museum of Emerging Scientific Technology.” Once again, her cell phone asked me, “Did you enjoy your visit?” I answered “Yes, very much.” The immigration guard bowed said, “Thank you,” and pointed me to our ship. I returned the bow astounded at the kindness and the cleanliness of this city.Read more
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Tokyo Today
October 8, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F
We landed in Tokyo at a special time. This long weekend marks the the fourth observance of Sports Day, an annual celebration marking the first day of the Tokyo Olympics of 2020. The day is intended to remind the Japanese that sports and physical fitness deserve recognition. Unfortunately that Olympiad was dimmed somewhat by the Covid Pandemic, but one would never know that from the exuberance shown by the Japanese this weekend. The fair in the park I mentioned yesterday was just the beginning. Last night as Glenda and I were having a lovely dinner onboard the Viking Orion, a grand fireworks show started downtown. From our table onboard the ship we saw the whole splendid display. This afternoon we walked over to Divers City, a huge shopping mall just off the long park that is the spine for this part of southeast Tokyo. On the way we passed a small group of friends having a picnic, eating food they were cooking on a hibachi. This park was the venue for football, basketball, other sports during the Olympics. Now its enormous shopping mall is marked by a hundred-foot tall statue of a Transformer made with giant legos—identified on the map as Unicorn Gundam. Tens of thousands of young people coursed through the mall today like corpuscles through a bloodstream, visiting stores like “Hello, Kitty,” “Starbucks,” and “7-11.” Some were just hanging out in the food court. A thousand others were waiting in line to be admitted to a rock concert in the Diver City (“diver-sity.” Get it?) Theater. Outside another ten thousand were waiting for a rock concert to begin this evening, but onstage girls dancing in skimpy metallic costumes to the music of over-amplified bands and flashing laser lights were already warming up the crowd. The THUNK-THUNK-THUNK of electrified bass drums could be felt at our ship a mile away. When the Japanese celebrate, they go big. Otherwise, they are quiet and extremely polite.

Just like yesterday, every Japanese person we met today was excessively kind—even the young people who asked me not to photograph the rockers on the distant sound stage. Most of the young people we saw were dressed conservatively, while others evoked punk rock or Singapore chic. One young woman, though clearly Asian, was trying hard to resemble her notion of a Hollywood starlet. Young people seem unusually taken with fads—in music, in dress, and in language. Even so, everyone we saw today, even those whose clothing is influenced by the gangsta movement—all tend to follow the rules. All were extremely polite and courteous—to us and to each other. All walked to the left in crowded areas. There was no bumping, pushing or passing.

Modern Japan is a sociological wonderland which am still trying to comprehend. Today we saw it all.Read more
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Models of Civility
October 8, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F
In Toyko people just follow the rules. In crowded malls the traffic flow is orderly with everyone keeping to the left and not bumping or shoving each other. They all wait quietly in line, even for hours. No one yells or plays music loudly in public spaces.

All day yesterday and today we probably saw over a thousand young children but I did not hear one child crying, having a tantrum or being disrespectful in any way. They stayed with their parents who were very attentive and engaged with their children. The children has no a cell phones, but they did have their parents’ undivided attention.

Everyone smiled at us and the port security guards made a point to ask us if we had enjoyed our day and where we had been. When we left the museum, the young people working inside and outside thanked for coming and asked us if we had enjoyed ourselves. Can you imagine a security guard bowing and smiling as he asks you to empty your pockets?

We have heard that from an early age Japanese children are taught to be neat and to clean up after themselves. In school they cook their lunches and then they clean up and wash the dishes. This culture of responsibility and graciousness begins very early with the young children and is pervasive throughout society here. Civility is the norm here. How refreshing!Read more
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Lucy and Desi in Tokyo
October 9, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 63 °F
Well, if you know me at all then you know that a Lucy moment would have to occur at some point on this trip. Today was the Lucy moment. Some friends last night told us that we could take the shuttle bus from the ship to downtown and that we would see lots of the city and then the shuttle bus would just bring us right back to the ship. So today in the pouring rain, I decide that this would be the day to take the little bus tour of downtown. We get on the shuttle bus and it drives us precisely 1/4 of a mile to a small train station near our ship. They told us to get off the bus so we did and then they pointed us to the trains but we didn’t want the trains. So then they pointed us to another bus and we got on it and waited 40 minutes to ride back to the ship which is a quarter mile away. If it had not been raining Japanese cats and puppy dogs, we could’ve walked back in 10 minutes. No one except the two of us spoke English so everything was communicated in hand gestures with Japanese thrown in to confuse us even more.

When we got back to the ship, I went down to guest services and told them that they really should not let old people off the ship. Carson told me that yesterday Viking ran a shuttle, and that it would be running the same shuttle tomorrow and the next day, but today, Tokyo was running a shuttle just to the train station. So tomorrow we shall try it again. The good news is we are overnight in Tokyo until Wednesday so that if we get totally lost, we have 48 hours to figure out how to get back to the ship.Read more
TravelerLucy and Desi take the shuttle! Try again today!
10/9/23Reply
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Awa Dance
October 9, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 63 °F
Awa Dance is a troupe of performers who have gone all around the world reviving a type of dance developed in their home prefecture 400 years ago. What amazed me was the music. Heavy with percussion, the music features the kind of syncopation that did not come into western music until the innovation of ragtime in the 1890’s. Colorful, lively and fascinating, this dance captivated us. I hope you like it too.Read more
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Japanorama
October 10, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
The weather cleared today and we had our first proper tour of Tokyo. A quick bus ride downtown took us by the Parliament Building, and then we exited the bus at the park surrounding the Imperial Palace. Our guide, Yuki, was fantastic. Her English was impeccable and her commentary was superb. I had wondered whether we should have endeavored to visit downtown Tokyo yesterday on the train, but a couple of passengers on our bus today revealed that though they had come into town on their own, they had no idea where they were or what their locations meant. We were wise to wait.

Today I asked Yuki about the location of the ancient fishing village of Edo. She told me that at that moment we were in the bounds of ancient Edo. I would never have known it from all of the beautiful modern skyscrapers around us. I also asked her about the Japanese name for Tokyo. The two Chinese characters signifying “eastern capital” are also the Japanese kanji characters for Tokyo. I asked her if the two identical Japanese characters had the same meaning. She said they did, though the Japanese pronunciation is different from Chinese. We toured the exquisite park around the Imperial Palace, and I fell in love with their black pine trees. They are similar to our pine trees, but noticeably distinctive and absolutely beautiful. The general population gets to go beyond these gates twice each year, once on January 2 to wish the Emperor a happy new year and again on February 23 for his official birthday.

Not since we arrived in Tokyo have we seen a scrap of litter nor a letter of graffiti. One absence I found shocking. Downtown, in one of the largest cities in the world, I did not hear a siren. Not one. For four days. This omission strikes one as impossible in a city this size. I did not see a homeless person. We did not hear an automobile horn honk. When asked about this quietness in a bustling downtown metropolis, Yuki said, “We Japanese are quiet. We do not like to disturb our neighbors.” She told us that from the first grade, pupils spend 20 minutes after lunch cleaning up from their meal, sweeping the floor of their classroom, polishing the windows and cleaning the chalkboard. There is virtually no crime here. If you leave your wallet on the seat of your unlocked car, it will remain there. If you accidentally leave your cell phone on a park bench, you can go back five hours later, and it will still be where you left it.

The Japanese people are astounding.Read more
TravelerFascinating cultural norms. How different from our American culture of individualism and personal rights and preferences. So interesting!
10/10/23Reply
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Tokyo Up Close
October 11, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F
Deep green forests around the historic Shinto shrine established by Emperor Meiji in 1867 are thick with peaceful solitude. Though most Japanese today would not consider themselves religious at all, tradition suggests that if you are Japanese you automatically have some connection with Shinto, which is a vague sort of animism with veneration of the ancestors thrown in. Losing its official status in the nineteenth century, today it is the unofficial national religion of Japan. After seeing the Shinto shrine we visited the Asakusa Kannon Buddhist Temple, which reflects the ancient faith of China which came into Japan around 600 A.D. Both the Shinto shrine and the Buddhist temple contain indescribably beautiful woodwork.

The Japanese have a casual, friendly relationship with all of the deities/spirits/ancestors they know. While most Japanese who want a religious wedding will go to the Shinto shrine and enlist the services of a priest, that same couple could easily be found at the Buddhist temple in a few months praying for the birth of a child. There are no hard and fast rules for either cultus, nor are there official membership rolls. In Japan religion is a much more fluid thing than in the west.

Some of us enjoyed, and others endured. a traditional Japanese meal which we ate with chopsticks. Some of our number came away hungry, but not I. Our guide Sayuri took us briefly to the magnificent grounds around the Emperor’s Palace, but since Glenda and I had already seen it yesterday, we found a beautiful park downtown and hung out there for over an hour enjoying its many fountains. The park was first built in 1958 in honor of the wedding of the former Emperor Akihito. At 88 years of age he retired last year in favor of his son Naruhito. The beautiful park was refreshed and redesigned when the current Emperor married his bride Masako in 1993.

As we returned to our bus I saw the building General McArthur chose for his headquarters when he served as the administrator of postwar Japan. We passed through the glitzy Ginza shopping district, and saw the site of the old fish market and the shiny new one as well.

Over the last four days we have been dazzled by Tokyo—by its history, it’s progress, and by the kindness of its people. We saw so many instances of thoughtful rationality in the way the Japanese live. Their politeness and their cleanliness were astounding. With the Japanese insistence on keeping the rules, I cannot leave this place without thinking that in some sense this city is my own.Read more
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Glaciers & Geishas
Goodnight, Tokyo
October 11, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F
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Glaciers & Geishas
The Demure Deity
October 12, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
Viking Orion arrived this morning at the port of Shimizu, doorway to Shizuoka. Its name means “clear water,” and with a population of 712,000 it ranks as the 22nd largest city in Japan. The fishermen here roam as far as the Indian Ocean and provide half of Japan’s annual catch of blue-fin tuna. Half of that stays here in Japan to satisfy this nation’s insatiable appetite for fish. This area also leads Japan in the production of strawberries, tangerines and green tea.

I wanted to come here today for a very personal reason. The Tomoe River empties into the ocean right by our ship. The river water is used by several paper plants that make the finest writing paper in the world. Tomoe River Paper is known worldwide by fountain pen enthusiasts as the most perfect writing paper ever made. Unfortunately the hundred-year-old machine used in its production was retired last year, and those of us who still own a few reams of Tomoe River Paper ration it out like the finest caviar.

Japan is still a male-dominated society and the notion of a female deity is unusual. Nevertheless, Fuji-san is the embodiment of a female goddess, daughter of the chief god. Konohanasakuya-hime is not only the goddess of volcanoes, she is also the goddess of blossoms. In Shinto mythology she shows up as Mount Fuji and as cherry blossoms each spring. In Japan she is a big shot.

This morning I went out on deck to photograph our sail-in, and there she was. All of her. From top to toe, and I snapped a quick shot. Today Fuji-san has no snow on her crest, though last week she had a brief flurry on her summit. At 9:00 am we started our hour-long bus ride to visit the Shinto shrine at her base, the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan, in the town of Fujinomiya. It dates from the 600’s, but it honors an event that occurred half a millennium earlier. Sometime around 50 B.C. two brothers, both shoguns, were required to avenge the death of their father. They prayed to the mountain goddess for a miracle, which she granted. Details are shrouded in the fog of history, but there may be some historical basis to the story.

Also shrouded in fog was Mount Fuji. By the time we arrived at the foot of the mountain, the summit was obscured by clouds. By the time we left, she had wrapped herself in her silvery cloak and sat on the horizon, prim and proper as a schoolmarm. The goddess is a big tease.

The combat between the shoguns actually occurred at majestic Shiraito Falls near the base of the mountain. We visited there first today. A glorious waterfall 70 feet high cascades down, fed from rain and snow melt on the mountain. It is flanked, however, by smaller cascades. Gushing from cracks in the rock, these “stream falls” ooze from a tiny crack separating the rock strata. The water takes 80 years to seep through this crack until it emerges from the cliff. The water I saw today coming out today started its journey from Fuji’s summit during World War II.

Our guide next showed us the “pool of purification” where pilgrims to the shrine must cleanse themselves before worshipping. She led us through a dense forest, up a steep hill (now a stairway) to an apse in the woods. At its base was a pool with the clearest water I have ever seen. There was not a ripple, just a crystal lens through which I could see rocks at the bottom of the pool. In a few minutes my shipmates finished making their pictures and their noise, but I hung around until everyone had left. I sat alone on a rock for ten minutes and admired one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Dim light filtering through the trees above made the green even more intense. The still water was utterly transparent. And for ten minutes. . .

I sat.

Whether you call God “Yahweh,” “Allah,” “Buddha” or “Konohanasakuya-hime,” He/She/It/They were there.

We boarded the bus again and drove to the Shinto shrine, Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha. Our guide was so knowledgeable about Shinto that I suspect that she is a devout worshipper. The buildings are exquisitely beautiful , and as we entered the holy precincts, she invited us to participate in the Shinto purification ritual. For those of us who chose not to wash our hands and mouth, she performed the ritual on our behalf. Very quickly we saw three young couples who had just presented their newborn babies at the shrine, asking the gods to protect them. Then we saw a young couple in traditional garb who had just been married.

A young woman and a young man emerged in traditional clothing. She wore baggy orange silk pants. His pants were sky blue. Our guide informed us that they are temple workers. Serious young adherents will sometimes undergo a period of service to the shrine and will reside in its precincts for several months.

We returned to our ship just in time to get lunch at the World Cafe onboard before it closed at 2:30 pm. Most of the tourists brought back photos and maybe a souvenir or two.

I brought back something much better.Read more
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Glaciers & Geishas
Random thoughts from Glenda
October 12, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
Glenda’s random reflections:

The waving ceremony is a very real part of Japanese society. Whenever we arrive at the port, go through customs, leave on a tour, return from a tour, or pass guards or security at any location, we receive smiles and waves. This morning, elderly men and women were volunteer wavers to greet us and send us on our tours. I really look forward to these waves at each location. It is hard to get a photo of our wavers because we are hurrying to busses but I am determined to get one tomorrow.

Today, on our way to visit a shrine, we passed about 300 elementary school children having a picnic in an open area just outside of the shrine. They had their little lunches and their drinks and all of their picnic accessories spread out on the ground. They were typical children, who were laughing, playing, running around, and just enjoying being six year olds .I told Chuck that it would be interesting to see if there were any trash left on the ground when those 300 young children left to go back to school. I will simply post for you the picnic area with the children and then the picnic area after the children left. No commentary is necessary . Our guide told us that the children spend about half an hour every day at school cleaning their classroom, cleaning the blackboards, wiping off the desks, sweeping and mopping. They also clean the restrooms and clean up the kitchen area where their lunches are made. The culture of responsibility and orderliness starts early here. Mika Jean Lawrence, I see you in every person and gesture and smile and wave here. I see you in the kind gestures and humble spirits and gentle souls we meet . Shane Lawrence, you must come to Japan to truly know Mika. And once you are here you will love her even more.Read more
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Glaciers & Geishas
Shimizu Geigi
October 12, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 66 °F
A small troupe of geishas called Shimizu Geigi came aboard to give a show tonight. Contrary to what some Americans think, Geishas are not ladies of the evening. On the contrary, they are professional entertainers who begin training at around 15 years of age. They must prepare for years to learn traditional Japanese music, dances, poetry and storytelling. The profession began in the sixteenth century. Geishas originally served as entertainers for the wealthy Japanese businessmen who made fortunes trading with the Dutch and Portuguese. Tonight’s performance ended with members of the audience joining the Geishas in a sixteenth-century game called “Tiger, Tiger.” (Tora, Tora). It is something like our game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors.” When the vocalist sings “Tiger, Tiger,” the participant assume the position of a tiger, a hunter, or an old woman. The hunter can kill the tiger. The tiger can kill the old woman. The old woman beats the hunter because she is his mother. Our friend Hamid was volunteered to play the game, and they all had the audience in stitches.Read more
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Glaciers & Geishas
Tour of Shimizu
October 13, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
Shimizu is the port to the thriving city of Shizuoka. With nothing pressing on the agenda today we simply took a lovely bus tour of the area. Perhaps this city’s major attraction is its glorious views of Mount Fuji. There is also a beautiful black beach that opens onto an emerald blue bay nearly two miles deep.

Our guide took us to a Shinto shrine with an interesting history. In ancient times the gods came and went from earth, landing in this luxurious maritime pine forest. A wealthy Japanese family bought the land. In the early 20th century their son fell in love with a French ballerina in Paris. They married, and the description he gave of his homeland made her long to come to Japan. She died young, at the age of 35, before she could come here. Her husband transported her body here and buried her in this mysteriously divine pine forest. After he died, he joined her here, and his family built their lovely monument in the deep, dark woods by the ocean. They still lie here together.

Next our bus took us up the highest mountain in this part of Japan. Surrounding a gargantuan communications tower is an observation platform that gives spectacular views of Fuji-san on a clear day. This area will never make it onto the travelogues, but it is as nice a place as I have ever visited. Actually, with the overwhelming kindness of the Japanese people, I think I could live here.Read more
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