Minansan Konnichi Wa- 11 September

Hello everyone! It has been a very happy ship today. The Global Studies test is over, the seas are calm and we are less than 12 hours away from Japan. Life is good!

I have finally figured out what I am going to be doing while docked at Yokohama which is a huge relief. I am joining a group of students and professor who will be visiting Yasukuni Shrine and Museum which is basically a war memorial and museum. After the museum, we are heading off to the largest tempura restaurant in Japan – the professor also swears it is the best tempura available. I am an abysmal failure with chop sticks so I’m not sure if I’ll actually get a taste of it though. After lunch, most of the group will be heading back to Yokohama but I’m staying overnight in Tokyo. I’ve found a western-style hotel that isn’t outrageously expensive and plan to see a few more sights while I’m there. I found out today that two other women will be staying in the city too although not at the same hotel so we plan to meet up and see the sights together. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is calling for 100% chance of rain. Rather disappointing but I’m relieved that I’m not planning on a trip to Mt. Fuji where good weather is a necessity.

I plan to come back to the ship for the trip from Yokohama to Kobe rather than travel by train. I didn’t get organized in time for that to happen. I’m looking forward to sailing on an empty ship though. The faculty members who will be sailing plan to stake out the pool area and actually get some time out there which is virtually impossible when the students are around.

I spent some time in the faculty lounge tonight before dinner. This isn’t something that I usually don't have time for. It was good timing because the Dean’s memo that was distributed today had birthdays listed for the next several days. Both Eileen and I have a birthday on the 13^th so people started buying us drinks. Score!

After dinner there was a quick showing of films that students have been creating about life on the ship. There were three 5-minute films that were very creative. They will be creating more films while in India. Given tonight’s films, I’m sure they’ll be lots of fun.

I'll post more later this evening after the logistical pre-port lecture. I need to make sure that I get it loaded tonight since we won't have Internet access once we reach Yokohama (something about our technology not working with Japan's technology - basically, I don't understand and can't provide a coherent explanation!). It may be late on Friday before I'm able to get caught up on e-mail and such. Anyway - look for more blogtastic entries in a couple of hours. See ya.

9:15 pm (or 21:15 in nautical time). Logistical pre-port is now over and we are all wiser about Kobe and Yokohama....well, not really but we can probably fake pretty well now. We got the lecture from the executive dean about coming back to the ship drunk - a legacy of the boarding disaster in Hawaii. Other than that it was a quick powerpoint presentation on behaving ourselves in port, a lecture from the doctor on not doing anything stupid and a quick bit from the field office that organizes the trips for each port. It's only our second logistical pre-port but the content has become standardized already.

I'm now waiting for the talent show to begin while I write this blog. I just hope nobody sings Kumbaya or anything painful like that! Time to sign off. I'll be back in a couple of days with a mind-numbing description of everything I've done. See ya.