April 19, 2026

Tokyo, Japan

Good morning, still struggling with the time change. We have a tour this morning and will get to the ship at the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal about 14:00. This morning we will visit the Meiji Shrine, Imperial Outer Gardens and the Hamarikyu Gardens.

The Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji (1852 – 1912) and his white Express Shōken. Again, it was totally destroyed in WWII. The present iteration of the shrine was funded by public fundraising efforts in the late 1950’s. The shrine is within a forest which covers an area of about 70 hectares (170 acres). There are some 120,000 trees of 365 different species which were donated from various parts of Japan.

The Imperial Palace Outer Garden is formally known as the Kokomo Gaien National Garden. It is a large public park here in central Tokyo. It features iconic pine trees, gravel pathways, historical moats and views of the Nijubashi Bridge. More nature.

The Hama-rikyū Gardens is another large, little over 61 acres, public garden here in Tokyo. The garden is surrounded by a seawater moat filled from Tokyo Bay. There is a tea house, Shioiri-no-ike, in the center of the garden. The garden includes a peony garden, a plum tree grove and fields of flowers. More nature.

Once we have had our fill of nature we will head to the SS Explorer in Tokyo Bay. The ship will depart Tokyo Bay at 19:00. So, we will have all day to get settled in. Let’s see how the day actually evolves.

Everything is pretty much as expected. We did stop in the Nando Resthouse Cafe at the Imperial Palace Outer Garden and ordered a traditional Japanese noodle soup dish. Unfortunately, we can’t possibly tell you exactly what it was. There was a bowl with rice noodles and probably seaweed. There was a small round dish which had a base of rice, some type of meat which tasted like BBQ pork, but we suspect not. It was an interesting experiment in dinning. All we really wanted was a cup of tea and a seat to rest for a minute. However, or apparently, that wasn’t an option.

The Hama-rikyū Gardens was nice to walk through. Interesting that is a park in the middle of a city surrounded by very tall multi-story buildings. The garden served as a duck hunting ground (known as Kamba) during the Edo Period (1603 – 1867). It involved highly specialized technique. The Hama-rikyū Gardens were designed with engineered ponds, thick evergreens and narrow side trenches to creat a quite secure environment for migratory birds. They used several different and sophisticated luring techniques and often had a “catch and release” ethos that allowed ducks to be captured without injury.

Some of the key methods were, the Sakaami (slope-net) method. This involved a “sakaami” or sloped-net, a Y-shaped net that hunters threw straight up into the air to catch ducks as they flew over a low hill, often around dusk. It was seen as a challenging “game of wits” similar to sword-fighting. They also used tamed ducks. The tame decoy ducks were trained to eat at certain times, especially after a gong was sounded. Sounds like Pavlov and his dogs. This would draw the wild ducks into a narrow artificial canal or “duck channel”. They were thinking hey look those guys know where there is food, lets go get some. Once the ducks were in the canal a screen would be dropped trapping them.

There was also Sadeami. This method put the hunter hidden behind earthen mounds. The hunters used long-handled nets (Sadeami) to scoop up the started ducks from the canal. Takagari, or falconry, we also popular. It was used during the earlier part of the Edo period by the elite. So there was something to be learned here.

After the last garden we headed to the ship. We were in Bus 1 so we were the first to arrive. Mary and I were actually the first through the check-in process. We got to our room before our luggage. This is a really nice two room suite. A sitting room with a coffee machine and wet bar. The suite is located at the bow of the ship, and has a very large deck. We suspect that when the ship in moving the deck is probably unusable due to the wind and spray.

Our butler is Nixon. Our cabin steward is Ramon. We went to lunch in La Veranda. Mike and Maddie went and made spa reservations. We came back and unpacked, got ourselves connected to the internet, and generally organized our suite. Mary napped for a bit.

At 18:15 we headed down to the Compass Rose for dinner with Mike and Maddie. The ship is scheduled to disembark at 19:00. After which I’ll go to the Connoisseur Lounge and buy some cigars have my port and unwind. The one unfortunate thing is that both Mary and I feel like we are home. The SS Navigator was the first Regent Ship we sailed on fifteen years ago; we were last on the Explorer in the Baltic Sea a decade or so ago. Both times it was with Mike and Maddie.

We were, of course, early for dinner, so we stopped in the Explorer Lounge just outside the Compass Rose for a drink. Mike and Maddie joined us a few minutes later. We had a light dinner. I ordered the lobster bisque. I knew, or recalled, that it was probably made with a seafood broth rather than vegetable or chicken. Mike enjoyed it and ate all of his. I took one taste and stopped: too fishy of a taste!

I had a green salad and that was it. It wasn’t a waste. In fact, it was probably a perfect dinner. Mike, Maddie and Mary stayed at the table and ordered dessert. I went upstairs to the Connoisseur Lounge for my dessert, a cigar, Punch Grand Cru Classic, and a glass of port.

I went back to our suite at 21:00 and called it a night. Mary came in not long after. It is nice to be home.

Buonanotte e Ciao

Enrico & Maria