2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 21/105 - Tokyo, Japan - Feet on dry land
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| Our 52nd country |
Before we get into today, let's chat about last night. Our cabin steward left us an excursion form last night for the new excursions opened up for our two new days in Tokyo. We turned it in immediately, hoping to pick up a night tour of Tokyo today. The claim was that the requests would be handled on a first-come, first-served basis, yet there was no method to track when requests got turned in. The other issue was that there was nowhere near the capacity added to handle requests from even a small fraction of the 700 guests on the ship. The net result is that very few guests, at least those that we have spoken with, were able to book anything, us included. We have booked a tour on our own for tomorrow with three other guests, so at least we have a plan for tomorrow. Tonight, we plan to just leave the ship and wander in the port area for a while. I realize that this was a change and Viking is trying, but the luster of two additional days in Tokyo is dulled a bit by the lack of availability for Viking tours. On another note, Uber is crazy expensive here. We looked at a possible night tour through Viator but would need a ride to the pickup point. Uber would run about $50 each way for perhaps six miles. Wow!
As we sailed in, I participated in another challenge of the sexes Baggo.
Cruise Director, Graham, spiced things up by having a crew member cut a card after each round. Then participants cut another card choosing whether their card would be higher or lower. If you were wrong, you forfeited any points you scored. He also added special cards that could double your score, forfeit your score, reset your team’s entire score to zero, and so on. The men were losing badly up until the very last toss when the women got a reset to zero card. Again, it was all good fun and a lot of laughs.
The weather has finally subsided and we entered Tokyo Bay this morning under light breezes blue skies, and warm temperatures. We sailed north into the harbor, passing Kawasaki and Yokohama on the way to Tokyo.
This structure was interesting.
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| Tokyo's airport is right on Tokyo Bay |
It looked like a couple of sailboats from a distance. It is an artificial island that sits above a 9.6km tunnel and bridge combination that runs under and across Tokyo Bay. Dubbed the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, it runs between Kawasaki and Kisarazu, shaving 100km off the drive between the two cities. The structure, known as Kaze no Tō, or tower of wind, holds the ends of the ventilation system for the tunnel and is powered by the constant winds in Tokyo Bay.
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| We had constant takeoffs and landings going right over Orion as we cruised through the bay |
Flying an approach with Skytree tower in the background
We grabbed lunch on the Aquavit deck and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine. We had a visitor as well.
We tied up quickly and were docked in Tokyo just before 2 p.m. today.
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| Tokyo International Cruise Terminal - our dock for the next two days |
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| The police station |
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| TIME24 Building |
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| Museum of Maritime Science - yes, it looks like a ship |
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| The Rainbow Bridge in the background |
With Orion safely tied up, the local pilot disembarked and headed back to the pilot station.
We were ready to disembark and head out to wander a bit. Cruise Director, Graham, had announced that the immigration process was going smoothly and guests were welcome to come down to the gangway on deck #2. We did and found a line of guests that stretched halfway to the back of the ship. Not being willing to stand in line for an extended time, we came back to the room for a while and watched a lecture on Japan on the TV as I got this blog started.
For those who have been asking about Arlona’s second hat project, here’s an update.
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| Here was the progress this morning |
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| Here it is as of this afternoon -Arlona decided she wanted to change things up |
She decided she didn't need another hat in Florida.
After hanging out in the room for a while, we made our second attempt at disembarkation. There was no line to get off the ship and only a modest line at immigration. After getting fingerprinted and photographed, we were allowed in and headed to the money exchange machine.
The only currency accepted in Japan is Yen. Most eateries, shops, and taxis take credit cards, but buses and small shops only take cash. The current exchange rate is $1 = 149.23 Yen. The money exchange machine only paid out 135 Yen for the dollar. We exchanged $200 and walked away with 27,000 Yen for incidentals. We are in Japan for nearly two weeks so we figured it would be good to have.
We headed out for a walk around the port area. Here is the approximate path we took.
We passed a couple of festivals with live music, food trucks, and shopping. There were tons of people out and about and it was very interesting to see all the active life.
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| Is it me, or does it look like the Empire is preparing to attack some Ewoks? |
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| They still have phone booths here! |
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| I know – let’s put a lighthouse several hundred yards inland – yeah, that’s a good idea |
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| This was a very long, graduated waterfall |
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| The Japanese love their vending machines – they are everywhere |
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The building on the right is a ventilation tower for a
tunnel – there is a matching one across the waterway |
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| This high-speed watercraft came zooming by |
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| Our Viking Orion tied up at the cruise terminal |
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| The Rainbow Bridge |
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| There was water, so you know what Arlona was going to do… |
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| The Fuji TV building |
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| Our 4th Statue of Liberty - #1, NYC; #2, Las Vegas; #3, Paris; #4, Tokyo |
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| The Statue of Liberty and Rainbow Bridge in the background |
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| A beautiful promenade |
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| Flame of Liberty |
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| Fuji TV building |
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| Rainbow Bridge with the Tokyo Tower in the background |
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| The largest Gundam statue in the world |
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| A cool living wall at the cruise terminal |
We walked a couple of miles and had a lovely evening. After getting back on the ship, we enjoyed a cocktail in the Explorers’ Bar and then dinner in the World Café. During dinner, we were treated to a terrific fireworks show across the bay. It went on for about 45 minutes.
It has been fun listening to the crew being excited about being able to get off the ship at 11 p.m. tonight. Many of them will enjoy a well-deserved evening and have some personal fun time tonight.
Tomorrow, five of us have a ten-hour excursion planned through Get Your Guide. We’re gathering at the gangway at 7a.m. tomorrow morning, so it will be a long day tomorrow. It should be fun.
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