From Kobe to Tokyo · Asia · 9 nights
Azamara Journey, Quest, Pursuit and Onward are excellent small ships that offer a welcoming and relaxed club-like atmosphere.
Azamara’s fleet of small ships are focused on providing
destination immersion by spending as much time in port as possible
with itineraries designed to include overnight stays and late
evening departures. Enjoy more time to discover the local culture
and when back on board relax and enjoy a vibrant array of
inclusions.
Small in size and cosmopolitan in its outlook, Kobe is a thoroughly pleasant city with a long and distinguished history as one of Japan's main trading ports. Kobe's past as a commercial hub is reflected in its architecture, with a number of unusually European-looking houses, as well as a charming, if slightly touristy, Chinatown. Kobe is overlooked by Mount Rokko, and you can take a cable car to the top for marvellous views. The city is also an important centre for sake production, so it's a great place to sample Japan's most famous tipple.
On 6 August 1945 the world witnessed the terrifying power of nuclear weapons for the first time, unleashed on the unsuspecting Japanese city of Hiroshima. The modern city's sobering Peace Memorial Park commemorates that fateful day, which left more than 140,000 dead.
Three days after Hiroshima was flattened by an atomic bomb, Nagasaki suffered the same horrifying fate. The reconstruction of both cities has been quite extraordinary; Nagasaki today is a vibrant, cosmopolitan place, with a fascinating history that goes back a lot further than 1945.
The friendly southern Japanese city of Kagoshima enjoys a balmy climate, and sits just across the bay from the very active Sakurajima volcano, which erupts so regularly that an ‘ash forecast’ is included in local weather reports.
The laid back port city of Takamatsu sits on the north coast of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s major islands, and is home to the beautifully designed Ritsurin Koen, one of Japan’s most famous historical gardens.
Nagoya is Japan’s fourth largest city, though it remains well off the radar of most tourists, overshadowed by nearby Tokyo and Kyoto. The city is an important manufacturing hub, home to companies including Toyota and Lexus, and sights include a fascinating railway museum featuring maglev and ‘shinkansen’ bullet trains.
In a state of constant renewal and forever looking to the future, densely populated Tokyo is a dazzling introduction to Japan and its utterly unique culture. With more neon than Las Vegas and more Michelin stars than Paris, it’s a real assault on the senses.
