Cruise Around Japan

For my 30th birthday this year, my parents not only came to visit me in Japan, but they took me on a cruise! Our cruise left from Kobe, which is north of where we live in Iwakuni. Taking a cruise around the southern end of Japan is a perfect way to see cities that would normally be hard to reach and the travel would be so long! Not only would we be at a different port in Japan everyday, but our last stop was Busan, South Korea. Being able to hop on over to another country is still so mind-blowing for me. Which is why I have taken such advantage of it... South Korea is one of my absolute favorite quick trips, but more about that later!

Our first stop was Kochi, a small city with an impressive castle! This is one of the few castles left in Japan that are still traditional on the inside which really gives you a feel of how it was back in 1611, when it was completed. The castle featured some amazing works of art and symmetry. Afterwards, we wandered around the little downtown covered area to stock up on some sake and treats!

Beppu, the hot spring city, was next on our itinerary. I wasn't sure what to expect, but once the boat pulled up and we could see that the city was literally steaming, I couldn't wait to explore. Walking around the cobblestone tiny streets, with steam coming out of the rain guards was truly a unique sight.

There are three things that you must definitely do when visiting Beppu. Enjoy a hot spring spa, eat at a steam cook restaurant and of course, see the "hells". Because of all the hot springs, this city has more hot water than it even knows what to do with! We were there on a dreary, misty day, which just added to the magical atmosphere of the area.

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Nights on the cruise ship were spent eating way too much food and enjoying movies under the stars, one of my favorite activities!

Our last stop in Japan was also a unique place. Kagoshima. Instead of walking through steam, we walked through volcanic ash. Sakura Jima erupts on a regular basis and rains ash down on the town constantly. As we were finding our way to a small hiking path, we noticed a lot of dust ash on the cars, thinking it had erupted recently. Once on the trail, we could see the plum of smoke rises up from the volcano, coming closer our way. Soon we kept getting dirt in our eyes, and realizing that maybe today wasn't a great day for a hike after all. I had never seen a volcano before, so it was memorable for sure! Even though it was a hot day, we stopped and used the public foot bath, which was extremely hot from the natural water.

Time to head to South Korea! After having already explored Seoul, I was really excited to show my parents how different this country is from Japan. Busan was the busiest stop on our trip, so we packed a lot into one day.

We traveled up to the Busan Tower to get a birds eye view of the port city. It has so many different bridges and buildings going all the way into the mountains. Afterwards we walked through the shopping street, Koreans love their shopping!

Of course, Mom and I left with our fair share of beauty products! Just walking around in Busan, you feel the liveliness of the Korean culture. Two very important parts of their culture is shochu (rice liquor) and Korean BBQ. I could probably eat it everyday!

The local fish street was a place to go if you want to see things that you have no clue what it might be. This is how the majority of the world shops for their food, on local street side markets and it was a neat experience to see a part of their everyday lives. Thats another thing, there is a shopping street for every individual category you can think of. Textile street. Food street. Electronic street, etc. And if the weather happens to be rainy, don't worry, there is a whole underground shopping maze right below your feet!

Leaving Busan, we were lucky to be at port right when there was a huge K-Pop concert and beer festival. At the end of the show, there was a massive fireworks show. We had never seen fireworks quite like these and being up high on the deck of the ship, we had the best, in-your-face view ever! It was the perfect ending to our day in South Korea.

To see more photos from our trip, click here!