Heading home on Monday 2 September

Early rising for shuttle bus to airport. Thought I might have put it at risk by locking door key in our room - but no problem. Two full size buses doing the shuttle, and both almost full.
Despatched my portable WiFi unit into the post box at the airport Post Office (worked perfectly all over Japan, and up to about 3km off shore for much of our cruising time) and straight through check in, but quite a long queue for security as it did not open until 7.15am (seemed as though first international flight from Terminal 2 was 8.55am). Moved quickly once it opened, however, but then had to give up our sample soy sauce bottles from Obi (not sure they exceeded 100ml as no indication, but not worth the argument). I failed the screening, so it was full checkout, including my belt experiencing in-depth analysis and my shoes and wallet getting a second detection run. Then quickly through Immigration and into the Sakura Lounge (less than 40" after leaving Hotel).
Breakfast in the lounge (where there was a retired Sumo wrestler in his robe) and then relaxation before our flight.
What to say about Japan:
I loved it all, including the challenges of the rail systems and the huge Tokyo, Shinjuku & Yokohama stations (and the minimal english in some areas). Pat was more challenged by the crowds - and the severe heat and humidity in Tokyo caused me to wind back my ambitious program.
The cleanliness of everywhere was incredible, irrespective of time of day. No rubbish and graffiti anywhere.
The Oakwood Premier was first class accommodation, so we'll located beside Tokyo Station, such great reception desk staff and its "guest night" a great initiative . We loved the place - it was an oasis just when you needed it!
Politeness is always evidenced and you can pretty well get away with just three words - konnichiwa, arigato & sumimasen. In fact, a simple "arigato" will invite a lengthy Japanese discourse, particularly from shop assistants - at which time its best to just smile and nod your head!!
The people in the ports we visited were extremely welcoming, with either (and often both) welcome or farewell displays. In the smaller ports, particularly, there were many enthusiastic volunteer student "english" speakers ever willing to help and I really enjoyed interacting with them.
To be able to wear shorts day and night for all of 3.5 weeks in 22C - 39C temperatures was absolutely great. Despite some rain on 3 cruise days, it never had a massive impact - and we have never been able to spend as much time on our balcony as on this cruise. Otherwise, with the exception of the one night at the tail end of the typhoon, the seas were always flat and balmy.
The Diamond Princess, despite its age, is still an excellent ship and, of course, it's crew ensure a great cruise - and we seemed to have a very compatible passenger manifesto.
I absolutely loved the baseball, just so much spectator involvement, noise and colour - a great night, and I loved how everyone took their rubbish with them!!
Yes, Japan is expensive - hard to find anything that compares to Australian prices, but it's a holiday!
Would we come back - absolutely, and we would probably do it the same way ie a one week city stay (perhaps Osaka or Kyoto) and then another cruise (as more and more Japanese ports are opening to cruise ships).
On track for an on-time departure and 10 hour flight time to Tullamarine.

Disembarkation on Sunday 1 September

One of the secrets of a good disembark is to not be rushed for time - no rushing for an early overseas departure and no rushing to be first off the ship. An easy, relaxed breakfast, only hand luggage to think about and 30" on the Promenade Deck means our luggage is all that's left of "Gold 3" in the terminal, so no scrambling search required. Another Customs Declaration (4 for Japan now), a quick passage through Immigration and pretty well straight into a taxi to YCAT (Yokohama City Air Terminal).
Wheeled the cases 80m and they were loaded onto an Airport Limousine Bus for the 100km express road trip to Narita Airport. Sunday traffic going our way was reasonably light and we beat the timetabled arrival time by 10". A coffee in the airport, then out to our hotel shuttle bus for the 2km trip to the Narita Tobu Airport Hotel. Narita is surrounded by a green belt with numerous very large, and well spread out, hotels. The Tobu is pretty much a one night affair only (and used by lots of air crew) - fairly basic but with big rooms by Japanese standards, and complimentary shuttles. It has a strict 2pm check in policy, which I knew about, so we had bit of a wait but were second checked in.
Some repacking/re-sorting and then the shuttle to the Narita (township) Station and the big Aeon Mall (seemed a bit like a mini tour of the area) about 5km away. Quite a big Mall and we did not see it all - but the supermarket was massive at around 150m x 50m floor area, and its range of products seemed unlimited.
Had dinner in a restaurant which specialised in tempura dishes, very nice (the pickled vegetables were bottomless, as were the pickled squid entrails - although, in the entrail stakes, I was not able to match the local girl on the next table!!!).
Shuttled back to the hotel for final packing and an early night, ready to shuttle to the airport at 7.30am.