Friday 30 August in Sakata

Japan has been experiencing widespread rain for the last three days, but we have avoided most of it. Western Japan has been impacted most by these apparently unprecedented downpours, with 3 people perishing in flood waters, and almost 1 million under evacuation orders. The weather bureau forecast 100mm of rain for Tokyo in the 24 hours from Thursday night.
We arrived into Sakata (our last stopover) under threatening skies but with a hearty welcome from the locals, including many secondary students volunteering their time to offer assistance as "english speakers". They are so keen to talk and I love to engage with them because they get so little opportunity to use their "english"!!
Sakata is a city of around 110,000 people on the Sea of Japan on the north west of the island of Honshu and the area has a reputation for growing high quality rice. Very little english is spoken and virtually no english signage, so for the students, the arrival of a cruise ship is a great opportunity. Not many cruise ships come here, and the town went all out for us.
We shuttle bussed into town and headed to the Abumiya Residence - the historic residence of a famous merchant family which depicts what life was like in the Edo period of 400 years back. Very big house, with a lot of rooms, displays and some hands on. As we left to walk to the Sankyo Soko Warehouses & Rice Museum via the Honma Residence (the historic residence of one of Japan's former richest merchant families), the rain began, and it persisted. The very large Soko warehouses (which played a pivotal role in Sakata's rise as a major merchant port in the Edo period) had a very big gallery & gift shop (the food items in particular were very popular with the Japanese) as well as a very informative rice museum.
Despite time out for a coffee, the rain persisted so we again tackled it to head back to the town centre. There are umbrellas everywhere you go in Japan and bags to carry them in when wet. Mine is quite thick and I could not get it into the narrow bags, so left it in the stand on its lonesome. Despite the very heavy rains, it was still there an hour later when we left!!
Needed to take shelter for a period on the way back before the rain eased off a little. A covered colonade in the town centre provided some relief as well as some entertainment. I had a couple of photos taken as a Samurai (including with the full outfit), engaged in a number of conversations with the students, and even purchased a brightly coloured Haori (a traditional Japanese hip length kimono style jacket).
We then headed back to the ship, and, on the dock with the rain almost stopped, were provided with free food samples, drinks and some small gifts from the town - very touching and I felt so sorry for them that the rains had come on their parade. By mid afternoon, however, it had reverted to just the occasional shower.
Wonderful send off from the people of Sakata with a big group of around 70 brightly costumed dancers on the dock. Pleasingly for everyone, the rain had stopped and the dancers were enthusiastically applauded.
Despite the rain, the temperature remained in the mid 20'sC (and was still 24C at 11pm).
Another formal night tonight so I gave my Haori a run. It attracted quite a few looks and a number of comments. Embarrassed to say , but, again, I could not go past repeating the escargot, calamari, lobster & creme bruise menu selections.
Finished the night off by attending the "Born to be Wild" stage show for a second time - great show and great entertainment, and then the 3 deck attrium "balloon drop" - which always attracts great excitement.