SAKATA

Sakata with a population of almost 100,000 is in Yamagata Prefecture.

• However, it was 127,000 in 1960.  
• Many immigrants to Hawaii came from this area.  
• From the 17th to 19th century, Sakata was very prosperous because it was a shipping route for the Sea of Japan into the country,
• November is the wettest month, but it was sunny yesterday.  
• This city escaped damage in World War II, with only one air raid.  
• The Sakata Festival from May 19-21 is their major historical event.  
• 
  You can catch the bullet train from Tokyo to Niigata, then transfer north to Sakata.
• City most known for the 2013 film, Oshin (click on it to watch the entire movie), which followed the 297 15-minute episodes of Oshin, the serialized morning television drama, which aired in 1983 and 1984.  Here is a typical episode.
• I had never before heard of Sakata, but if you decide to visit, here is Trip Advisor link on Things to do in Sakata.

We decided to skip any tour today and essentially did nothing.  We woke up early enough to have a Japanese breakfast. 

Through that window is a windmill.

I had lunch in the Trident Grill near the pool.

First course was a pepperoni pizza with Bloody Mary and Kirin Beer.

Also with two wind turbines.  There are five of them, all rated 2 megawatts, and if you know anything about them, these are huge.  Well big during my days, but Goldwind recently installed a 16 MW offshore machine in the Fujian Province, China.  It is as tall as a 50-story building.  Goldwind, a Chinese company, also has the largest wind turbine on land at 12 MW.

My second lunch course was a fancy hot dog.

I took a 2-hour nap in the afternoon, and saw this dancing group entertaining the ship on the pier.

Departure wasn't much.

So on to drinks and dinner.  A second couple from the World Uchinanchu Business Organization (WUB), Cheryl and Clarence from Maui, who are major cruise enthusiasts, joined us.  My meal began with a seared raw beef and gazpacho, followed by fish and chips.

We then went on to a karaoke theater, which had a faulty sound system.  I wondered why most sang terribly, until I went on, and the pitch was all wrong, so I could not keep up with the music and almost forgot how to sing my song, which was understandable, for it was many years since I last sang Blue Hawaii, the Elvis version.  The other two karaoke locations had excellent acoustics.

At these karaoke nights, you need to show up early to get in line to enter your song.   There was someone who only played a harmonica, and an older handicapped Japanese lady who had to sit and, hate say this because...no, I'll stop here.  

Next, at 11PM on to Skywalker's Disco, where we also had a Macallan Scotch tasting:  Lumina, Quest and Terra.

Below are the DJs.  They really played good danceable melodies for older people like us.

Watch a video on Mcallan Lumina, Quest, and Terra.  The Macallan Quest collection has at least three different kinds of scotches, and the set sells only in duty free for about $1000.  However, retailers advertise individual bottles from $100 to more than $1000,

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ON TO SAKATA

It is Friday in Japan, so this must still be Thursday in the USA.  I've bypassed anything linked to Covid for weeks because it is not newsworthy enough these days.  However, thought I'd touch on it today.  First, though, a few other topics:

• 
  It is becoming clear what new Speaker Mike Johnson and his Republican House will be doing, for they are now cherry-picking topics to support their priorities, while insisting that the budget be balanced with cuts to the IRS now, and social programs later, to pay for necessary expenditures.  Both the White House and the Senate scoff at this tactic.  Read the details.

• 
  If you've lost track of Donald Trump's assorted indictments and court trials, here is a summary.
• As I erroneously indicated that the U.S. ended daylight savings time this past weekend, here is the correct information.  When you go to bed this coming Saturday night, the nation at 2AM falls back one hour on Sunday, November 5, meaning you will have an extra hour to sleep.  Even though most Americans prefer keeping the "summer" schedule forever, legislation to skip the twice a year time conversion is stalled in both sides of Congress.

From Worldometer:

• Covid cases in the last 7 days/million population.
• #1  Niue  1233
• #2  Lithuania  945
• #3  New Zealand  479
• #15  USA  134
• Covid cases during the past week.
• World  149,570
• #1  USA  44,734
• #2  Brazil  31,593
• #3  Russia  25,983
• However, many countries just don't report anymore.

Japan is one of those countries where Covid has disappeared from the media.  The Japan Times has a list of relevant articles, and the most recdent one was on October 27, entitled, Tokyo promotes awareness of children's Covid-19 aftereffects.  However, in most indoor venues, more than half are still wearing masks.

So what remains relevant about Covid today.? Well, you can still get infected, and if you do, Pfizer is now charging $1400/series.  However, your medical plan should cover it.

About our cruise, we took a cab from our ship to the Aomori Prefecture's iconic building, a pyramidal tourist center.

The tourist center had a nice Japanese restaurant at the top, from where you can see our ship.

I had a beef dish with cold beer and hot sake.

A truly wonderful meal, except that we would have eaten something maybe better for free on the ship,  We then decided to walk back to the Diamond Princess.  Huge mistake because one was in a wheel chair and other can't see well.  There were half a dozen series of stairs, and one portion under repair which was treacherous.  First photo of fall colors.

We got back to ship and met for early evening cocktails,  Tried a blended gin martini, which was best consumed with a spoon.  However, unlike a margarita, the ice seem to have totally neutralized the taste of the gin.

Next to The Savoy for dinner,

I worked around an Osso Bucco.

Forgot what this dessert was called.

Next, karaoke singing,

The closed up the disco to end the evening.

Got up to 13,891 steps today, my highest ever in one day.

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ARRIVAL IN AOMORI

The Israel-Hamas War seems to be escalating.  However, Egypt is beginning to allow foreigners to enter from the Rafah Gate in southern part of the Gaza Strip.  Updates here, 

From the morning New York Times:

That is the conclusion of a new study by Patrick Sharkey and Megan Kang at Princeton. Stricter gun laws passed by 40 states from 1991 to 2016 reduced gun deaths by nearly 4,300 in 2016, or about 10 percent of the nationwide total. States with stricter laws, such as background checks and waiting periods, consistently had fewer gun deaths, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows:

But on to our cruise.  Aomori is the the capital city of Aomori Prefecture.  Means Blue Forest, with a current population of around 265,000, the northern most of Honshu Island.  There were 319,000 people living here in 2000, and this number has since then been declining, as is the entire country, which was up to 127 million in 2007, but is today down to 125 million.

What distinguishes Aomori is that although it is located far south of Sapporo, Aomori experienced 82 inches of snowfall in 2009, while the heaviest ever for Sapporo was 65 inches in 1939.  Mount Hakkoda has a reputation for forming snow monsters, ice covered trees.  Take the Hakkoda Ropeway, a 10-minute ride for $12.

Aomori was subjected to air raids in World War II, losing 88% of city structures.  The city was connected to Tokyo by highway only in 1979.  Their landmark building is the pyramidal Aomori Prefecture Tourist Center, which opened in 1986.  It is the only capital city without a national university.  For a population of only a quarter million, it does have 45 public elementary schools.

Aomori is known for apples, and I've always wanted to picked one,  The apple-picking season began in August and extends into mid November,  It is Japan's leading producer of apples, first cultivated during the Meiji Period in 1868,  The most famous is Hirosaki Apple Park, home to over 1300 apple trees of 65 different varieties.

Hirosaki Castle is unique in that it was built 1611 and has survived battles and wars.  You especially want to visit during cherry blossom period.  The buds are especially thick.  Also there is Hirosaki Castle Botanical Garden.

The city is best known for the Aomori Nebuta Festival in July.  Three million visitors come each year.  The event has 20 dynamic nebuta, or enormous lantern floats based on myths or kabuki stories.  Anyone welcome to join in the float parade, but you need to wear the correct uniform, the traditional haneto costume, which you purchase for around $50, or rent for $20.

Dining out at Miroku Alley is the prime cuisine site.  Local foods are served at Hachinohe Yatai Mura (food stall village) in Hachinohe.  This whole alley is one giant outdoor street food party.  Down the meal with Aomori Sake, which should not be confused with Awamori, a sochu from Okinawa.

One more attraction is Inakadate's Rice Paddyfield Art.  Rice has been cultivated for over 2000 years.

Sunrise at sea.

We were serenaded while the staff began stacking up champagne glasses.

A Silverado Cabernet Sauvignon and McCallan on rocks.

Bob had two margaritas.

Entrance to Sabatini.

I had a Spaghetti Bolognese with giant meatball, plus truffles risotto.

Dessert.

Dinner was excellent, so we decided to return in a few days.  After dinner drinks.

This couple was in an adjacent table.  They celebrated a birthday.  We began to talk to them, and he is a professor at Nagasaki University.

We approach Aomori at sunrise.

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