This is the first entry for our Japan cruise.  AIA (Archaeology Institute of America) announced a cruise along the west side of Japan, so we decided to take our fifth trip with them, and it’s our 4th or 5th trip to Japan.  AIA has great lecturers, and on this trip we’ll be revisiting some of our old favorites and seeing lots of new sights in addition.  You can see the trip brochure by clicking here – Japan by Sea 2019.

We started out with a brief visit to Berkeley to see our daughter son-in-law and grandchildren, where we had a great time and beautiful weather.  On Friday morning, we woke up at 4 am to catch a 6:30 am flight to Seattle.  But in Seattle, as we were ready to board at noon (luggage already loaded), they discovered a leak in one of the toilet tanks.  Instead of fixing it, they had to schedule a replacement plane, and this entailed a 7-hour additional layover!  After an 11-hour flight, we arrived in Osaka at 9:30 pm Saturday night (which is 8:30 am Saturday morning in Florida).  It took 2 hours through customs and 2 hours to get to the Kyoto Hotel Okura, so we collapsed at our hotel at 1 am, having had almost no sleep during the 25 hours.

Today was a free day before the tour starts, so we decided to check out some museums, starting with the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts.  The only demo that was going on was for Damascene, which consists of inlaying oxidized steel with gold or silver, creating intricate designs that resemble tapestry patterns.  In reality, it was a multi-floor, multi-building shopping center for Japanese traditional crafts.

Nearby we happened upon a Kendo tournament at the Kyoto Budo Center (Budo = Martial Arts).  They had booths selling all of the paraphernalia, such as the wooden Shinai swords.

Nearby was the Heian Shrine, which was built in 1985 and modeled after an old imperial palace.  Heian is the former name of Kyoto city.  Because it was a Sunday, there were a lot of locals, and many women in traditional kimonos.

Our last stop was at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.  We were able to visit a very impressive exhibit of one of Japan’s most famous potters, Kawaii Kanjiro (1890-1965).  Back at the hotel, we had a quick meal in the hotel coffee/tea shop before calling it a day.

Cheryl

 

 

The following photos are from the Heian Shrine

The following photos are from the Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

May 5 is Children’s Day, although we didn’t notice anything particular happening.  There was a note about it in our hotel lobby.  Here, by the way, is the entrance to our hotel.