Day 78 (04-06-09)

Today: Kobe. A city by the sea. A city of beauty. A city of sake and beef. Mmm, Kobe Beef. Now it’s time for a realization: we aren’t in Southeast Asia anymore. Holy wow stuff is expensive here. I mean, it’s probably comparable to the US, but that’s sill really expensive compared to what we’re used to at this point. Two dollars for a 6-minute train ride on the subway? Inconceivable.

Our main goal for the day: Find a Sake Brewery and do some tasting. After taking a few trains and walking down some sketchy back alleys, we finally found the place we were looking for: The Shu-Shin-Kan Brewery. Here, a little Japanese guy gave us the rundown on Sake production and its several stages. Afterwards, we tried sampled of seven or eight different sakes that the brewery makes. Most of it kind of just tasted like wine to me… I don’t know if that’s normal or not. But oh well.

After the sake, it was time for lunch. We found a local sushi place and had some authentic Japanese raw fish. It was one of those neat places that have the conveyor belt of food going past your table. So you just pick up whichever dish you’d like to eat. Then you eat it. Scrumptious. In the afternoon, we headed over to Mount Rokko. I mean if there’s a mountain within view of the port, why not go? They’re fun to climb and, you know, look at. I found a Wendy’s for the first time this entire voyage. But I restrained myself. I only got a frosty. But it was such a good frosty. That night, we went back to the ship for dinner before heading back into Kobe for a night of good old-fashioned non-alcoholic fun: Karaoke. It was invented in Kobe, and it still thrives here. And if you’ve never been to Japan, I don’t think you understand. There are establishments that are 100% dedicated to karaoke. You walk in, and the guy behind the counter takes your group somewhere in the building to one of several dozen soundproof booths. Once inside, you have as long as you’re willing to pay for with your microphones and television. Then you sing. It’s ridiculous. Why don’t places like this exist in the US? Granted, a four-story building filled with karaoke booths probably wouldn’t make too much money stateside, but it should. Long day, longer night. Bedtime.

Day 79 (04-07-09)

Lazy day. Slept in a little bit. Wandered around Kobe some more by myself. Made a point of getting Kobe Beef at a local buffet. It’s usually unbelievably expensive ($50 a plate at a cheap restaurant), but since I went to a buffet, they had lots of other choices, and the Kobe beef was put out as a specialty dish in little three-bite portions. But man, were those bites tasty. Jerry, the on-ship videographer saw me wandering the streets and stopped me for an interview. Who knows, maybe I’ll show up in the SAS video now. Later in the afternoon, I was feeling pretty lethargic, so I went to the movie theater near the train station and saw Watchmen. I had been excited to see that movie since I read the book in a class last semester, and we were in India with SAS when it came out in March. So this was probably my last chance to see it on the big screen. Afterwards, I hopped on the train back to the ship with an hour to spare before on-ship time (curfew, essentially). I’ll be sailing with the ship tomorrow between Kobe and Yokohama, which was not my original intention at all. There’s a tourist Rail Pass that you can only buy outside of Japan for use of the Japanese JR and Shinkansen (Bullet Train) rail systems. I was planning on buying it in Thailand. And then Vietnam. And then China. But it never happened. And it was $285 for a weeklong ticket. Which would’ve been worth it, but everything is so expensive here that adding the price of a train ticket to hotel stays and extra food and all the little sightseeing things in Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, etc, would have left me with literally no money when I got back to Florida. So, in an effort to act financially responsible for the first time in my life, I sacrificed a crazy five-day tour of Japan for a more mundane 4-day stay. Oh well.

Day 80 (04-08-09)

Wow. The people who stayed on the ship in between Hong Kong and Shanghai got gourmet, five-course meals at dinner. They played games and won prizes, including free massages. You know what we got for staying on the ship in between Kobe and Yokohama. Nothing. The same terrible, buffet-style meals we get every day. Nothing extra to do. They showed the Bourne Trilogy on the screen in the Union. Wahoo. What a bummer. I was hoping for a good meal. Oh well. Today was the ultimate boring, lazy day. Some people didn’t emerge from their rooms other than to eat. I played some Pictionary and Sorry. That’s about it. Hopefully I’ll have lots of energy for tomorrow though. I’m going to need it.

Day 81 (04-09-09)

Today is my adventure day. If you know me, you should’ve seen this coming. As soon as the ship was cleared this morning, I made my way to Tokyo. From there, I hopped on another subway line to go to Tokyo Dome City. It’s the area around the Tokyo Dome, which is the world’s largest indoor baseball field. The Tokyo Giants weren’t playing today, but that’s not the reason I went to this part of the city. You know what else is at Tokyo Dome City? Amusement Park. That’s right, I got my roller coaster fix today. There are 3 roller coasters here: a small spinning wild mouse-type deal, the world’s first Impulse Coaster (like Voodoo at Dorney, but without the twisting), and Thunder Dolphin. That’s right, Thunder Dolphin. It might not sound very intimidating, but it’s awesome. 262 feet tall. 80+mph. I’m back in my element. But I got here at 10:30am. And I was done by 11:15am. You know what that means? I can make it to Tokyo Disney by noon. Hell. Yes.

The Tokyo Disney complex has two parks: DisneyLand and DisneySea. Clever. There wasn’t a ticket that includes both parks, but there was a discounted ticket when you visited the park after 6pm. So I decided to buy a normal day pass for DisneyLand, and then hop over to DisneySea after 6pm. It actually worked out very well. And I had so much fun. I had forgotten how much I love DisneyWorld. Most of the rides were exactly the same, only in Japanese. It’s A Small World in Japanese… hilarious. But I had my hopes raised and dashed in a matter of seconds when I first entered the park. There were advertisements leading up to park entrance for the new ride: Monsters, Inc: Ride and Go Seek. I was pumped. Monsters Inc is my favorite Pixar movie. Do you go inside the Laugh Factory? Does the ride mimic the door chase? Can I go on an adventure with Mike, Sully, and Boo? Sadly, the answers to those questions are “I don’t know, I don’t know, and No,” respectively. Today is April 9th. The ride opens to the public on April 14th. So I walk through the front gate, and the first ride that I encounter on the path is Monsters, Inc: Ride and Go Seek. And the doors are open! And people are walking inside! Oh man, it opened early! This is awesome; I can’t believe this timing! Wait, why are you holding your arm out across the entrance? Silly language barrier, I thought getting in line was universal. What are you pointing at? No there’s nothing on my chest. What’s around your neck? A VIP tag that says “PRESS” on it. No, I don’t have one of those. Wait, why are all the people in line wearing the same Monsters, Inc t-shirt? Why are they all holding cameras and microphones? Why d…. OH MAN. No. Of all the luck, I show up on press release day. Today was the soft opening for the press to preview the ride and get the word out to everyone about how cool it is. Stupid media. They have all the fun.

Anyway, I wandered around DisneyLand for about 5 hours. Got all the major stuff out of the way. Space Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Haunted Mansion. Star Tours. Pirates. Not Splash Mountain though… not feeling the water ride today. So I did everything I wanted to do. Well, everything that was open anyway. Stupid Disney people. Why couldn’t their opening day coincide with the MV Explorer’s arrival in Yokohama? Whatever.

Next up: DisneySea. I didn’t really know what to expect from this park, but it’s really cool. It’s set up kind of like Universal Islands of Adventure in Florida in that it has different themed sections in a giant circle around a lake. And this park is massive. It has fewer rides than DisneyLand, but total area has to be much higher. Tower of Terror was a little lame in comparison to Florida, but still good. There’s a really neat Indiana Jones ride that opened at the same time as the most recent movie. But I think my favorite ride was Journey to the Center of the Earth. There’s a Mysterious Island section of the park that’s all Jules Verne themed. There’s a lake inside a giant volcano and different futuristic, time machine-like things are scattered around. And the two rides in the area are Journey and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. They aren’t the most exciting in the world, but they’re different and they’re fun. Anyway. The big Tokyo Disney 25th Anniversary Finale Fireworks Spectacular whatever it’s called was cancelled due to high winds, so we left a little bit early and headed back to Yokohama. But the amusement park junkie got his high today, and it was a great time. Hooray Tokyo. I’m beat. It’s bedtime.

Day 82 (04-10-09)

Last day in Japan. That means we only have 2 ports left. Hawaii and Guatemala. With 16 days at sea in between. This is not good. Each day, we begin to realize more and more how little time is actually remaining. It’s sinking in. And I don’t like it. Not one bit. No offense or anything, but I’m not ready to be home yet. I mean, I like you all and everything. You guys are the rays of sunshine that make my flowers grow (or something), but I’m having too much fun to come home now. Oh well.

Today was another lazy-ish day. I think the weight of the past month finally just hit me in the face today. I was planning on getting up early, heading back into Tokyo, and wandering around today. But it was just too much. I only saw a small portion of the city, but it’s one of those places that I figure I can go back to fairly easily. I hope. But I hadn’t seen any of Yokohama yet, so this was the last chance to do it. It’s really a great little city. Very clean. Very quiet. Home of Japan’s tallest building, the Landmark Tower. We wandered around the streets for a few hours just to take it all in. We got some Starbucks. Walked to a park on the waterfront. Looked out at our ship sitting in the harbor. It was nice. Oh, and I forgot to mention before: It’s cherry blossom season. So throughout Kobe and Yokohama, the trees are in bloom and they’re gorgeous. I would’ve loved to see the area around Mt. Fuji, but my ongoing time dilemma still stands. Still haven’t been able to stop time yet. It’s on the to-do list.

After the longest customs/immigration process we’ve ever had to go through, we made it back to the ship and crashed for the evening. Another day gone. Another country gone. Another night of blogging, trying to write down every detail I can remember. And failing. I always remember more things that I should’ve said, after the fact. Maybe I can give you more details in person sometime. We’ll see.

New development: Two of the bartenders on the ship were fired in the past 48 hours, and they’re now off the ship. They were two of my three favorite crewmembers. Rumors are swirling all over the place regarding their dismissals. I just hope they make it home (to South Africa and Jamaica, respectively) in a safe and timely manner. Farewell. You are missed. Gone but not forgotten. All that cliché good stuff.

Also: nuclear winter never came. We were all wondering in the days leading up to Japan if North Korea was going to launch. And then they did. And it was the most anti-climactic ending I could imagine. The first two stages of it fell into the water. Nothing happened with the third stage. Japan didn’t do anything. And that’s the end of it. Where’s the excitement? Where’s the worldwide panic, with us hapless tourists stuck in the middle? Where’s the Hollywood action and drama? Man, World War Three was boring.

Day 83 (04-11-09)

Aw nuts. We have to like… study again. Apparently classes pick up while we’re at sea or something. So we have to, you know, do work stuff. What a drag. And there’s a test in global studies coming up? I think? Who knows. I don’t know how far away it is though. It’s not that I don’t pay attention, we just have Easter Sunday twice, so I don’t know how far away things are. The test is on the 13th. So that means it isn’t tomorrow, the 12th. Or two days from now, the 12th. It’s in three days. Got it. Alright. Maybe I’ll go, like, study or something. Meh.