April 27, 2001 (Day 51)

By steven
Part of a series: Around the World
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April 27, 2001 (Day 51): Regal Princess departing Muroran, Japan  – 6.45pm

Health: Fair. How long can this cold hold on?  It’s improving, but…

Morale:  Very good. Muroran was an unexpected gem.

I am a little awed by the reception provided by the citizens of Muroran. I expected that the places we visit on this cruise would be sick to death of tourists, who arrive by the boatload and leave disorder and chaos in their wake. The hospitality we were shown was different from the usual indifference or predatory enticement directed towards large visiting groups common in areas where tourism is an industry. It is odd to feel as welcomed to a city as the adverts always seem to promise that you will be.

The Muroran briefings from the crew seemed geared towards downplaying the city, like we were hitting some cultural vacuum like Nebraska. Because of this, Muroran and its people benefited from their enthusiastic response to the poor publicity. We have been told that we are the first international passenger liner to dock here. To celebrate the event, the ship’s officers and local officials participated in a tree planting ceremony, attended by a number of local schoolchildren as well.

The local tourist bureau set up tents just off of the gangway with maps of the city highlighting the location of our ship, local restaurants and the type of food they served. Also at the tent were souvenirs, samples of local wines, and an Internet kiosk connected via a cell phone (considering it was about 1 in the morning back in the US, we opted out of a phone call). Wandering through the town, we noticed some merchants had posted signs in their windows welcoming the “Regel Princess” (sic).

I stopped to thank one of the women from Muroran staffing the info booth. They did a wonderful job presenting their city and region, far more than I had expected. I am used to feeling curious and interested in the places we visit. It feels strange to have the place we visit interested in us. It was a positive feeling, but still unusual. Throughout the day, pods of schoolchildren, a chain of linked hands radiant in their neon yellow baseball caps, stopped by for a better look at the big white ship in their harbor. Our ship was by far the biggest and most visible think around.

I heard the rumor that there was an earthquake somewhere on Hokkaido today: a five-point something on the Richter scale. I can’t get that confirmed, though.

Tourism in Muroran geared towards the western visitor was not fully mature yet. This was evidenced by the fact that many of the guides, ours included, were flown in from Tokyo (not that I would have known had we not been told). We were fortunate, yet again, with another excellent guide. Oka, our leader, even den-mothered the other groups, translated for their guides, and shepherded stray tourists back to the appropriate buses. She was maternal in her demeanor, comfortable with her knowledge, and relaxed in her style.  First order of business was to teach her charges how to say “good morning” in Japanese.

Once on the bus, she provided us with handouts detailing the places we were going to visit. She recommended that we not read it on the bus because the motion and reading could make you sick. “It’s true,” she said gravely. “It can happen.”  When talking about the sights at the Jidaimura Historical Village – a “theme park” with reconstructed buildings from the Edo Period (17th to 19th centuries) – she advised us against visiting certain attractions, like the “Kitty Horror House” and the “Ninja Mystery Maze.”  The Kitty Horror House held no appeal unless it was some video game-like attraction where, armed with a beanbag gun, I had to fight my way out of a building infested with house cats. For the record – and for all potential tour operators who may read this – I would absolutely visit an attraction that offered this.

The Ninja Mystery Maze, however, sounded like it had potential. She described the maze as disorienting, with sharp inclines and moving floors that made her feel like she was seasick. “Yes, it’s true,” she asserted seriously. We were also warned that it could take more than 20 minutes to find your way out. To emphasize her point, she wandered the bus with a map of the park, indicating the location of these “forbidden” sites. When she got to my seat, her demeanor changed. Perhaps it was my youthful mien, relative to a majority of my fellow passengers. Perhaps it was the look on my face that I was clearly going to visit this site with or without her approval. Perhaps it was a phone call that she received from her fellow tour guides in Vladivostok warning that I was a pain in the ass. Whatever the reason, when she got to me, she paused and said, simply, “You can go.” I must, however, state for the record that Anna did not receive such a dispensation.

The first stop was Noboribetsu, a hot spring and geothermal nature park. The omnipresent aroma of sulfur cleared my head for a bit. The getting out and walking around part was less appealing to our fellow travelers. They received more of a thrill from the two-story mural of a topless woman on the side of a gentlemen’s club in the nearby town. Anna and I, however, went for a nice walk – meaning most of it was uphill. Along the way, we were able to see some of the hot springs and a smoking volcano. The trail signs marking the route had trivia questions. To spur you forward, the answer to the question was at the subsequent sign. It was a nice walk, although a bit dry. Spring is arriving in the northern island. The cherry blossoms were nearly at peak, hinting at a splendor we missed in Kyoto.

As we were walking, Anna heard some background noise. We stopped and listened – it was gurgling and almost pounding reverberation. Later Anna found sign that described what we heard as the ‘heartbeat of the earth’. Aptly put.

I was please to find a vending machine so I was able to get my obligatory coffee in a can.

The guides rounded everyone up and we were off to the Jidaimura Village. The cruise staff pitched this as a Disney-like attraction, which was a bit of a stretch. The staff at the village certainly had enthusiasm, but the park itself was modest in size and, as a whole, did not quite reach Disney-like level. Oka did a superb job of preparing us for what we would see. She talked about the reconstructed buildings on the site. The buildings were impressive, very clean and well-maintained. While most of the building had quite colorful exteriors, unpainted buildings were typical of Japanese buildings of that time frame – the Edo period. The exception was that buildings with white paint underneath signified that an important person lived there.

She also was the interpreter for the ninja and geisha shows at the park. The ninja show told the story of the failed Mongol invasion of Japan. Each time the Mongols sailed with an invasion fleet, their ships were destroyed in storms. The Japanese refer to these storms that saved them from invaders as the “Wind of God” or “Kamikaze.”  The show was about the hunting down of Mongol spies and assassins. It was nothing special. Very loud. The physicality involved with the fighting and rappelling and tumbling was impressive. If we enjoyed what we saw, we were encouraged to wrap a coin in the “tipping paper” and toss it onto the stage after the show.

I gave the geisha show a miss, but Anna went

I must admit the Geisha show was sort of hokey. The story was funny and acting was entirely melodramatic. The costumes of the women in the show were gorgeous, particularly the main Geisha. The girl acting as the emcee was really good. She spoke a little English and employed a lot of pantomime to convey much of her message. For the rest, our guide translated. The basic story was that a Geisha of the highest ‘rank’ had been seeing a man for five years. She had heard that he was seeing another woman. When he was late for their appointment she was worried and jealous. When he shows up he needs to confess his undying love, she takes him back and it is a happy ending. The role of the man was played by a volunteer from the audience. Our volunteer was the man Steve had identified as Santa Claus on the first day on the ship. Santa’s alias is Bob from Seattle. He had a good time playing the part and made the show enjoyable. The audience was primarily passengers from the ship, so they could relate to him. Since I was in the front row I took a few pictures.

While Anna was at the geisha show, I figured I would see what the park had to offer. Among the more terrifying locales was the Samurai Movie Theatre which showed “highlights” from martial arts films in a continuous loop. It was reminiscent of the worst of high school theatre. My favorite was the warrior who defeated a gang of adversaries with a number of casual moves before striking a pose for the camera. It was the black hair done up in an Elvis-like pompadour that was the best. At any moment, I thought he would ditch his sword and swing a guitar off of his back.

Then we took our lives in our hands and tackled the treacherous Ninja Mystery Maze. Despite the cautionary advice by our guide, both Anna and I were through it in less than 5 minutes. The maze is set up as a building with doors and strange angles that you have to find the way out of.  Behind some doors are paintings of ninjas toweling off after a shower and similar things. There were flashes of light and sounds of thunder and voices triggered you entered certain areas. This was not a life-changing experience, but it was enjoyable enough that I ran through a second time.

The park provided a great opportunity to people-watch. Costumed Samurai Cat, Dog, and Panda characters wandered the park much to the enjoyment of the younger visitors. The pure delight of two little girls, visiting with their parents, was infectious. Their faces lit up as they posed for photos with the characters. Perhaps more to the delight of those inside the costumes were the three twenty-something girls who also posed for pictures with the characters.

During the ride back to the ship, Oka rattled off tons of statistics about Hokkaido, most of which I did not have the presence of mind to write down. What I do remember is that the island produces much of the dairy products for Japan. Hokkaido is Japan’s Dairyland, the Wisconsin of the Far East. Wonder if other Japanese refer to them as ‘Cheeseheads’?

At the end of our tour, we still had time before setting sail so we chose to wander the city and try to find a place to spend our remaining yen. Oka indicated where a supermarket was located, so we leisurely made our way through the city to see if there were any essential provisions, apart from Pringle’s Funky Soy Sauce potato chips and tissues that we needed. Along the way, we saw her and her colleagues waiting to catch a ride to the airport for their flight back to Tokyo. She came over to make sure we were fine and that we were able to find what we were looking for. All terribly kind.

The crowning moment of this visit was our departure. We pulled away from our moorings, cheered on by waving crowds. Rounding the pier, we could see cars in the parking lot flashing their headlights at us. Due to the orientation of the harbor, we literally sailed off into the sunset before re-aligning for our eastward journey to Alaska. As we neared the suspension bridge spanning the harbor, we could see people gathered atop waving down at us. After we passed underneath, we looked back and were awestruck by the number of cars parked on the bridge for those gathered to wave at us as we sailed away.

The crew informed us that we will “soon” lose satellite contact for TV programming. Hopefully the frivolous communiques that the staff sometimes chooses to share with us will observe a similar hiatus. It will be interesting to see the cabin fever that strikes this floating city of 2200 souls over the next few days.

The pilot has just bid us farewell with a wave. The sounding of our ship’s horn returned the salute. Cutting a wide arc, the pilot ship made its way back towards the breakwater and home while we sail out into the ever-darkening evening. I look out the window thinking my good-byes to Japan and Asia, absorbing the last land we will see for five days.

Excerpts from Anna’s journal included

This entry was posted in Around the World

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