Searching for Salmon, Sushi and Serenity

October 2025

by Jeff Kravitz

Prologue

Once again Donnie (my lovely wife, adventurer, world explorer, and major influencer of these travelogues) deigned to join me on another expedition (Hah! If I don't find places we both want to go to, she'll go on her own to someplace I have no desire to visit - actually, she will anyway). This one was yet another Long Pacific Adventure (Hmmm - maybe I should trademark that).

This time we went back to Japan. We'd been there once before in 2016. I wanted to see it again, more intensively this time. We started in Westchester County, New York, just north of New York City, where we live. We were driven about an hour and a half to JFK International Airport and then flew to Seattle Washington, where we spent one day. We then boarded the Discovery Princess cruise ship, which headed to a few towns in Alaska and then it spent nine days crossing the Pacific Ocean and finally arrived in Tokyo after a total of fifteen days cruising.

We spent eleven thrilling days in Tokyo wandering around and seeing the sights on our own - no tours - no tour guides - just us. I prefer it that way. After Tokyo we boarded the Diamond Princess for a nine-day cruise around Japan, stopping at several towns we never heard of, and even going to South Korea. Finally we flew from Tokyo to LA and stayed over one night because I really didn't want to fly for fourteen hours straight. Then we flew home. All told, we were gone 40 days.

One of the reasons we booked this adventure is that the cruise from Seattle to Tokyo was a repositioning cruise, which means that they were moving the ship from its summer season area doing Alaska cruises to its winter season location cruising around Australia and the Far East. Repositioning cruises usually stop in fewer places and are less expensive then regular cruises. This cruise was so inexpensive that even with our large balcony room it cost less for us to take this cruise to Japan than it would to fly, and we got fifteen days of good food, entertainment, a nice cabin to relax in, a short visit to Alaska, and more. It was much more pleasant than flying.