Shorewoods Photography-Boarding Group 2 Travel Blog

We woke to a beautiful morning of clear blue skies after an evening at sea. Late morning we sailed into Osaka Port, passing impressive container ships and marine docks.

As we sailed further into port, a harbor pilot boarded our ship to navigate under the bridges and through the busy waterways.

Soon the cruise port was in view. Another wheel awaits us, perhaps for some more night photography.

As we docked, we were welcomed by a traditional Japanese drumming group, a taiko.

Here is a short video clip, it was pretty windy, but considering how far away we were from them, the sound of the drums were far reaching!

Once docked we disembarked for a cruise excursion to Sawantosuru Sake Museum and Mount Rokkō.

We travelled over highways built soaringly over the streets and neighborhoods below, and arrived at the Sake Museum. We learned about the traditional barrels and the process for production.

The museum is located on the site of the original brewery, and contains gardens and traditional architectural details. The museum opened in 1978 to tell the history of sake-brewing. The museum was completely destroyed by the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake in 1995. It was reconstructed with an earthquake-proof system. We gained a new appreciation for the complexity and time involved in the process of producing sake.

We had a taste of sake and plum wine which was intoxicating! Next we travel on to visit Mt. Rokkō. Mt. Rokkō is really a mountain range, with the highest point at 3056 feet. Our guide for the day shares a map showing our route to reach Rokkō Garden Terrace.

The first part of our journey we will take the Rokkō Cable Car to an observatory, and then continue our drive up the mountain.

The cable car provided a good perspective for just how steep the mountain slope was, and can only imagine the ride in the tour bus making those hairpin turns driving up the mountain road to meet us.

The scenic view from the top of the cable car ride gave a hint of the views awaiting us at the Garden Terrace.

We drove on some of the tightest hairpin turns we have ever seen, and especially impressive that a tour bus could navigate those turns! There were large mirrors along the mountainside of the road, to allow the driver to see any oncoming traffic, as the bus needed both lanes and shoulders to complete the turn. The ride offered some picturesque woodland scenes.

We arrived at the Garden Terrace and were greeted with panoramic views of the Osaka area below.

Art and I took to the task of zooming in our shots to try and locate our ship out in the harbor.

After a bit of searching, we found the needle in the haystack! The arrow shows the location from the full view.

And here is a closeup, you can see the white X on the top of the ship.

We returned to our ship, and after dinner enjoyed the night sky from our balcony. We are fortunate that our room is on the starboard side facing the port. We have a great view of the wheel and its lights, which provided for an enjoyable evening with our tripods and cameras capturing some wheel shots!

We overnight here in Osaka, and have another ship excursion in the morning before setting sail to our next destination. As I stand on the balcony in the cold night air, lights from the city spread out like a blanket across the horizon. I reflect on our day, especially the spectacular views from Mt. Rokkō as John Denver’s song Rocky Mountain High crescendos into my thoughts. While we have no sparkling meteor filled sky, there is an exhilaration, an intoxication if you will, from the sites and experiences of today. These experiences fill you up, and connect you with the wonder of the earth whether you are in the Colorado Rockies, the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or in a port in Osaka. Tonight it’s not just a “travel high”, it’s our Rokkō Mountain High.