Naha Japan and Kaohsiung Taiwan

Nov. 4th: When we left Hiroshima, we had one “sea day” before arriving at our last Japanese port, Naha Japan on November 4th. Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan.

We decided to explore Naha on our own rather than take an organized tour.

**Naha city centre had a large shopping mall and modern apartment and office buildings.**

Close to the city centre is Fukushu-en Garden, a Chinese-style garden that was built in 1992 to commemorate Naha’s relationship with its sister city of Fuzhou, China.

It was an unassuming entrance to Fukushu-en Garden, but the gardens beyond were beautiful, with pagodas, waterfalls, pavilions, and bridges over the ponds. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

**The parents brought their 3 year old daughter, dressed in a traditional kimono, to the garden**s **as a traditional Japanese rite of passage**

**Hamburgers looked good, but we had a rice dish** **as it was our last meal in Japan**. **These fellows were fun to watch.**

Naha was our last Japanese port. There were so many things we loved about Japan: the people who are so polite, hospitable and welcoming; its rich culture with its historical sites and temples/shrines; its cuisine (we loved the sushi and ramen); its strong emphasis on safety and security, and its cleanliness (litter-free). We would love to visit Japan again.

Nov. 5: Originally we were to sail to Taipei Taiwan, but we were re-routed due to a cyclone that had caused damage to Taipei a few days earlier. Instead we sailed to Kaohsiung, which is located in the southern part of Taiwan and is the island’s largest industrial centre.

There is a strong Chinese influence in Taiwan but whether it is an independent nation is not a simple question. We read that, “China sees self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be under Beijing’s control – and has not ruled out the use of force to take the island. But Taiwan sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own constitution and democratically-elected leaders. Taiwan has strong links to China, its biggest trading partner. And many Taiwanese have business and family connections across the strait. But over time, polls show that the number of people who identify as Taiwanese, as opposed to Chinese, has gone up.“

The first day in Kaohsiung we toured on our own and on the second day we took an Oceania tour in order to use up our Oceania excursion credits.

Kaohsiung waterfront was so modern with interesting architecture.

Above is the very modern Cruise Terminal in Kaohsiung

**Office of the Taiwan International Ports Corporation in Kaohsiung**

**Built in 1997, an 85-story steel skyscraper**

Above is the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center which was designed by an Australian architect

**Entrance to the MRT transfer station**

The Dome of Light is underground in Kaohsiung’s MRT transfer station. It is the world’s largest public art installation made from individual pieces of coloured glass and took nearly four years to complete. It is huge with a 30-meter diameter and it covers an area of 660 square meters. When we first walked by it wasn’t lit so we missed it, but luckily it was lit on our way back.