Kobe, Kyoto Japan

Some miscellaneous information about Japan
-Population of Japan is 123 million and has approximately 14,000 islands. The country is roughly 377,000 mi.² which makes it slightly smaller than the state of California.
-Mount Fuji is 3.776 m high
-In 2011 they had a tragic tsunami
Our guide today had a very clever way of quickly counting to make sure that everybody was back on the bus. Essentially, we were to identify with an alphabetical row. We were in row F. A couple from Belgium on the left side of the aisle and Lee and I on the right side, making a total of four people. Before we got onto the bus, all she needed to do was call out a row and if each row said yes, she knew we were ready to go.
It was a very busy day because we had one tour in the morning with a one-hour break for lunch and second tour in the afternoon.
Our first tour was in two parts. The first part we visited a classic 16th century castle in Osaka, population 2.7 million and the second largest city in Japan. The magnificent Osaka castle consists of 13 structures that include gates, moats and gunpowder storage. The nine-story dojo, the very centre is decorated with golden sea creature ornaments. The massive stone walls are reminiscent of the Inca stonework in Machu Picchu, although not nearly as skillfully cut and put together.
The second part of our tour was to visit the Umeda Sky building, completed in 1993. It consists of two 40-story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, via glass bridges with escalators which cross the tower's open atrium space above the ground floor area. It is currently the fifteenth-tallest building in the prefecture and is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. From the observation deck at the top, we got a stunning 360° view of Osaka.
In the afternoon, we again had a tour that consisted of two parts. The first part was a visit to the Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Company. There were very authentic exhibits of how Sake used to be made. At the end of the tour, we were allowed to sample three different types of sake, each having a very distinctive taste. We could have bought cans or bottles, but the ships rules do not allow you to bring any outside alcohol back on board. A few people got a big surprise back on board because they had to leave it until they finally disembarked the ship.
Our next tour was a visit to Mt. Rokko via a cable car. The cable car opened in 1932 and it connects the Rokko Cable Lower Station at the foot of the mountain. There is a height difference of approximately 650 ft over a total length of approximately 2210 ft. to the Rokko Sanjo Station at the top where we arrived after approximately 10 minutes. It was a very steep climb indeed, but on the way up and at the top there expansive views of the town and ocean below.
For dinner tonight we sat with two doctors originally from Venezuela but now living in Texas. We had dinner in the reservations required Asian restaurant Pacific Rim and our meal was outstanding.
Tonight's entertainment was a very lively performance by the Production group singing songs of famous popular singers that included Lady Gaga, Shania Twain, Ricky Martin, ABBA, and Elton John.Leia mais