Broken Morning

Dearest Rachel –

I have to confess, I’m not really sure what time zone I’m functioning on at this point. I only know it’s not really the one that I should be on. Since there’s nothing particularly interesting in terms of entertainment after dinner (unless I want to stay up until 11 or so, to catch the DJ spinning ’80s tunes to theoretically dance to – in this crowd? – and without a partner like you who was that much more into doing so than myself), Daniel and I essentially retire to the cabin, whereupon I get way too comfortable and promptly fall asleep.

If this is going to be a routine thing, I probably should at least get a workout in before I do that. What I’m doing now is essentially how sumo wrestlers are built, and I dare say Japan has enough of them without my throwing my fundoshi into the ring. Besides, Kaoru-San explained what apprentice sumo wrestlers earn in a year; a million yen sounds extravagant, until you divide by 117; factor in the cost of life in Tokyo, and you realize what a pittance that really is. At least the stables (and yes, the organizations that gather teams of wrestlers are called that, which gives you a rough idea of what they think of their athletes) provide food and lodging, so there’s that, but still…

On the other hand, it’s not as if my sleep was interrupted by waking up at 11pm or 2am, as in previous nights since arriving here in Japan. I finally got myself a pretty solid, unbroken night of sleep; it’s just that, when morning does break, it’s still breaking a little too early.

To be fair, it is partly my own fault for falling asleep so soon. But there was also the fact that, as I slowly felt myself rousing to consciousness, I could swear I sensed the engines slowing down. Had we made our way to port? And if we were, did I want to miss that?

So I eased my way out of the room (no sense in involving Daniel in this, assuming he’s adjusted to the current time), and made my way to one of the common areas, where I could see both port and starboard views.

You might also be able to see from this picture that, while we’re not in port – or really, anywhere all that close – we are more or less surrounded by land on all sides; essentially, we’re inside Aomori Bay.

All of which rather explains why the engines have been cut back. A ship doesn’t go steaming at full speed when in the middle of the bay; this isn’t like you’re charging toward your destination, you’re just about there. Now is when they slow down, to finesse themselves into position. Besides, it’s best to keep their wake to a minimum; we aren’t the only ship in the bay.

Which brings me to the realization that, for all the quirks of this small ship, it gets us into places like this that we’d otherwise never get the chance to see on a Royal Caribbean vessel, for instance.

Still, it’s not like we’ve gone so far as to experience any of these places yet, so I’ll be keeping in touch as we go along. For now, I’ve got to wash up and get dressed before we assemble for today’s excursion, so I’m going to let you go for now. Keep an eye on us until then, and wish us luck; we’re going to need it.