To Japan: the boat.

We didn't miss the boat the second time. We boarded without difficulty and found out that there weren't many people on the boat, so we didn't have to share our Japanese style room with 16 people like we thought! The first night the boat was rocking alot, and our room was near the front of the boat so we felt it alot. Both Brad and I felt a little woozy, but thankfully neither of us was sick (others weren't so lucky). We spent the first day on the boat sleeping mostly. I think the grief of leaving Yichang had hit us and expressed itself in absent-mindedness, stupidity, and exhaustion.
The second day on the boat we spent reading and planning our super short excursion to Japan. We arrived in Kobe on the 12th around noon and had to go through some pretty extensive customs and immigration procedures to get into Japan. But we were in, and ready to go!


Leaving Shanghai...on the open sea...then nearing Kobe...