Nagasaki, Kyushu Island
On August 9, 1945, an atomic bomb was detonated over the city of Nagasaki. The devastation of the city, loss of life and health impact to survivors are well-documented at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.
We visited the museum and the Peace Park during our morning visit to Nagasaki.
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| Hypocenter of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb |
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| Statue inMemory of School Children and Teachers |
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| Exhibit of Immaculate Conception Cathedral (Urakami Church) After Bomb, Nagasaki |
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| Peace Statue Symbolizing a Pledge for Eternal Peace |
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| A Peace Park Monument |
After our morning tour, we stopped by the Hamanomachi Arcade. We shopped at the Don Quijote (aka "Donki") store to purchase a duffel to use as an additional check-in luggage for our flight from Narita to San Francisco. During the six weeks of travel, we noticed that we were running out of luggage space - too many items collected during our travel. Donki is a large variety discount store that is found in over 600 Japan locations. The aisles and shelves are deeply stocked and the store carries luggage. We found a 40L duffel that was more than adequate for our packing needs.
With shopping complete, we had lunch at Katsushika, a tonkatsu restaurant at the end of the covered arcade. Lunch (a chicken tonkatsu and seafood tonkatsu with miso soup, salad and takuan) was delicious and, for two, cost about $20 USD.
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| My Seafood Tonkatsu Lunch |
Leaving the Arcade area by foot, we walked through the downtown area. We returned to the Port and the Quest via a local tram.
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| A Playground Structure |
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| Meganebashi Bridge Over Nakashima River in Central Nagasaki |
Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu Island
We were on our own for this port day. Our plan was to visit Sengan-en, the historic house and Japanese gardens of the Shimazu clan, one of the most powerful feudal clans of the Edo period. The house was built in 1658 and reconstructed in1880. The last resident of Sengan-en was Shimazu Tadayoshi (1840-1897), the 31st lord. Sengan-en is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The house and gardens provide a view of Sakurajima, an active Volcano. This volcano constantly emits smoke and last erupted in May 2025.
Getting to Sengan-en from the port is possible by train, bus or taxi. We chose taxi to shorten our transportation time and arrive at the beginning entry time.
There is a next door Shoko Shuseikan museum dedicated to the Shimazu family 800 year history and also includes Shimazu equipment that brought the Industrial Revolution to Japan through textiles, steel and iron manufacturing and glass-making.
Our final stop after leaving Sengan-en was much more reflective of current technology. A few steps away from the port is the Misumi Apple Store. I picked up an Apple AirTag to place in my new "check-in" duffel for the flight back to the US.
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| View of Sakurajira Volcano from Sengan-en |
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| Shoko Shuseikan |
Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture
Our visit to Ishigaki Island was short in duration and, hence, we didn't see many sights. We stopped at the Minsa Art and Craft Center to view its 4-5 square pattern/brand on woven cloth. This pattern is represented by four squares followed by five squares and means "for many years to come."
There was no one actually weaving during our visit, so this excursion allowed us to browse the Center's small museum and provide guests with a shopping opportunity.
Our next stop was the Kabira Bay overlook that provided views of emerald green waters. There was also some shopping opportunities here (Sake and pearls) but we simply relaxed and enjoyed the views.
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A highlight of our morning in Ishigaki was our stop at the Ishigaki Pottery Studio. We learned of the many experiments by Kihachiro Kaneko to create glass fused pottery. His objective was to use the beauty of a tenmoku tea bowl as his inspiration. Tenmoku is a style of glaze believed to be used for stoneware from the Song Dynasty (1127-1279). We found his pottery captured many shades of blue within a ceramic that is decorated with what visually appears as floating oil spots. We purchased a plate and it now is displayed in our house, among other art pieces from our many travels.
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Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Honshu Island
This was our final port stop on our Seabourn Quest cruise. We met our guide from Free Shizuoka Guide as we left the ship's gangway. This group provides free guides in the Shimizu area, with the cost of any transportation, entry fees and lunch/snacks covered by the visitor. A visitor may also be asked to pay for the guides transportation to the meeting point. In Japan, we found that our private guides sometimes traveled 90 minutes to reach our tour meeting point and find this reimbursement for free guides more than reasonable. For all day tours, we have lunch with our guide and pay for the guide's lunch expense. Note that in Japan, tips are not expected.
Our first morning stop was the Nihondaira Ropeway to the Kunozan Toshogu Temple via taxi. The ropeway is an aerial lift that connects Nihondaira Mountain with the Kunozan Toshogu Temple. The ropeway provides scenic views of Surge Bay, the Izu Peninsula and Mount Fuji (on a clear day).
The Kunozan Toshogu Shrine was built over 400 years ago and, due to its mountain location, survived WWII. The temple holds the remains of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun to unify Japan. He served as shogun between 1603 and 1605, before retiring to what now is Shizuoka City. He died in 1616, at the age of 75.
There were 1,129 high stone steps to reach the shrine. Ieyasu is said to be buried here but there may be some of his remains also buried in Nikko Toshogu Shrine. Kunozan Temple is a national treasure, designated in December 2010.
Once we returned to Nihondaira Mountain, we stopped at the Nippondaira Hotel to view Shimizu Bay from the Yumo-Terrace, but still Mt. Fuji was obscured by clouds.
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| Source: Nippondaira Hotel |
Just before lunch, we moved on to Miho Beach to walk among some of the 30,000 pine trees. The legend of Hagoromo-no-Matsu takes place along the beach. In this story, a celestial maiden leaves her feathered robe on the beach, only to be taken by a fisherman. Before returning the robe, the fisherman asks the maiden to perform a dance. After a beautiful dance, the maiden returns to heaven with her robe.
Our lunch stop was at the Kashi-no Ichi fish market. At the market, there are many vendors from which to purchase fish and shellfish - some fresh and some dried. There are also several restaurants offering seafood dishes.
Just before returning to the Seabourn Quest, we stopped at the Uniqlo store in the S-Pulse Dream Plaza. We purchased a few clothing items that needed to be squeezed into our luggage. The following day, we departed the Quest for a trip to Nikko.
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| Resting Place of Tokugawa Ieyasu |
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| Resting Place for Tokugawa Ieyasu's Horse |
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| Kashi-no Ichi Fish Market Source: Visit-Shizuoka.Com |
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| Inside the Market |
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