Miyako

Miyako was the smallest port town we visited, a population of about 50,000 people. It may have been a small town but the locals came out in a big way to welcome our ship. They provided local guides all over the town with vests on that had what language they spoke to help with what ever information you needed, or even to help with interpretation in shops. They had even set up little rest area spots around the town. 

Our ship was greeted by dancers and drummers.

We stared our day walking into town and just wandering around. Of course we had to check out the local market, because thats what we do! At the market 2 older local women were trying so hard to have a conversation with us, they both only spoke Japanese, we kept telling them "no Japanese, English, sumimasen". But they kept trying! That was not the only time this happened, at a little clothing shop another older lady who was shopping did the same thing.  This was a very friendly welcoming little community.

These adorable local girls were so excited to get a Canadian pin from a cruise passenger, she was showing her mom who was working at a shop we were in.

We headed back to the ship for lunch because we were meeting from the cruise port later for a ship sponsored tour.   The town had set up a carnival and food trucks in the port area for ship passengers and locals. They just really went all out for us!

After lunch on the ship we met the bus for a trip to Jodogahama Beach and Coastal cruise. The tour guid on the bus told us about the huge devastating earthquake and tsunami that happened here on March 2011. There was not enough warning for the locals to leave, the waves were up to 133 feet high going over the sea walls protecting the area. 20,000 people were killed and over 2,000 missing. Since then they have built a 50 foot high sea wall. Below is a tiny view of a section of the wall, taken from the bus.

We arrived at the boat dock and boarded the boat for a coastal cruise to see the beauty of the rocky coastline.

Next we walked to a little museum to look around then from there we did a little coastal hike to Jodogahama Beach.

It was a nice little excursion. We absolutely loved Miyako and the locals there! It was a stop that we were not that excited about, but this lovely charming community and the beauty of the coast totally won us over!