Ferrying over to Japan (22nd to 24th December 2008)

The ferry to Japan was excrutiatingly expensive and it turns out that it is actually cheaper to fly - so why you would ferry is beyond me (except to avoid flying as we are!) The journey takes 40 hours and the ferry looks like it hasn’t been refurbed or touched up since the 60’s or 70’s. The large halls and lounges were peppered with rows of office comfy seats and the strange choice of pictures had faded over the years. Save for a few Christmas decorations and the odd dying plant, it was the most dull passenger ferry I have ever had the mispleasure to be on. That said, it did actually have a pool (empty at this time of year of course, though I imagine always empty) and a bizzare little cinema room where the floor was strewn with hundreds of dvds (Russian of course). The bedrooms themselves were ok - we had opted for the cheap (ahem) cabin, which had two sets of bunks, but just us in it (the ferry was maybe only a third if that full). They were a good size, had their own bathroom and a tv which plays movies on tap, though of course no use to us. All meals were included and varied form not so bad to not so bad if you can bear it and after being told off at lunch on day two for not sitting in the same seats we had been in before (no one told us they were assigned) we learnt better of ourselves! After all, no one likes it when someone angrily wags their finger at you - especially not me,w hen I am 29 - so we thought we best not move seats again - we didn’t want to be thrown overboard and I wouldn’t have put it past the bunch of misfits running the ferry to do just that! The crossing was smoothe enough and we arrived at 9 in the morning on Christmas Eve. After immigration and customs (on board the boat) we headed into Toyama to find the train station to get to Takyama. We ended up being helped by a fellow (Japanese) passenger on the boat and so got our train tickets all sorted with not too much hassle.

We don’t know if it is just because it is such a contrast to Russia you can see this immediately in the smiles, organisation and neatness of everything) or if it because we truly will love it, but we are instantly happy to be in Japan and immediately get a good feeling that we will really really fall for this country!