Japanese Culinary Adventure

Day 1 Kobe, Japan

Prior to embarkation you have the option to purchase a coach transfer from the hotels in Osaka and Kyoto or the Kansai International Airport to the port in Kobe.

There are regular flights from Tokyo airport to Kobe airport.

Day 2 Shimonoseki, Honshu Island

Shimonoseki sits on the scenic Kanmon Strait, on the tip of the island of Honshu, only a short distance from Kyushu. In fact the nearest city to Shimonoseki is Kitakyushu across the strait on Kyushu. There is in fact an undersea pedestrian tunnel linking the two cities. This strategic location on the Kanmon Strait has seen Shimonoseki take a leading role in many battles through out history. Today the port is a major gateway to and from Japan particularly for cargo traffic coming in and out of South Korea and Japan.

Shimonoseki is most well known today as the home of Fugu, the infamous Japanese Blowfish, edible only when the highly toxic parts have been removed by extremely skilled chefs who have trained for years in the art of Fugu preparation. Our included activities today will give you a great insight into Fugu cuisine in Japan.

From our berth in Shimonoseki, you will find it quite easy to access the township, and even the undersea pedestrian tunnel which opens on the Kyushu side in an area known as “Moji Retro Town”, an attractive shopping area with coffee shops and cafes, our you can join our included expedition to explore the local area.

For those joining our included expedition today we will begin a short distance from our berth at the Shimonoseki Fish Markets. Whilst many varieties of seafood are traded at the markets, it’s Fugu that is the most famous. From the market wee progress to one of the major Fugu traders where we will learn more about the process of preparing the fish for consumption, and where we will ourselves learn the basic skills of the fine art of preparing Fugu sashimi. Fugu sashimi is traditionally ultra thin and whilst we will have the opportunity to try our skills, we will all no doubt appreciate the years of training that goes into producing a true Fugu master chef.

We then proceed to the dramatic Shuhodo cave system, the largest limestone cave system in Japan. The caves complete with flowing underground rivers are easy to explore with wide structured paths and guiding handrails and stairways, making this experience accessible to most. The dramatic limestone structures underground are enhanced with additional lighting to improve your viewing experience and several of the limestone features have been given names based on the forms they resemble.

Optional Expeditions: Fabulous Fugu Feast. Please contact us for rates.

Day 3 Busan, South Korea

Busan, South Korea, is located on the South easternmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, and faces the Korea Strait. In the 15th century, the Korean government designated Busan to be a trading port with the Japanese. Busan is now the fifth busiest seaport in the world. Some of the restaurants in this district are locally famous, with family recipes passed down the generations. Jagalchi Market is an area of narrow street stalls and is well known for its fish market. Nearby crowded Haeundae beach has to be seen to be believed as thousands of beach goers flock here every day in summer.

A shuttle bus from the port to the central shopping area and fish markets will be available all day in Busan as well as an included expedition visiting several local attractions. The inclusive tour will visit Tongdosa Temple, a colourful Korean Buddhist temple where we can participate in a Korean tea ceremony with the Monks. We will briefly stop at Haeundae beach to witness the spectacle of colour and sound as thousands of Koreans pack themselves onto the beach strip. We then progress to the UN Memorial Cemetery to pay our respects to those who served and lost their lives during the Korean War. As no visit to Busan is complete without a visit to the Jalgachi Fish Market, arguably the best of its kind in the world, where every kind of edible sea creature is on sale, the inclusive tour will also visit here. (Guests will be split into different groups to participate in the included activities at different time throughout the day)

Day 4 Nagasaki, Kyushu Island

Nagasaki City, makes up almost half of the total land area of the prefecture with the same name. The prefecture also consists of 971 islands. It has the dubious honor of being the site of the second atomic bomb explosion, after Hiroshima. The Nagasaki Peace Park has been established beside "ground zero" to remind the world of the horrors of atomic weapons and to encourage future peace. Nagasaki has had a long history of European contact with missionaries arriving as early as 1542. St Francis Xavier is believed to visited the area in 1549. As such it is essentially the center of Japanese Christianity, the Ouru Church of 26 Japanese martyrs (built by the French in 1864) commemorates the killing of 26 missionaries in 1596 by the Shogun of the time. Portuguese and later Dutch and British traders have also had a long history in Nagasaki.

Today we will use the local street cars to transport us to the Nagasaki Peace Park and Ground Zero and also to Dejima, a designated Japanese history site. During Japan's self imposed period of isolation, Dejima was created as a man made island to "contain" Portuguese traders in 1634. From 1641 to 1851 it became a Dutch trading base up until the point it was integrated into the rest of the city as the isolationist period came to an end. Today we also visit Glover Garden, the one time home of Thomas Glover, a Scottish business man who helped to establish ship building and other industries in Nagasaki, and to the Ouru Catholic Church of the 26 Martyrs. A complimentary shuttle into the city area will also be available today.(Guests will be split into different groups to participate in the included activities at different time throughout the day)

Optional Expeditions: Unzen Park & Shimabara Explorer. Please contact us for rates.

Day 5 At Sea

At sea

Day 6 Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands

Today we will berth in Naha, the main port for Okinawa, the largest island in the Ryukyu Island chain. The Ryukyu Islands stretch from Kyushu, down to the South West to within 120 kilometres off Taiwan. The Ryukyus formed part of an independent kingdom through until the 14th century when they came under the control of China’s Ming Dynasty. By the 17th century Japanese samurai invaded the islands under the leadership of the feudal lord of the Japanese province of Satsuma, finding little resistance from within the Ryukyus. A unique system of paying tribute to both the Japanese and Chinese Emperors then existed until the 19th century, when the Japanese Meiji Government fully annexed the Ryukyus, terminating ties with China and forcibly relocating the Ryukyu King to Tokyo.

Okinawa, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands, was the site of significant ground warfare during the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. American troops fought a long bloody battle to capture Okinawa, so it could next be used as the major stepping stone for the planned invasion of Japan. The 82-day-long battle saw loses of over 100,000 Japanese troops and over 12,000 AUS troops were lost. Significantly somewhere between 42,000 and 150,000 Okinawan civilians - approximately one quarter of the civilian population - were also killed. Okinawa remained under direct US military control from the end of the war right up until 1972. Several significant US military bases remain on Okinawa today, the future of which is subject to significant debate today between the US and Japanese governments.

A shuttle will be available to the main town area of Naha today for independent exploration and shopping or you can join our included expedition that will explore several areas of interest in the region.

We will today visit the former Japanese Imperial Navy HQ on Okinawa, and traverse the underground tunnel system linking the command bunkers that controlled the Japanese forces during the Battle of Okinawa. As the US forces overcame the Japanese resistance, the Japanese commanders ended their own lives by detonating a grenade within their control room in the bunker. The nearby peace memorial with its eternal flame are a reminder of all those who lost their lives in the battle and of the overall futility of war.

The significant Shuri Castle had many links to the unique system of paying tribute to both the Japanese and Chinese emperors. The colour alone, being red, is in contrast to the traditional Japanese Vermillion colour, red being much more closely associated to the Chinese kingdoms. Local guides will escort us through the fascinating passageways and grand rooms of the castle.

We will finish our exploration of the area today with walk through the Gangala Valley. A well formed path takes through a semi-collapsed cave system, surrounded by forests featuring giant Banyan trees. Within the valley is a site of pre-historic settlement estimated to date some 18,000 years back where excavations continue. Human skeletal remains and tools uncovered on the site to date are thought to be from the oldest inhabitants of Okinawa, which may also potentially be some of the oldest in all Asia. Some researchers argue that these remains come from ancestors of the people of Japan in the Jomon period (14,000 to 4,000 BCE).

Day 7 At Sea

At sea

Day 8 Kobe, Japan

Port details to come.

Day 9 Kobe / Return Home

Prior to disembarkation you have the option to purchase a coach transfer from the port in Kobe to hotels in Osaka and Kyoto or to Kansai International Airport. Please see the expedition team onboard of you wish to arrange one of these transfers.

There are regular flights from Tokyo airport to Kobe airport.