Need info on Japan ports, please

Hi. We will be sailing on Diamond Princess Circle Japan. There are six of us, all over 60. Two have mobility issues. One uses a wheelchair for long-distance walking.

I would like to know if the following ports are easy to tour on our own. Shopping and eating are the main activities.

Busan, Sakaiminato, Tsuruga and Akita.

Are taxis available? Are the city centers close to the ports?

Thank you for your help.

You might also ask this on the Ports of Call board which covers Japan. You might also see if anyone on the Disabled Cruise Travel board has any experience with Japan. EM

Thank for your reply. I tried the Ports of Call board a few days ago and did not get any responses. Thanks for the idea about the disabled board. I will try there.

So, lets start by mentioning that Busan is in Korea....not Japan. With major mobility issues we think you would benefit from either booking private tours (in advance) or cruise line excursions. These are not ports where you simply stroll a few yards from ship to the center of town. Taxis certainly exist, but should generally be used to get from point A to point B. For a tour, you should consider dealing with a tour professional.

Hank

liter. Thank you for geography lesson. I did not think it would be necessary to mention that Busan is in South Korea!

Hi. We will be sailing on Diamond Princess Circle Japan. There are six of us, all over 60. Two have mobility issues. One uses a wheelchair for long-distance walking.

 

I would like to know if the following ports are easy to tour on our own. Shopping and eating are the main activities.

 

Busan, Sakaiminato, Tsuruga and Akita.

 

Are taxis available? Are the city centers close to the ports?

 

Thank you for your help.

I recently came back from Diamond Princess cruise to Japan but not the same ports as your cruise. Most ports in japan are huge industrial ports away from any tourist attractions. You will have to take a shuttle or taxi to whatever you want to see. The shuttles usually go to the main shopping area which also has lots of places to eat.

Each port will most likely have English speaking reps that have maps, transportation info and siteseeing advice for those not on ships tours.

Tour guides in Japan have to be licensed so taxi drivers will take you to wherever you want to go but will not take you on a tour.

Princess offered specific tours for mobility challenged passengers so you may want to check into those online before your cruise.

I recently came back from Diamond Princess cruise to Japan but not the same ports as your cruise. Most ports in japan are huge industrial ports away from any tourist attractions. You will have to take a shuttle or taxi to whatever you want to see. The shuttles usually go to the main shopping area which also has lots of places to eat.

 

Each port will most likely have English speaking reps that have maps, transportation info and siteseeing advice for those not on ships tours.

 

Tour guides in Japan have to be licensed so taxi drivers will take you to wherever you want to go but will not take you on a tour.

 

Princess offered specific tours for mobility challenged passengers so you may want to check into those online before your cruise.

Thank you so much for this information. I appreciate your help!!

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Busan port offered a free shuttle to main shopping area.. Some shuttles were able to put collapsible wheelchairs on. Step up to get on bus, though. Re: taxis. Some at each port in Japan we went to but do not know about your ports. Have where you are going written down in Japanese.

We chose this cruise for its itinerary - Yokohama, Aburatsu (Miyazaki), Busan, Sakaiminato, Tsuruga and Akita - and we sailed on 9 October for 9 days.

We are the "do-it-yourself" types, so I hope this post will shed some light for others, as I found it very hard to get information on these ports.

Just so that you know: Once you actually set foot on land, there are tents and tables set up with tourist information, and they speak English quite well. It is just a pity that you only get information then at that point, and not beforehand to plan better. There is generally just a little introduction on the port in the Patter - really just a paragraph, most useless for planning trips!

Also note, we had NO disability issues, we are two fit young people! Also note, there are cruise arranged shuttles at every port, and you can't really walk to interesting parts of any of the towns, as the ports are just too far from town. These shuttles cost between $5 and $10 per person per round trip.

Aburatsu/Miyazaki: Most people were quite upset, because as you hit the information stand, everybody refers you to the free shuttle buses to town, then when you get to the shuttle, you get charged $5 per person for a return ticket. This gets charged to your room. Only after this incident, did the Patter start mentioning the shuttle fees for each port.

Aburatsu is really tiny. You can walk through it in half an hour. We disembarked at around 8-9am, and hit town at around 9:15 and most shops were still closed. We did a quick walk through town. There is a mall on one side of town, but we didn't get to this. There is a very nice supermarket called Tumura, with lovely fresh food and prepared meals if you are so inclined.

We took the train to Miyazaki (80 minutes - about Yen 1400 return per person IIRC). This train also stops at Obi (maybe 15 minutes) and at Aoshima (maybe 35 minutes). It doesn't run frequently, and it's a one carriage local train, but somehow everyone fits, but some have to stand. I don't know how you would get to Obi castle or Aoshima temples from the train station, we didn't do this. People who did this looked very sunburnt when they got back on the train, so take sunscreen with! And watch the last train back in order to be on time for boarding! We only had about 2 hours in Miyazaki, but that was enough. It is a small city, but much bigger than Aburatsu. Nothing really noteworthy, just a nice stroll around, and some nice little shops under a market roof.

Busan: The shuttles to Busan were free. It stopped at the main shopping district and there is also a Lotte Mall close by. This day was very wet and rainy, but we walked around and had lunch in the mall. Korea takes credit/debit cards, unlike Japan. So even if you buy something to the tune of $1.50 e.g., you can charge it to your card, which is very convenient, as you only stop in Korea for about 6 hours. We also walked up to the park and temple behind the shopping street - if you find the right entry, there are 5 sets of escalators that take you up! Otherwise you have to walk up!

Sakaiminato: $5 shuttle bus return. This town is tiny. Really tiny. It has all the weird cartoon characters displayed throughout town, but really, there are only 2 streets worth of commercial stuff, the rest are houses and local restaurants that only open in the evenings. HOWEVER - from the stopping point of the shuttle (station) there is a free shuttle bus to the most equisite Japanese gardens (Uushien Gardens). It takes about 20 minutes on the garden shuttle and it runs every 20 minutes. The park entry fee was something small like Yen 480 for two people. This is totally worth it. They also have a small tearoom and restaurant at the gardens but we didn't try this. From here, we saw directions to Matsue Castle (20km from the gardens) and something about a shuttle. We didn't do this either, but it might be something to investigate or ask at the information stand. Back in town we found a very quaint little restaurant set back from the road that served snow crab and other local meals.

Tsuruga: $5 shuttle fee return. This town is already much bigger than the above. The shuttle drops you off quite far from the town centre, it is a good 600metres walk down, but the walk is even and nice. There is a park and temple on the way in, and there were craft markets on in the street on our day. There is also a mall and huge supermarket.

I also saw a free shuttle from the port to an onsen (hot springs) - I made use of this (Rela Port Springs). The shuttle runs about 5 times during the docking times, so go to the information stand and ask for the time table. This shuttle takes you to the springs, very nice building and amenities etc. It is a 20 minute shuttle ride to the springs, and they are committed to get you back to the boat on time! The entry fee for the springs were Yen 500 per person, and an extra Yen 200 if you needed to use their towels. All onsen rules apply, like being naked, no tattoos, and washing before entering.

Akita: $10 shuttle fee return. It takes about 20 minutes on the shuttle to drop you off at a local hotel. From there you can walk across the road to the castle ruins and a huge park. Totally worth it. Keep climbing until you are at the highest point, and then enter the revamped remains of one of the castle towers Yen 100 per person. From there you can go up to level 2 (stairs or lift) and the view is just amazing. Do yourself the favour. The town itself is rather large, but we were there on a Sunday, so a lot of things were closed. We walked around the restaurant and "red light" district - 99% of shops were closed even at 1pm, but we found a great place serving eel. Clean, efficient, delicious food.

From there I went to a Hot Springs Spa place - it was in town in a hotel setup. Again all rules apply. It was Yen 880 for weekend entry and Yen 150 to use their towels - it had several different baths, as well as an outside eucalypt bath.

Yokohama: Once you disembark, there is a free shuttle to one of the main stations (one stop away from Yokohama Main Station), can't remember the name. Yokohama port area also has a lot of international restaurants and shops, you can see some money went in to make the area nice.

There you have it - compared to a Mediterranean cruise, the ports were quite dull, but this is one of the reasons we chose this route, we wanted to see local/rural Japan, and we sure did. The stops are short (between 5-7 hours) so you can't do a whole lot, unless you're on a cruise arranged tour, because you still have to figure out a whole lot of stuff before you can make a decision. But to just get a taste for the local food and scenery, this would suffice.

You are welcome to send me any questions you may have, I will try and find place names if I need to.