Hotel Hankyu International
19-19 Chayamachi,Kita-ku,Osaka 530-0013
+81-6-6377-2100
May 18
About 70 minutes by taxi or airport limousine bus from Kansai International Airport
Kansai International Airport KIX, is the primary international airport in the Greater Osaka Area. It is located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay off the Honshu. It consists of two terminals: Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. It is the third busiest in Japan.
May 19
After breakfast, we have an excursion at Himeji Castle.
Himeji Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle complex is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of 83 rooms with advanced defensive systems from the feudal period.
Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and it was registered in 1993 as one of Japan's first UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The area within the middle moat of the castle complex is a designated Special Historic Site and five structures of the castle are also designated National Treasure. long with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto Castle, Himeji Castle is considered one of Japan's three premier castles.
After lunch and visiting the castle, we drive 21 miles to Kobe and the SH Minerva
Kobe with a population around 1.5 million is Japan's seventh-largest city located on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka BayWhile the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake diminished much of Kobe's prominence as a port city, it remains Japan's fourth-busiest container port. The city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef, the home of Kobe University, and the site of one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts, Arima Onsen.
We board the ship, check out our staterooms, have our traditional muster check with life jackets, and walk-about before dinner.
SH Minerva staterooms (76 total) are all 5-star accommodations providing max passenger capacity of 152. All cabins (70) and suites (6) are double-occupancy, and most are with step-out balconies. The boat is maintained by 120 staff-crew, accommodated in 73 crew cabins.
The boat has 9 decks, of which 7 are passenger-accessible and only 3 with cabins.
