Kobe April 28

Kobe April 28

We did a quick stop at the world’s 2nd longest suspension bridge, the Akashi Kaikyo – it just lost its number 1 spot a couple of years ago. It’s twice the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, all in white – quite beautiful. One of the cultural bits I learned and observed about Japan over the years is that consensus building is a really big deal here. Coming to agreement can take a really long time, but once they’ve got it – stand back, because execution of a plan happens quickly. And, of course, government bureaucracies add time to decision processes as well. It turns out that the strait over which this bridge was built was notorious for awful weather besides the entire country being in an earthquake zone, and many lives were lost in ferry accidents. Japan is an archipelago of over 14,000 islands, and depending upon your source, about 300 are inhabited. So, it stands to reason that bridges are important. Initial investigations for a bridge began in 1957 – construction began in 1988 and it opened in 1996. And, even though there was a massive earthquake in the area in 1995 (6400 lives were lost), the bridge was not significantly damaged. For the engineers in the crowd, the construction difficulties and solutions are fascinating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashi_Kaikyo_Bridge

We then headed to a traditional Japanese garden – Sorakuen. We lucked out again at being at the right place at the right time – there was a Shinto wedding taking place. Beautiful!

Although the Japanese/Shinto culture is to fit in, I love it when I see creativity.
Didn’t see any, but I was prepared!
I learned to speak a tiny bit of Japanese and have always enjoyed language hiccups on both sides.
Gift giving is a big deal here and the shops are FULL of possibilities
Ron and I were delighted to see that, although the Western diet has affected the rest of the world, it was rare to see overweight kids.
Heated bidets were very, very common in public restrooms
These seats, to safely put your 6-30 month old baby, were common in restroom stalls as well
Kids having fun at a school near the garden
Of course, I had to capture corgi fun as well. I expect she was a professional dog walker because she’s wearing an apron.
The Shinto wedding that was taking place as we wandered through the garden.
An very old pleasure boat that was moved to be part of the garden. See detail below.
Back at the ship – surprise! This is the hotel next door.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Sandi fox 05/01/2023 Reply

    The gardens are beautiful. At some point, will you take a picture of your ship. It sounds so interesting with so few travelers.

  2. ellen_b 05/04/2023 Reply

    Ship pictures coming up! I think it’s considered a medium size cruise ship these days – about 700 passengers. Our group of 20 on this day were the ones signed up on our particular tour.

Leave a Reply