Monday Oct 19, 2026
Hi Gang! We made it back to Japan! And the weather Gods were very good to us! (Must have been all that rubbing on the lucky ox!). The forecast called for rain all day but we didn’t get a drop. And it was a perfect 75 degrees and overcast to make it easy for walking around.
We were docked in the town of Kanazawa. It’s located on the coast of the Sea of Japan and is known for its preserved geisha districts, world-class gardens and traditional crafts like gold leaf production. Kanazawa produces roughly 99% of Japan’s gold leaf used in local crafts, ceramics, and even soft-serve ice cream (we ate some on top of our matcha ice cream!).
Our tour today stopped at three places, which were the Higashi Chaya geisha district, the Kenrokuen Garden and the Omicho Fish Market. Our first stop was to the geisha district. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any geishas! (Rumor is they only come out at night!). But we did see lots of the “tea houses” where the geishas would “entertain” the samurai. (No comment!).
After that we went to the Kenrokuen Garden which is widely ranked as one of Japan’s three best landscaped gardens, featuring ponds, trees, and classic landscaping across all seasons. We started to see “Fall’ with several trees showing a little color and even dropping some leaves. It was a really beautiful place!
We saw the Kotoji-toro (Stone Lantern) standing by the Kasumi pond, which is the symbol of the garden. We also got our picture in front of the statue of Yamato Takeru (a legendary Japanese prince from ancient mythology erected to honor local soldiers who died during the Satsuma Rebellion). Across from the garden was the Kanazawa Castle, built in 1583 as the historic seat of the powerful Maeda Clan.
Our last stop was the Omicho Fish Market which is a bustling local market packed with vendors selling fresh Sea of Japan seafood, crab, sushi and produce. There was lots of strange-looking seafood and it sorta stunk like the other fish markets, but it was fun. We even saw a guy flame-grilling oysters!
We then got back to the ship and relaxed and got ready for dinner. We went to the main dining room again and I had the Seafood Spring Roll for my appetizer, Barramundi fish for my main (must have been all that fish from the fish market!), and a very unique Ube Tiramisu (made from purple yams or ube!). Everything was very yummy!
After dinner we went to the show which was the HAL singers and dancers in a show called “A Swimg Thing!”. They sang and danced to some classic swing music. It was such a high-energy show and they were all great in it! They seem to do their shows almost every other night so they must be tired. Still waiting to hear if we can have dinner with a couple of them but they’re probably too busy!
After the show we stuck with the routine we love which is finishing the night out listening to our favorite piano player. Tomorrow we are in Sakata, Japan. Looking forward to visiting another new Japan city! Hope everyone had a great day!
