Kushiro, Japan

Pre-Arrival: Day 12 of our voyage – with the exception of brief stops in Kodiak & Dutch Harbor, we’ve been at sea for 10 days/nights. We both have cabin fever and are anxious to start exploring the many ports ahead of us, the first of which is this morning. As I write this at 4am, we’re scheduled to dock in Kushiro at 8am. Japan has always been on my bucket list, and although the weather forecast is a bit gloomy (rain with a high of 66) neither of us plan to hold back. We have a tour scheduled to leave at 10:30, taking us to Kushiro Marsh National Park, Japan’s largest wetland – we’ll see Lake Mashu, said to be the world’s clearest lake, and then on to Akan National Park where there’s an active volcano, geothermal activity & hot springs.

It’s been very cold the past few days, particularly after passing through the recent storm. Daytime temps have been running low to mid-40’s. We were both eager to escape the heat back home, but now we’re quickly reminded why we retired in Arizona – we’d much rather be hot than cold. There’s now a category 3 typhoon heading our way – I believe Phanfone – moving in a NW direction with winds this morning of 127. While none of the Officers have mentioned it yet, I believe we may miss a port or two. It appears to heading just south of Tokyo, so this could potentially disrupt our two-day stop there, maybe Nagasaki, potentially both. A cancellation of either would be very disappointing. I have a weather app I monitor daily for wave heights & other storm activity – I don’t see how we can possibly avoid this storm, and to make matters worse, there’s a developing, unnamed tropical system directly behind it. We’ll see what happens and just deal with it. We’ve sailed with this particular Captain in the past and though he seems like a very nice, capable fella, our favorite remains Jonathon Mercer who commands the World Cruises – he always kept us informed of potential storm and other activity, while our current Captain is more restrained & noncommittal with his comments. Maybe he just doesn’t want to alarm anyone, but I’d rather understand the facts.

Speaking of facts, Cheryl thundered back yesterday – Rummy games now tied at 3!

After we dock at 8:00, we must have a face-to-face with immigration officials, then a temperature check to insure we don’t spread any illnesses. Any hint of a fever will require those passengers to remain on board the ship. The process is typically well-organized as passengers are called by small groups, so while it’s a slight inconvenience, I respect & support the rationale. Both of us are fine so far, but have noticed several folks sneezing & coughing of late. Any passenger with a confirmed fever is automatically quarantined & confined to their cabin. This has happened to me on two other occasions – I missed touring Saigon last trip, but we have it on our schedule a few weeks from now.

 

Post-Arrival: Our sail-in was a non-event – though on schedule, it was foggy with light rain. We had breakfast with our good friends from San Antonio, Harry & Marilyn. Our group was called to meet immigration officials at 8:45. While in line, the Captain made a general announcement that because of the typhoon, Tokyo is in fact cancelled. Instead, we will sail the west coast of Japan and make stops in Kanazawa (Sunday) and Fukuoka (Tuesday) before resuming our normal schedule, arriving in Nagasaki Wednesday morning. I’ve since checked the storm track again and while we won’t take a direct hit, it looks like we’ll get slammed with the strong remnants after the typhoon crosses the Japan peninsula. We’ll see.

Immigration was once again well-organized, but probably the most thorough we’ve ever experienced. The actual process took less than a minute, but in addition to a passport check, they did fingerprints (electronic) iris (eyes) and body temperature. In this day and age, I’m all for it.

Our tour left on schedule and although we were pestered with light rain & fog most of the day, we had a good time. Kushiro, which, coincidentally, is well known as "the town of mist," is situated in the southeastern part of Hokkaido, facing the Pacific Ocean. Hokkaido is the second largest, northernmost and least developed of Japan's four main islands. Its weather is harsh in winter with lots of snowfall, below zero temperatures and frozen seas, while in summer it does not get as hot and humid as in the other parts of the country. The Japanese are very creative. The winds are so severe that along many open highways, they’ve installed ‘blinds’ (similar to those found in our homes) which they activate electronically. When the winds increase, they simply ‘lower the blinds’ to reduce wind impact on vehicles. Another roadway feature is that suspended from each streetlight, they have long red arrows so that when snow accumulates, vehicle drivers know exactly where the edge of the roadways are. The arrows are illuminated at night and since we arrived back at the ship after sunset, it was quite an experience seeing everything lit up!

With its unspoiled nature, Hokkaido attracts many outdoor lovers, including skiers and snowboarders in the colder seasons and hikers, cyclists and campers from June to September. Kushiro plays a leading role in the politics, economics and culture of eastern Hokkaido. The marine products industry of Kushiro has & continues to play a major economic role here. 

In the north of Kushiro is Japan's largest marshland, Kushiro Marsh, which stretches out over the majority of the Kushiro Plain. Kushiro Marsh is listed as a national park. The marsh itself is an off-limits area, being designated as a special zone of the national park. You can admire the breathtaking view of the marsh from several observatories built on elevated ground, walk the promenade, canoe down the river, or watch for rare birds and flowers. The government has invested heavily in many observatories and has spared no money in highway rest areas – they are awesome! Innovation in Japan is truly amazing – we are so far behind in many respects. Vending machines dispense everything imaginable, whether hot or cold, including beer. You’ll see photos posted here of the diversity. And musical toilets?? Yes!! I know this may seem bizarre, but I actually took photos of some toilets – they all have warm seats, squirt water to clean various private areas, and play music of your choice to partially distort any noise you may be making during your bathroom visit. Of course, doors on each stall extend all the way to the floor – they try to give you complete, total privacy. The ‘control panel’ on each toilet has so many features and buttons you almost need a manual to learn how to operate.

In route to Lake Mashu, about a 2-hour bus ride, we stopped at a hotel for lunch, but not just a routine lunch. This was a prearranged, traditional Japanese-style meal. Each place setting had eight containers of various foods and in the middle was a burning hibachi for warming certain delicacies. The only food items that looked familiar were the white rice, squid & octopus. The other critters also came from the sea, but I’d never seen or heard of them before. Some were crunchy, some were chewy, but as I sit here 14 hours later, no tummy rebellion yet so all is good. It’s no wonder you don’t see many overweight Japanese folks – they eat light and apparently very healthy. I must admit – I was hungry (starving) again after only a couple hours – their cuisine doesn’t stick with you like a Big Mac. That said, it was a unique experience & overall pretty tasty.

On to the geothermal activity and lake. The vents protruding from the sides of the volcano were quite active and as one would expect, quite nauseating with their egg-like aroma. There’s much more activity in our own Yellowstone, so in that respect we were disappointed. We reached Lake Mashu a little while later and as mentioned earlier, it is advertised as the clearest water, clearest lake in the world. I’ll share with you…by the time we reached the lake, the fog was so thick the bus driver had difficulty parking. We went to the observation deck and there we stood…two busloads of people…80 of us…looking over a guardrail at a blanket of fog – didn’t see one single drop of water…not one! Most passengers then went into the adjacent gift shop to view a DVD that was showing photographs of the lake…what else can you do?  Many bought postcards of the lake – I simply took a photo of the TV to share with you here.

We arrived back at the pier 15 minutes late but as long as you’re on a ship-sponsored tour, they wait. By the time we got back to our room and washed up, we were pulling away from the dock. Despite the light rain & cold temps, many local folks endured the weather to play music and wave as we left the harbor. No meal in the formal dining room tonight. Still in jeans and sweatshirts, we went up to the Lido for a sparsely attended sail-away party, grabbed a light dinner and retired to our cabin.

While we had a great day, we were disappointed with the lack of true Japanese architecture as we know it in magazines and TV documentaries. Aside from the residents, small vehicles with Japanese plates, street signs, the products offered for sale, and of course the ‘musical toilets’, you could be in ‘Anytown USA’. We since learned in a lecture this morning that this will change dramatically in our next three ports – that there are the typical gardens, shrines, and other building manners synonymous with Japan. That said, we met many very nice, helpful, & appreciative people in Kushiro – we even had opportunities to practice our bowing. I got a little carried away in one of the souvenir shops – I bowed, the shop-owner bowed, I bowed again, she bowed…I can’t speak much Japanese but by golly, I CAN bow! J        

Many have asked if I write our updates while on-line. Actually, I revise our blog in chunks throughout the day and do so in Word, which enables me to then cut/paste the finished text just prior to publishing. While I write, Cheryl transfers all the photos into a port-specific folder so I can find them easily but unfortunately, I have to then work with them while connected to the internet – that’s where the bulk of expense occurs as uploading is very slow.

Control panel attached to toilet!

 

 

 

 

The lake we didn't see