Day at Sea then Kobe

 We had a lovely day at sea passing through all the Japanese islands and the weather was absolutely beautiful again and lovely temperature.

We then arrived early evening into Kobe but we were not allowed ashore as we needed to do immigration the following morning. Immigration here was a lot quicker than it had been at Ishigaki. I had organised a private guide Chocko who was there to meet us. 

We took the local train having walked fifteen minutes to the station. We changed trains a couple of times and got to Sumaura park station. Here we got off and went on a rope way ( cable car) which was the steepest I have ever seen but I was very good and went on it. At the top we then took what seemed like a fairground ride to go higher. The view from the top over Kobe and Ashanti was magnificent. Stayed there a short while before coming down and getting back on train to Himeji Castle. 

Himeji castle was very busy but a lovely palace and having climbed inside the Main Keep we went to the gardens next door. Our guide seemed to rush us everywhere! 

Then got the train back to Kobe and we walked though the centre of the town and then Ch8natown before getting back on the ship. 14.5 miles later we were exhausted but had a had a very interesting day!

In the evening we had some local Japanese drummers on board for a show they were absolutely magnificent and again a real privilege to have seen them.