Welcome to another entry in my Japan Adventure series! Here begins my two-part
account of our first port, Kagoshima (if you don't count Osaka, where we
boarded the Silver Muse in the first place). Today's post will cover morning
to noon (almost to the minute 😯), including arriving at the port and heading
out on our first excursion. The latter involved a ferry ride, a hot spring
foot bath, and a visit to the Sakurajima volcano observatory! Retrospectively, this was one of the best days I spent in Japan on this trip, in terms of the weather. It was nice and cloudy all day, so I didn't have to worry about sun protection, and all my photos were perfectly lit by the diffuse lighting offered by the clouds 🥰
To read the previous entry in this series,
click here.
Friday 17 March 2023 - Arriving in Kagoshima
This was the first and, I think, only time I saw an algal bloom on the
sea! Fascinating!
Selfie with Kagoshima prefecture!
I didn't know at the time, but this is the most active volcano in Japan,
Sakurajima!
Pulling into the port, I noticed some hubbub on the corner...
...it turned out to be a welcome party, waving flags from many nations,
shouting loud and clear 「いらっしゃい！！」 "Welcome!!"
I love this shot; the ship carrying us, the people welcoming us, and the
volcano watching over us ❤️
I shouted a return greeting, in Japanese, to the person in the red shirt
while I was still on the ship. She seemed to remember me when I walked
through the cruise terminal, because she switched from English to
Japanese when she welcomed me through 🥰
This being my first cruise ever, I didn't realize ports had terminals
specifically for cruise ships!
Me and my husband, Sean, waiting for our turn to board the tour busses
in front of our ship.
All the tour busses were really nice! This was the start of our first
shore excursion.
During my first ever ride on a ferry, to get to Sakurajima, I took some
pictures of the volcano. I was inwardly pleased when others saw what I
was doing and got out of their vehicles to take their own pictures 😊
Our first stop was the hot spring foot bath! It was situated in a
beautiful park~
One of our fellow passengers kindly offered to take a photo of me using
the relaxing foot bath.
It was dreamy soaking my feet in hot mineral water while watching these
birds soaring overhead ✨
The next stop on our excursion was the Arimura Lava Observation Deck!
There was a small shop at the entrance selling souvenirs and food made
from a regional specialty citrus fruit called kinkan (spherical
kumquats). We got some sweet, delicious kinkan juice to start!
Along the observation deck walking path, there were many marked
groupings of
pyroclasts
like this.
And in those pyroclasts, people had taken up depositing coins, like a
volcanic wishing well! We added to the collection while we were
there 😁
Me showing off Sakurajima! This was the best view from this observatory
🌋
Before boarding the bus to go back to the ship, we purchased a bag of
fresh kinkan! We snacked on these delicious treats throughout the
remainder of our vacation 🍊✨
After this, we returned to the Silver Muse and spent the rest of the day
aboard the ship. I'll share about that in my next post! Please look forward to
it!
Welcome to the fourth entry in my 2023 Japan adventure photo log!
Click here
to go back to part three. Today's topic won't take much time to cover, because
we were at sea the entire day during this part of the trip. I hope you'll
still enjoy these images and the story they tell about our journey from Osaka
to Kagoshima 😊
Thursday 16 March 2023 - First Day at Sea
Another unexpected habit I got into, starting this day, was taking a
photo of the sea every morning 🌊
My first breakfast on board! Cold cereal is my FAVORITE and they had
plant milk for me to enjoy it with 😄 I also had cream of wheat, hashbrowns, and baked beans~
We were seated in the most gorgeous spot for breakfast~ The couple next
to us was very easy to talk to, so we had great company, as well. If I
remember correctly, their son teaches art history at a university!
I normally avoid the sun at all costs, but it was so dreamy on our
veranda I couldn't help spending some time soaking up the rays and the
view 😌
I truly fell in love with the ocean on this trip. There are many reasons
why, but for one, it is astoundingly beautiful!
The cabin service people put a cap on our leftover bubbly so I was able
to drink it slowly over a course of days, rather than feeling forced to
drink it all at once (especially after my previous night of
overindulgence!) or else let it go to waste. I'm pretty proud of this
photo showing it off 😆
This is another framed tapestry that caught my eye in one of the ship
stairwells. It was several feet tall!
We explored more of the Silver Muse this day, including taking a look
from the observation deck.
Me and Sean on the observation deck! It was technically called the
Observation Library and it did indeed have many books and
plentiful seating in which to read if one wished!
The biggest event of the day was getting a massage! It was so nice being
gently rocked by the sea while being worked on by a massage therapist
🌊💆♀️✨ The only downside was being pushed to buy spa products
afterwards; it ruined the relaxing vibes!
At the end of each day on the cruise, we received the next day's "Daily
Chronicles" and chocolates! The Chronicles included useful information
about shipboard activities, excursions, the upcoming port, the weather,
etc. I kept them all for my scrapbook 📑✨
That's all for today! Told you it would be short 😉 Next time I'll share our
adventures in Kagoshima, including visits to a hot spring foot bath, a volcano
observatory, and my first ride on a ferry! Please look forward to it!
Welcome to part three of my Japan adventure chronicles! In
part two, I shared my very first day in Osaka (not just the first day for this trip,
but my first time setting foot there ever!) which mostly consisted of
exploration of the immediate area surrounding our hotel. We were passing the
time until boarding of our cruise ship, the Silver Muse, was scheduled to
begin. Today, I'll share photos of my boarding experience (another first; I
had never been on a ship of any kind before!) and my first impressions being
on the ship!
Wednesday 15 March 2023 - Boarding the Silver Muse
We were shuttled from the hotel to the boarding location via tour bus.
The wait for our group number to be called was longer than the ride
itself.
First clear view of the Silver Muse!
We were thrilled to discover that we had been upgraded from the cheapest
and smallest suite (all the cabins are suites on this ship) to the top
of the mid-range options! The bathroom included everything you see here
plus a separate shower and bathtub, with luxury Bulgari toiletries. The
only negative was how disturbingly loud the flush on the toilet was. I
have no idea if that's just a thing on cruise ships or what 🤔
Here are the sleeping and sitting areas of our Deluxe Veranda Suite. The
black cases on the bed were luxury sanitation kits that included a pack
of face masks, hand sanitizer, antimicrobial wipes, and hand lotion
❤️
Both of the gigantic mirrors in the sleeping/sitting areas had smart TVs
inside! We received notifications, messages, and news about the cruise
on it, and could watch live video feeds from a couple different
locations on the ship, among other things.
Drinks were included in our cruise fare, and they provided a bottle of
sparkling wine in our room to kick everything off 🍾 I do wish marking
ourselves as teetotalers was an option, though. I like the flavor but
not the alcohol, and my husband, Sean, doesn't drink at all.
The fantastic view of the Osaka Cruise Terminal from our ✨~veranda~✨
😄 We were expecting to have nothing more than a picture window (that
is, a window that gives a great view but doesn't open) when we booked,
so being upgraded to this suite was dreamy for the veranda alone!
カンパイ！or Cheers! 🥂 I popped open the bubbly, and Sean had Sprite
😄
We explored the ship after getting settled in our room. It was full of
interesting and unusual art! This is an example of some glass work.
Here is an example of avant-garde sculpture.
A framed tapestry; these were my favorite.
Non-representational painting. I loved the colors and textures of this one.
Me and the great wheel at night! My only regret is not getting to ride
on it!
Our first dinner on board was at Kaiseki, a Japanese style restaurant.
They kept the drinks flowing much too liberally, especially the
delicious sake! I enjoyed it at the time but I don't want to drink like
that again 😅
The atmosphere and food presentation was excellent in this tiny
restaurant, but I have to admit, their vegan "options" were very
limited. Still, we had a good time, enjoying our first evening on board
any ship ever!
Although I don't have any memory of departing from the port, because I
drank WAY too much, my hangover woke me up at three-in-the-morning and I got to enjoy a
dreamy vision of the moon shining through the clouds and lighting up the
sea 🌘💕
So ended our first day in Osaka, our first day on the Silver Muse, and our
first night on the cruise. I'll be back soon with part 4 of my adventure,
which was a full day at sea, heading towards Kagoshima. Please look forward to
it!
The weather has been a bit odd recently, several weeks of frosty sweater
weather (a bit of a shock after spending three weeks in warm, sunny Japan),
then a sudden wave of summer temps and dry thunderstorms for a few days,
followed by cool rain starting today. I'm glad the deep chill of winter is
finally over, but I hope the rain sticks around for a while. I want to be able
to enjoy proper spring weather!
My cherry tree in bloom mid-April 🌸
Today I'd like to share with you my art-related activities and recommendations
from the past two months. I won't go into specifics about my Japan trip, since
I'm already doing that in a separate blog series, but it may come up here and
there. In any case, I hope you'll enjoy this two-month art roundup!
Patreon Rewards
In March I sent out these adorable postcard rewards featuring the chibi
caricatures I recently made of my two pet pigeons, Kumo and Sora. I did not
originally make the caricatures with the idea of turning them into a reward,
but it worked out so well that I'm going to make rewards featuring my two pups
and my kitty next 😊 I'm very close to done with the puppy reward, so be sure
to
sign up here
if you'd like to receive the next adorable postcard (or a larger, more
detailed print version)!
Whaaat?! I finished posting all my 2022 work to dA?!
Yes! I did! Finally!
Now I have four months of a productive 2023 to catch up on 😆 Of the most
recent uploads, this final piece from Inktober 2022 is my favorite. The prompt
was "farm" and I was still following my gryphon theme, so I drew a
turkey-gryphon farmer! Not only did I enjoy the amusing visual, I feel this
was one of my best inking jobs from the challenge. Makes sense, since it was
the 31st ink drawing I did that month!
Art Livestreaming
At the end of April, I finished my Aoife chibi! Aoife is my big dog; I
finished Chibi Chappie (my little dog) on the last Friday before I left for
Japan 😄 These two will become my next Patreon reward, as I mentioned. You can
watch the final round of work on chibi Aoife, which was done live on Twitch,
on YouTube:
My streaming schedule remains the same as usual: Inktober52 on Mondays (an ink
drawing combining a weekly prompt with my self-imposed gryphon theme), a Lucky
Dip on Wednesdays (four random art tools used to practice an anime-style
character drawing), and Chibi Fridays (adorable chibi caricature drawings). Be
sure to check out my
Twitch schedule
and follow me there to get notifications whenever I go live!
Charity Fundraising
Because March is Women's History Month in my country, I chose
RedRover as my charity this time.
RedRover, among other good things, helps people escaping domestic abuse (a
population which is disproportionately comprised of women) keep their pets
with them, especially because pets in such situations are in just as much, if
not more, danger as their abused human guardians.
Since I was going to miss several weeks of livestreaming while on vacation, I
decided to use March and April's stats combined to determine my donation. My
formula is thus: for every unique viewer I get on Twitch in the selected time
period, I donate USD $0.10, with a minimum of $10 and a maximum of $100.
Through March and April, I had 14 unique viewers, which equals a $10 donation
to RedRover! They had a checkbox to cover processing fees, so I actually
donated a little bit more to ensure the funds could be as effective as
possible ❤️
My featured charity for May is
The Peregrine Fund. I chose them because the
California condor
population, already critically endangered, is suffering huge losses due to an
outbreak of avian influenza. The Peregrine Fund is making concerted efforts to
help the birds, and I want to join them 💪
Mika's Monthly...
In this section, I will share some of the things that have kept me fueled,
happy, and healthy through March and April. I hope you'll give some of these
recommendations a try! (As always, I am not being compensated for any of these
recommendations. I'll let you know if that ever changes!)
...Workout 👟 The way I kept active the most during these past two
months was walking! In particular, this was the most accessible way to get my blood pumping
while still enjoying my vacation in Japan. I even did a one mile
walk around the track on the top deck of our cruise ship, the Silver Muse,
during a day at sea! Of course, the ship moved so fast that the stats on my
Garmin were totally off 😆
...Vegan Victuals 🍱 At the end of April I hosted my first cherry
blossom viewing party! I've wanted to do so ever since I moved here, because
there's a cherry tree in my back yard. For the party, my sister and I made
vegan bento boxes for everyone 😊 It was way easier than I expected. I bought
some
cute vegetable cutters
to make the flower veggies, but other than the bento boxes themselves, no
other specialized equipment was required. These boxes were lined with leaves
of romaine lettuce, filled with steamed short grain rice which was then topped
with furikake seasonings, then filled the rest of the way with carrots,
cucumber, radishes, avocado, steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, boiled sweet
peas, vegan hot dogs, and cute animal-shaped vegan chik'n nuggets ✨
...Show 📺 I finished watching
The Mandalorian
season 3 in April and I loved it! Din Djarin has solidified himself as my
favorite character in the series 🥰 I am so excited for the next season, I
really want to see where things go from here. There are so many possibilities!
...Music 🎧 I've been listening to a lot of music of all genres over
the past couple months, so it was a bit difficult to choose what to feature.
One thing I didn't get very much of in Japan was a fix for my otome game
obsession, so I have been listening to a lot of my otome game soundtracks
since I got home! I let that guide my decision here, so I'm sharing my
otome game playlist
from Spotify 😄
That's it for this roundup post! In the couple days since I started writing,
the weather has granted my wish and stayed lovely cool and rainy~ It's
absolutely dreamy this morning ☁️😌🌧️ I don't expect it to last, with summer
just around the corner, so I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can! Here's
hoping you're also enjoying the weather wherever you are~✨ Until next time,
stay safe, happy, and healthy!
