Getting back to our cruise, after we left Shimizu, we arrived at Kumano on Wednesday, 17 August at the end of the day to see the famous fireworks display.

The fireworks look a lot more impressive from this angle!

We were a bit confused about this;  according to the information we had been given before we left, we expected to be taken off the ship by tender and taken to the beach where the fireworks were at.  But no, the ship set anchor and we watched it from afar.  The fireworks were very pretty, but there were long delays throughout the performance and if there was any music, we were too far away to hear it.  So it was okay.

The next day we spent cruising through the Japan Inland Sea.  Very scenic, so we should have had the camera ready, but there was so much happening to keep us entertained on the ship that we forgot to take any photos!