Konnichiwa from Japan
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2008
1
18
38
Trip End
Apr 22, 2008
Kagoshima,
Japan
Friday, February 29, 2008
Kagoshima is the southern most of Japan's major islands & the closest to Korea & China. We took a shuttle to the downtown area. There is so much to see & do in this lovely city but impossible in the few hours we had available. My granddaughter, Kylie, has said she would like to visit Japan for her high school graduation gift so I'll have to do the sightseeing with her.
I browsed around 2 large department stores & bought 2 gifts for Kylie. Even though few spoke English, everyone was very friendly & anxious to help. I enjoyed looking at the lovely kimonos, priced at thousands of dollars. My only Japanese consisted of konnichiwa (good day), arigato (thank you) & sayonara (goodbye) but I used them often, much to the delight of the bowing & giggling kimono clad women.
My map showed a location for a tea house & ya' gotta have tea in Japan, right? A young man, who spoke no English, actually walked me 2 blocks to it-I would never have found it on my own. The waitress handed me a menu-all in Japanese. I made the motion of drinking tea & eating & she said HAI! (yes). Green tea and "sweets" are customary here & they were delicious. My bill was 400 Yen, about $4.00. I offered my credit card. Yikes, they did not accept credit cards. I offered dollars (ha ha) but they only accepted Yen. How embarrassing! However, after conferring with their manager, several women said "no money, no problem"-so to speak. They were very gracious & I won't forget their kindness, hospitality & generosity.
So, that was my short stay in Kagoshima but I left with wonderful photos, movies, memories & 2 souvenirs. I'd love to visit this city again.
Back at the port, an official ceremony was underway. Sake, green tea & sweets were provided for all of us. This is the first time our ship, Pacific Princess, has been to Japan so gifts were exchanged among the officials & officers & an amazing drum performance was conducted. As the ship sailed away, Auld Lang Syne was played with hundreds of Japanese waving & saying goodbye & our passengers waving & saying sayonara. It was clear we were truly welcomed by this wonderful city.
We are now on a westerly course across the East China Sea towards Shanghai, China, where we will arrive Mar. 2nd. I will leave the ship for an overland trip to Beijing to see The Great Wall. (Yes, I have to pinch myself to believe I am actually doing these things).
Until then, sayonara.
Linda
