Asuka II, Seafood, and Touch Rugby

A cruise ship came into port in Onahama today. Because one of my schools is a fishing school and works closely with the harbour, a few teachers and students were invited for a tour of the ship. I was lucky enough to receive an invitation.

One of my JTEs was kind enough to pick me up and drive me to the harbour. We wanted to see the ship come in, so we met up at 7:45 this morning. I woke up at 7:00 thinking that 45 minutes should be enough time to get ready. Unfortunately, after last night’s festivities at the bar, showering and putting clothes on took me all of 50 minutes to accomplish. I didn’t even have time for breakfast.

On the drive to Onahama, my JTE surprised me with some Canadian music. He had Metric playing on the radio, which took me back home and helped to ease my throbbing mind. Good for you Metric for getting exposure in Japan.

In preparation for the ship’s arrival, a festival had been organized and thousands of people went to see the ship come in. We saw a few other teachers there and managed to get some delicious festival food – I’d say even more delicious than the usual festival fare; There was lots of fresh seafoods, soba noodles made on the spot from buckwheat, breads, mochi… I could go on.

The ship itself is called Asuka II and it is pretty amazing. Some people have told me that it is the largest ship in Japan, but I wasn’t able to confirm this with a few Google searches. I do know that it has 8 decks. It is a big ship; it may be larger than the aquarium that we went to a couple of weeks ago, and which it had docked beside.

We enjoyed, with a few thousand people, watching the ship get moored and the passengers lined along the rails waiting to disembark for the day. We were of a privileged few that actually got to go for a tour. I don’t think that I saw anyone else who got to visit in the time that we were there.

As for the inside, it was fancy. The place looks more like a fancy hotel than something that floats. It features its own bars, ballroom, casino room, theatre, swimming pools, tennis court, fitness room, etc. My favorite part was going up to the bridge where we had a view of the harbour.

After the tour, we walked through the festival stalls for a bit. Had fish burgers for lunch and my JTE got some crab miso soup, complete with half a crab. I also got to go to the fish market, which was new to me. I ate a delicious freshly shucked – right in front of me, oyster. I think that I will try to ride my bike out there one day and pick up some fresh fish.

Once we finished our tour of the market, we went to a nearby park where several others were having a picnic and playing touch-rugby. We spent the afternoon there and now I am home and exhausted. Tonight should be an early night for me. I’ve started watching Battlestar Galactica and my only complaint is that I didn’t start watching it sooner.