Detailed information and photos are listed on DESTINATIONS
Wednesday 17: Depart the US for Osaka, Japan (see Travel)
Thursday 18: Osaka, Japan
Arrive in Osaka Airport and transfer to the Hotel Hankyu International for overnight. Join fellow travelers for a WELCOME DINNER.
Friday 19: Embarkation - Osaka/Himeji/Kobe (BLD)
After Breakfast - excursion to Himeji Castle, widely acclaimed as Japan's most spectacular castle and a World Heritage Site. Unlike many Japanese castles, it was never destroyed by war, earthquake, or fire and remains muck it did originally in 1609. Its 83 buildings are described by UNESCO as a "masterpiece of construction in wood combining function and aesthetic appeal."
After lunch - continue to nearby Kobe and the SH Minerva and sail.
Dinner - on ship
Saturday 20: Okayama & Kurashiki (BLD)
After breakfast - first stop is Koraku-en Gardens - recognized as one of Japan's three best landscape gardens. Encompassing over 33 acres, it was built in 1700 by a local feudal lord as a strolling garden for his relaxation and contemplation. It contains a flat lawn with attractive ponds, a hill in the center, and a tiny tea plantation with rice paddy, and a small water fall.
After lunch - we travel to Kurashiki to
- explore the Ohara Museum of Art,
- explore the Ohashi Family House, typical of wealthy merchants of the 18th century, and
- stroll the historic town center lined with beautifully-preserved old building.
Dinner - on ship
Sunday 21 - Hiroshima / Miyajimi (BLD)
After breakfast
- we pay solemn visit to Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park and Museum and the Atomic Bomb Dome, one of the most sobering monuments anywhere in the world.
- explore Itsukushima Shrine, a holy place of Shintoism since the earliest times. and home to the an iconic "floating" tori gate. The present shrine dates from the the century and is a reflection of the style favored by the most powerful leader, Taira no Kiyomori. Itsukushima's balancing of the sea, the buildings and the primeval forest on Mt Misen are accepted as tradition's standard of beautiful.
- Lunch and dinner - on ship
Monday 22 - Moji / Hagi (BLD)
After breakfast - Hagi, once the seat of the powerful Mori Clan of Japan's feudal period, is now best know for its well-preserved castle town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although only ruins remain of the castle itself, the basic plan of the Edo-period town has survived. Most of the streets are laid out exactly as they were four hundred years ago and retain the characteristic pure white walls and gray roof tiles of that period.
- Lunch and dinner - on ship
Tuesday 23 - Sakaiminato / Matsue (BLD)
After breakfast visit Matsue Castle. Made entirely of pine in 1611, and, with a partial reconstruction in 1692, never having been ransacked or burned, remains as it was in the later 17th century. Explore the five-story facade, including the uppermost floor, which offers view of the city, Lake Shinj, and the distance mountains.
After lunch, we visit the Adachi Museum of Art and its gardens. It houses numerous works by the great masters of modern Japanese art - Yokoyama Taikan, Takeuchi Seilho, Uemura Shoen, and Ito Shinsui, among others. Most of the works were selected by Adachi Zenko (1899-1990), the museum's founders, who favored a wide and eclectic range of styles.
- Dinner - on the ship
Wednesday 24 - Busan, South Korea (BLD)
After breakfast, our excursion takes us to Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom. The Gyeongju Historic Areas, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contain outstanding example of Korean Buddhist art from the flowering of Silla culture between the 7th and 10th centuries. We will visit the Bulguksa Temple, home to many cultural relics protected as National Treasures, including the Dabotap and Seokgatap Pagodas, the Yeonhwa-gyo & Chilbo-gyo Bridges, and the golden seated Valrocana Buddhist Figure.
After lunch, we spend some time exploring the Gyeongji National Museum.
Dinner - on the ship.
Thursday 25 - Nagasaki (BLD)
After breakfast,
- explore the Sofukuji Temple one of the finest example of Chinese Ming Dynasty temple architecture in the world.
- visit the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park, which commemorates the power of the weapon that brought an end of WWII in the Pacific.
After lunch, visit the Oura Cathedral, the oldest Christian Church in Japan.
Dinner - on the ship
Friday 26 - Kagoshima / Chiran (BLD)
After breakfast from Kagoshima drive through tea plantations to reach Chiran, a small town that resonate with the memory of its samurai past. Several of the authentic 18th- and 19th-century residences we will see are still used by descendants of the original owners, The enclosed gardens, shut off from the narrow streets by walls and hedges, are fine example of the samurai style of "borrowed landscaping," in which surrounding mountains and scenery are made part of the garden design.
After lunch we will visit Sengan-en Garden, another example pf borrowed landscaping, built on the coast north of Kagoshima in 1658 by head of the local feudal clan.
Dinner - on the ship
Saturday 27 - Yakushima Island (BLD)
After breakfast (and lunch) explore the small and seldom-visited Yakushima Island, located about 50 miles south of the main Japanese islands. Yakushima was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 in recognition of its incredible variety ecosystems - ranging from subtropical coastal vegetation, through a temperate rain forest of thousand-year-old cedar trees, to bamboo grasslands on the peaks of its mile-high central mountains.
Dinner on the ship.
Sunday 28 - Uwajima (BLD)
After breakfast visit the Uwajima Castle, one of the few original Edo-period castles that remain.
After lunch travel to the nearby town of Uchido, whose picturesque old street of Yokaichi is line with buildings dating from the final years of the Edo period and the early years of the Meiji Restoration. As we walk along this street we will encounter an old sake brewery, the Amazake Chaya Teahouse, the Uchido-za Theater and the Kama Hagi-tei, the former home and workshop of one of Uchiko's most influential families.
Monday 29 - Takamatsu (BLD)
After breakfast spend the day in Takamatsu, where we will explore Shikoku Mura, an open-air museum situated at the base of Yashima Mountain that exhibits traditional buildings and structures relocated here from all over Shikoku Island. We will visit the nearby sculptor Isami Noguchi, an extension of the famous Garden and museum in lower Manhattan.
After lunch we will travel to the small island of Naoshima, home of a vibrant art scene that includes an underground museum designed by famed architect Tadao Ando.
Dinner on the ship.
Tuesday 30 - Kobe / Disembarkation (B)
After breakfast we transfer to the Osaka Airport
