drron29

Back to the ship and our sail away. The Namahage join in. And we sail away from another wonderful Japanese farewell. More visual pollution.

They had a store there with a lot of local products. I bought these 2. The first was a tomato snack. A bit too much sugar. The second pickled smoked Daikon said to be a local favourite. I liked it but a pungent odour and I had to keep it on our balcony. And from the bus back to the ship.

But on the way to the lookout the road was closed as the fire brigade was doing a burn off. The bus stopped just as my window was level with a clump of wild daffodils. Never fear there was another road going up to the lookout. A few shots from the bus as we go up. Good all round views but not spectacular and too many environmental eyesores. The burn off site.

Then a whole room of the different Namahage styles. So just a couple of shots before we head off to the Mt. Kanpu Revolving lookout.

And this fellow is the last one on the Peninsula who makes the namahage masks. A couple of women were trying to find out how long it took him to make a mask. They weren't having any success so Ron and Google translate came to the rescue. It takes him a month to make one mask. Unfortunately the women now regarded me as the translator for the rest of the excursion. A display of some other masks from around the world.

Then meeting the arranger of the Namahage visit. The Namahage enter. And are given food and sake. Now I managed to make eye contact with the one in black. I nodded and smiled appropriately - easy as I smiled when the Japanese guests laughed. He looked straight at me a lot. They are now reading from the Children's naughty book. The Namahage now stomped around the house looking for the Children. A Japanese couple had bought their toddler who was screaming in fear. The parents were laughing. Any way my ruse worked. At the end of the performance the black Namahage came over and patted me on the back. He only did this with one other fellow who was Japanese. So now off to the Museum.

We then reached the Namahage Cultural Centre. We were then taken in to a replica of a namahage home. A play was put on telling the story of the Namahage visiting on New Years Eve. All in Japanese of course but they gave us some outlines. reading the first part I wasn't sure if I should take any photos. Now we had to sit on the floor with your legs underneath. mine don't do that any more so I made sure I was in the front row with my legs outstretched. Then the Narrator came out. Next was the head of the house telling of the family.

A lot of the tour was about the Namahage. Ogres that come out at New Year to make sure children and new wives are being good. The first stop was seeing the "big" Namahages. We stayed too long so I looked around their little general store which was also a coffee shop. Winter is very cold with lots of snow so crafts are obviously popular. In the store lots of Namahage souvenirs. Next to the store a grove of camellias plus one of the numerous solar arrays. The road ran beside the sea for some time. We gradually started climbing into the mountains.

Saturday and we arrive in Akita. A nice welcome. They had organised a market inside the terminal. It had rained heavily the day before and there was still an occasional shower. Fortunately when on the excursion they occurred only when we were on the bus. I went on the Exploring the Oga Peninsula tour. The cherry blossoms appearance was the sign to prepare rice fields. Obviously ploughing had begun but the rain then made a mess. And even out into the country large box stores.

All cruise lines lost staff over the COVID pandemic. SS had the added problem of 4 new ships to staff. Moon, Dawn, Nova and Endevour . Silver Origin also joined the fleet in 2020 but was replacing a similar sized ship. The plans for the new builds were made well before Covid. So SS is sure to have quite a few more experienced staff but there will have to be some new recruits as well. The new crew we have talked to haven’t usually come from other cruise lines but most come from a hospitality background and usually from higher end hotels so service shouldn’t be alien to them. One of the new hires that we met on the Muse was so good that after 3 months into his first contract he was promoted to a senior waiter in La Dame. And we heard that he is back for his second contract and has a further promotion. The Ray will have a senior Captain as well. It will be Captain Zanello who has been the first Captain of the Muse, Moon and Nova.

And having stayed 4 nights in Kawaguchiko last month and driving past that Lawsons a few times and going into it once I fully agree with what the locals propose to do. There are way too many feral tourists there.

Again we sailed close to the coast on our way to Akita. Quite often with an escort of seagulls. Dinner in Atlantide. Rojaan had the scallops to start and I educated a new waiter -it was his first contract and he only boarded 9 days previously. I ordered the tomato soup to start and he said that isn't on the menu. But I said we can order anything that is on the in suite dining menu so just ask the kitchen staff when you give them my order. Result- Rojaan had the ponzu salmon which she said was excellent. I had the weiner schnitzel as I felt like a little comfort food. Pity it didn't come with some spaetzle or spargel.

As we were lining up to board it was obvious we were going to have a send off. Just beautiful. Then we were off. A black kite tailed us for a while. But gave up after 25 minutes. And we said goodbye to Kanazawa.

The Omicho market. Fresh wasabi. I found myself at a noodle restaurant upstairs. Seemed to only have older Japanese men as customers so I fitted in. I had the tendon zen. Enjoyable.' Then back to the bus. It was due back at the ship just in time for last boarding so didn't want to miss it. In fact 5 busses all got back at the same time about 15 minutes late.

I now went back to the bus pick up point and off to the Omicho market where again I took off by myself.