By Ted Scull.
Without a doubt, Japan is one of the world’s most complex countries to fathom and perhaps, without knowing the language, equally hard to travel through independently. Many years ago I ventured there, liked what I saw in Tokyo and Kyoto, but had to leave after a week because of the high cost of almost everything. I pined to return, and for the last half-dozen years, I eyed an annual spring cruise that made a partial circumnavigation of the country’s four main islands. The ship was petite and the ports both familiar sounding — Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Hakodate — and utterly unknown, at least to me — Hagi, Matsue, Kanazawa, Miyajima, Uwajima, Okayama and Sado Island.
Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa, Japan
Of all the stops, these three were my favorites: Nagasaki, Matsue and Kanazawa.
While Hiroshima is a handsome, planned city built on a street grid, Nagasaki ranges around a lovely harbor hemmed in by tree-lined slopes. And as with Hiroshima, Nagasaki’s Atomic Bomb Museum has similar exhibits, further deepening the effect that these two horrific events had on all of us. Because of poor visibility, the second bomb landed north of the heart of the city and steep hills prevented more widespread damage. One-third of the population was killed and an equal number were injured by the blast, heat rays and radiation.
The city’s second major attraction is Glover Garden, a collection of 19th-century western-style buildings. Set in a hillside park, it reveals the influence Nagasaki’s foreign community had in establishing beer brewing, coal mining, railroads, and shipbuilding (Mitsubishi). The current shipyards were in full view in the harbor below.
Glover Garden in Nagasaki, Foreign Settlement
We had time to explore on our own and clutching 100 yen coins, I rode the city’s trams, walked the waterfront park and visited a covered shopping arcade. With the help of picture menus, several of us had a tasty and attractive lacquer tray lunch of noodle soup with shrimp, octopus, rice and dumplings, plus sweet little extras for only $7.
Up the coast at Matsue, we visited the private Adachi Art Museum and Gardens, instantly becoming my favorite stop. Inside, the art collection included beautiful scroll paintings and screens depicting birds, flowers, and trees in different seasons. The museum’s rectangular windows framed sections of the enchanting garden outside planted with moss, bonsai pine trees, sculpted bushes, flowers and ferns all set amidst swaths of white pebbles, rocks, tiny shrines, streams, waterfalls, arched bridges and stone walkways. The distant hills, referred to as borrowed scenery, formed a backdrop of tall pines, maples and other deciduous trees that are awash with color in the autumn. Sitting down to take it all in, it was hard to leave.
Adachi Art Museum & Gardens, Matsue
The winding drive back to the ship skirted lakes, flooded rice paddies and seed beds. On all our drives, I saw no aggressive driving, no honking of horns or any impatience behind the wheel. Calmness and polite behavior seemed to permeate our host country, though I know from experience, such is not the case during the big city commuter rush hours. The trains tend to be more packed than the New York City subway, and just to get on, one has to sally forth! But most of our Japanese journey was not in the big cities.
At Kanazawa, we strolled through a beautiful garden that overlooked the city, visited the central market where traveling Japanese have seafood sent home and enjoyed a wonderful Japanese buffet overlooking the Shinto gate entrance to a strikingly modern railway station. In the afternoon, we experienced a traditional Japanese tea ceremony with all the elaborate steps and responses, a most serene and memorable occasion.
Kenrokuen Gardens, Kanazawa, Japan
The serenity and beauty of Japan outside the major cities, and the civility shown to visitors made a huge impression on me.
While the ship I took has been sold to another line, the following small ship lines make similar cruises. Spring is a splendid time to go.
Small ship lines that offer cruises to Japan include Abercrombie & Kent, Silver Expeditions, Tauck and Zegrahm Expeditions.
Stay tuned for more of Ted’s Best Small Ship Cruise Experiences, in no particular order, in the weeks and months to come!
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HEIDI SARNA
