The cruise to Japan was on Royal Caribbean's 'Spectrum of the Seas'. I gave it the benefit of my doubt. The cabin was standard 'Ocean View'. OK. But the ship is too big, the decor is 'shopping mall' and the meals 'leagues club'. She's not Cunard nor Celebrity nor Holland America. On the other hand, the cruise was inexpensive and included in the TripADeal package. Yet, a little disappointing. Have our standards been set too high?
There were a few hundred Australians sharing a boat with close to 5,000 Chinese. It was not generally a problem except on the Lido (self-service dining) deck at peak times when, lining up or sharing a table, cultural differences became more apparent (did you really need to take all 50 passionfruit for youself?).
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Water slides and play equipment - not a good sign
A deep internal lift-well with glass-sided lifts, she's a big ship
Entertainment and dining
The first stop in Japan was Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, where there was a ship excursion to go for a short ride on a Shinkansen (bullet train). Having just spent over three hours on a faster train and having been on a similar Japanese train some years earlier, that option was unappealing and the local town centre sufficed for some self-guided shopping.
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Yatsushiro port - Kumamoto Prefecture
Our next port, Kagoshima, was more interesting but unfortunately the weather was not on our side. We took a ferry across to the Sakurajima Island Volcano and a bus up to the viewing place but, apart from a lot of cloud, I have no clear images of the actual crater, that in August 2013, the erupted and produced its highest recorded plume of ash since 2006, rising 5,000 metres high and causing darkness and significant ash falls on the central part of Kagoshima city. Coming back-down we could then, if we wished, wade in hot mineral water from a volcanic spring, in the pouring rain or amuse ourselves looking at seismograph readings monitoring the angry giant.
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Sakurajima island and the Volcano
Those who needed warming up could take advantage of a hot spring fed foot bath
Later, we visited the local history museum that had a puppet/robot 'interactive' show that explained the Meiji Restoration, with audio in English, and the involvement of Kagoshima during the 19th century. We learned of Samurai internal struggles for power and Japan's burgeoning military culture - at which point we learned no more. I wonder why? Manchuria, China, Pearl Harbour, Darwin, Burma, The Dutch East Indies, New Guinea - perhaps?
Actually, Kagoshima is quite close to Nagasaki, that on August 9 1945, took active delivery of Fat Man, a plutonium A-bomb, the development of which is described in the movie 'Oppenheimer'. The deaths that day of some 80,000 Japanese in Nagasaki, could well be viewed as a direct consequence of the self-serving machinations of those characters depicted in the museum.
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Kagoshima - along the Kotsuki River
After China, Kagoshima felt low-rise and provincial.
Two flags that are seldom seen together - let's let bygones be bygones?