10. Yokohama - Disappointment and triumph

The first leg of our trip came to a close as we sailed back into the port of Yokohama, and so at this point I will deal with the disappointment first. Our return to Kagoshima has been cancelled and thus our plans to visit Sakurajima volcano must wait for some other time. We were advised that Tropical Storm Saola was heading towards Japan, was expected to intensify and then become a full blown typhoon (pun intended) within a few hours and therefore for the comfort and safety of everyone we must track away from the worst of the storm. Yes, it is a shame but at least we got the opportunity to visit a few days ago unlike the new passengers who have only just embarked the ship. It means that we now have five sea days in a row, but as a small plus, we have been given $50 each for both of our cancelled ports of call and had the port fees refunded, so that is some $250 in total applied to our account to spend on cocktails or somesuch.

But on to the good news. We had a chance to rebook our fogged out Mt. Fuji trip but at a considerable cost and no guarantee that the weather would be any better. So, we decided against it and took a chance on our other option, the view from the 69th floor of Yokohama's Landmark Tower. We got to the Tower right on opening time, the sky was cloudless apart from some haze and stepping out of the lift, there in front of us in the distance was Mt. Fuji in all her majestic glory. She rises some 12,000 feet from the countryside and with her perfect cone thickly dusted in pure white snow it really was the epitome of every picture postcard you have ever seen of Japan's sacred and most famous mountain.

Needless to say we did our best to take photographs but with the slight haze and thick glass of the observatory they do not do the scene justice. You had to be there. The views in all the other directions were spectacular in their own right too, from Tokyo's city skyline in the northeast to views of Yokohama Bridge and the harbour to the southwest. 

After an hour or so we descended back to street level and celebrated with a coffee and a very tasty and sticky bun. We had a look around some of Yokohama's shops and also enjoyed strolling along the harbourside boardwalk which provided some good views of the city. It is also the home of the Nippon Maru, a four masted naval training ship which is now a maritime museum, whilst some of the old dockside warehouses have been converted into smart boutiques and restaurants. As it was a warm and sunny day, the locals were out in force and it was very pleasant indeed.

Our other stop in Yokohama was at the Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum. This was a great place specialising in aerospace, underwater, land transport and green energy exhibits and with plenty of buttons to press, handles to turn and interactive screens. It is exciting for all children aged 8 to 80 although I have to confess that I failed the astronaut aptitude test with a dismal B grade.

As an aside, it seems that part of the educational system in Japan is that schoolchildren have one day a week learning outside of the classroom and they were having lots of fun in the museum. One of their teachers, anxious to practice her English engaged us in conversation and earlier in the day when we were going up in the lift in the Landmark Tower, the teacher with his group got all his young charges to say "hello" to us in English. It's wonderful that everyone wants to be so friendly and helpful and it will definitely be one of my fondest memories of Japan long after we return home.

It would have been nice to have more time to see more of Yokohama but we had an immigration queue to navigate and a ship to board before it was due to sail at 4pm. As we pulled away from the quay a large crowd had gathered to wave us goodbye.

However, the day had one more surprise in store. As we sailed further out into Yokohama Bay, Mt. Fuji became visible once again, a dark silhouette outlined beyond the cityscape and backlit with shades of deep orange and red from the setting sun. It was a truly stunningly beautiful sight to end the day.