1044 Kujukushima Bay & Rice Fields.
1087 Netagi & Tenjoku jimas with an Oyster Farm.
1117 Matsura-jima & Fish Farm, Either Yellow Tail or Sea Bream.
1135 Pearl Queen.
1140 Japanese Brownies showing varied expressions.
1155 D & Sasabo, where her father served in 1945.
Oct 8 – At sea. A day at sea is very welcome after 4 fairly strenuous days in port. I almost forgot my daily at sea routine. Breakfast, Tai Chi, Bible study, port lecture and lunch. Followed by Qi Gong in the afternoon. Tom Mullin, our Cruise Specialists escort, had his briefing on the Beijing overnight tour coming up in three days.
We have another long touring day tomorrow so it was time to rest up a bit.
Oct 9 – Nagasaki, Japan. She ship is docked in Nagasaki and we’re headed out into the countryside. This day has significance on several fronts. First, today would have been Diana’s mom’s 90th birthday. Second, Diana’s dad was stationed in Sasabo in 1945 and our tour is taking us there. As I’ve mentioned before he was in the Marine Corps and after fighting on Iwo Jima he was sent to China to prepare for the invasion of the Japanese homeland. It is very unlikely he would have survived the invasion but good ‘ole Harry Truman dropped not one but two A-Bombs on Japan giving them a reason to surrender without having to invade. The fact that he needed to drop the second one is a clear testament to the stubborn nature of the Japanese mindset of the time. One clearly should have been enough. I can tell that Diana is a little subdued this morning and I’m sure that’s why.
Our trip today will take us on a lap around Kujukushima Bay by bus. The bay is home to the ’99 Islands’. In Japanese culture ‘99’ is used to signify ‘many’ and should not be taken literally. However in this case it’s an underestimate. There are actually over 200 little dots, and not so little dots, scattered around the bay only 4 of them are inhabited.
It took about 1.5 hours to get to our boat for the cruise around the 99 Islands. During that time we discovered that we had visited Japan’s three largest ports in order of descending size, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki. During driving time guides often tell you interesting facts about culture and tradition. I like this because it makes the time go faster and sometimes you learn some very interesting things. Our guide, Mariko, told a story that illustrates the intricacies of Japanese culture that are not readily grasped by newcomers. She had a neighbor that was from England. One day she saw her on the street carrying some chrysanthemums. She said how pretty they were and asked the friend where she was going. The friend replied that she was visiting another friend in the hospital. Mariko told her that she was sorry but the flowers were not appropriate. In Japan, chrysanthemums are flowers used in funerals and to express sympathy. The friend passed her house later carrying a bouquet of very colorful poppies. Mariko stopped her friend again to ask if she was still heading to the hospital. The friend answered yes and Mariko told her that she was so sorry but once again the poppies were not appropriate. In Japan, poppies are given to someone who has assumed a new position, bought a new house, been elected to office or gotten a promotion to congratulate them and wish them a long stay in their new place. Not a good message for someone in the hospital. She saw the friend several days later and asked about the friend. After receiving a good report she asked what gift the friend had taken to the hospital and the friend replied, “Candy.”
From working with Japanese businessmen for almost 15 years I can tell you first hand that there are so many mines in the field that is Japanese culture that a foreigner is almost certainly going to run afoul of several every day unless you get help and guidance from someone who knows the path. I did have it easier than US born Japanese people in that area. The person from Japan will overlook a multitude of gaffs from a non-Japanese person if they appear to be trying to get it right. An American of Japanese descent gets no such break. Since they are Japanese in the eyes of the actual Japanese, they are expected to toe the mark every step of the way. An impossible burden to carry and a difficult position to be in.
The trip was split between and elevated highway and a smaller road along the bay’s shoreline. On the way we passed a multitude of small rice paddys, some of which had been already harvested and stacked to dry and some that were a pretty yellow-gold color, ripe and ready to cut.
As we drove through the city of Sasabo, Diana was looking everywhere for evidence of the US base. As it happened, we drove directly past the entrance to the “US Fleet Activities, Sasebo, Japan”. From the bridge entering town we had seen naval vessels but could not determine the country they served.
We arrived at the Saikai Pearl Sea Resort’s pier in mid-morning and set out on a very pleasant cruise around Kujukushima Bay on the Pearl Queen. It’s a tri-masted ship but has likely never been under sail. It appeared to me that the masts and rigging were just for show. Everything about the hull and ship’s design screamed power vessel. Our one hour cruise in and around the 99 Islands was totally enjoyable. The sun was shining, a cool breeze was enhanced by the boat’s movements and the scenery was attractive. The islands are rocky and mostly tree covered. The shorelines are very irregular with some unusual rock formations. There are two island surnames, jima and shima, but I don’t know the difference. I looked them up in the Lonely Planet guide book, as far as I can tell unless you’re a backpacking hippie this is the least useful guide book publisher of the big 4. The glossary had an entry for each that simply said ‘island’. Knowing the Japanese as well as I do I know there’s more to it but once again Lonely Planet took the course of least resistance, and in this case the course of least information as well.
Scattered among the little islands there were two types of aquaculture going on, pearl and fish farming. The pearl farms are rows of little round buoys from which lines holding the seeded oysters are suspended. These are checked regularly and harvested when the farmer thinks they’re ready. About 30% of the seeded oysters produce a commercially viable pearl. The fish farms are large square pens suspended from raft-like floats. They farm two types of fish here, Yellow Tail (Hamachi) and Sea Bream. Some of the islands are said to resemble things, in this case Yoko-shima, a lion and Ojikase, a submarine. You had to use your imagination a little but the resemblance was there.
We were aboard with Japanese tourists as well and it was fun to interact with them. One of the ship’s escorts is the cruise director’s fiancé. An older Japanese man wanted to take her picture with some of the other people from the ship and after he did she wanted to take his picture with his wife. The wife was laughing and very hesitant to pose for her but with some hand gesture coaxing, she agreed. It was fun to watch the exchange between the girl and the husband and wife. Finally they agreed on a seated pose that make a nice picture.
On the way to the parking lot after the cruise we encountered what appeared to be a troop of Japanese Brownies. They were getting off their little orange and white but that had been decorated with jack-o-lanterns in each window. Halloween is apparently a big deal here in Japan. We’ve been seeing decorations since Oct 1st. The girls had one of three reactions to all the attention by these strange foreigners. What’s going on? Why are these people taking pictures of me? Hi stranger, welcome to Japan! There seemed to be more in the latter category than the other two. In any event they were very cute and created a big stir among the grandmas from the ship.
After lunch at a local hilltop hotel we drove a little further up Mt Yumihari for a nice view out over Sasabo and Kujukushima Bay.
Our last stop of the day was at the Sakai Bridge. The narrow inlet the bridge crosses produces giant eddies in the water when the tides are changing. Unfortunately the tide was turning while we were there and the water was very calm. When it was constructed the Sakai Bridge was the longest bridge of its type in the world.
The sail away from Nagasaki was very nice. A girl’s band performed on the pier as we departed. It’s always nice to be serenaded as we depart. You sail out of the harbor through a narrow inlet that has a short suspension bridge over it. The sun was low in the sky creating very vivid colors on the landscape. The so called ‘Golden Hour’.
The performer for the evening was Max Dolcelli, a comedian. He’s fine but his style is not really one of my favorites. He had some very good gags and the show was enjoyable.
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