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34 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MAY 2025 TRAVEL FEATURE By Bill and Mary Christelman Ohayo, or good morning in Japanese. Bill and I love to travel and have been fortunate to visit many places during our retirement. Recently we took a cruise on Holland America Line (HAL) called "Majestic Japan." We love traveling on HAL because they have a variety of destination cruises and this was a new one for us. We left Seattle for a glorious 53 days, first visiting Alaska and then spending time in many Japanese ports before returning to Seattle with a stopover in Hawaii. Because it was a special voyage, we became immersed in Japanese culture through lectures on history, culture, etiquette, and port orientations. Many food items offered on-board also exposed us to Japanese life. Our itinerary was Kushiro and Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido, Yokohama (Tokyo), Shimizu and Osaka (Kobe), Kochi, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Sakaiminato, Kanazawa, Toyama (on the largest island of Honshu), Nagasaki, and Naha (on the island of Ishigaki and capital of Okinawa). It was interesting to learn Naha had mixed cultures of Hawaii, Taiwan, and Japan. There is so much to tell but we want to share some awesome highlights. The people were so friendly and eager to share their culture with us and learn about us. At each port we were welcomed by musicians, high school students, ambassadors, and children. While English is not widely spoken, all the people we met had their translation apps on their phones ready to share places to visit and also ask us questions. Maps in English were readily available. Each port had a market to visit. This is not a building but a section of the town/city with fresh beautiful produce and flowers, fish, fish, and more fish. There were numerous places to eat. Household items and clothing were also for purchase. At many of these locations we were greeted with origami cranes, a symbol of friendship. There were several historical castles to visit, each one with a glorious garden. They were from the 11th and 12th centuries. There were many temples also with beautiful gardens. We also saw the second and third largest Buddhas. We visited big cities and very small towns. One of our lectures on the ship was on the devastation caused by WWII and the rebuilding and dedication to peace in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The beautiful Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima has an eternal flame that burns for world peace. It was an awesome sight to witness school children adding origami cranes to the children's area. We were able to visit areas outside of our scheduled ports using trains and buses that were readily accessible. We tried Japanese food in each area. Raw fish was not our thing, but chicken dishes were readily available. It was a treat to experience noodles served from the region's local specialty. JOURNEY TO JAPAN Shuri Castle in Okinawa. It is the castle where the Japanese general-in-charge of the island in World War II had his headquarters. e infamous "Shure Line," a Japanese defense line, was in this area where so many soldiers died.

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