Boats and ships of Japan - 1

Hi, Almost as much as I enjoy railroad photography I like to take pictures of ships when Ruthe and I travel to far off places. Japan proved to be an excellent place to do that and having a balcony cabin made this easy.

We boarded our ship, the Diamond Princess, on July 17 and I went up to the sundeck to take some photos.  The ship above is, I believe, used for laying and maintaining ocean cables.

This ship, the Hikawa Maru, was docked adjacent to us.  It was built in 1929 and ran between Tokyo and Seattle.  During the war it was a hospital ship.  I learned on the day we left the ship and headed for the airport that it is now a museum (and hotel/restaurant) that you can visit for the princely sum of 200 yen (120 yen = $1).  If I had only known.

A puddle on the dock offered a reflection of the Diamond Princess at our first stop, Kushiro, Japan.

Our second port was Korsakov, Russia on Sakhalin Island.  The middle ship above almost looks like a whaling factory boat.  If so, the smaller boats would be catchers.

A small cargo ship makes port.

This was the only port where we were required to use tenders to get ashore.  It was a bumpy ride.

Our next port was Otaru, Japan (above and two below).  The ship above is a car and passenger ferry.  Because Japan is an island nation ferries are very common.

The ship entering port, above, is a fishing boat.

This Japanese warship passed by in the haze at Hakodate as seen from the tower at Goryakuku Park.

A ferry was at her dock as we boarded the Diamond Princess in Hakodate in the afternoon.

The light was perfect on morning of July 26 when we woke up in Yokohama so I took some photos of this coast guard cutter at its base.

Thanks for looking.