We wanted to experience Japan. Wonderful country, courteous people. Safe and clean. Excellent train and subway transportation. Steeped in history and culture.

Unfortunately, this modern society has not kept up to technology wrt their 'customs and immigration'. Extremely frustrating to have to give up port visiting time to line up to get processed over and over again by Japanese Customs and Immigration.

The Diamond Princess itinerary looked good "on paper"; however, the landing ports were too often at industrial ports with nothing close by, and tents for "terminals". To add insult to injury, Princess charged for shuttle service to the city centre. A number of points of interest were far from the port making it difficult to see sites and return in time. Read more