RyūgūTen Nights to the
Dragon Palace

Travel dayMontréal, then a very long flight

Leave the house at half past eight in the morning and fly straight to Tokyo — thirteen hours and twenty minutes, no changing planes. You take off on Monday and land on Tuesday afternoon, because you cross the date line and Monday evening simply never happens.

Arrive and eatTokyo airport, then Yokohama

Land at 3:25pm, get through passport control, and take an airport coach around the bay to Yokohama — about an hour and forty minutes, bags stowed underneath. In the hotel by half past seven. Then a seven-minute walk into Yokohama's Chinatown, which is at its best after dark: red lanterns lit, a gold temple floodlit, five hundred kitchens going. Light some incense, have supper, walk back. Nothing is booked and there is nothing to catch — the fortune reading is tomorrow morning instead, because the last time they take anybody is half past seven and you only reach the hotel at about half past seven.

Tarot, then boardYokohama — the day you get on the ship

An easy morning on purpose, all of it within ten minutes' walk of the hotel. First a small Chinese temple dedicated to the goddess who protects sailors — you light five sticks of incense and walk them round five burners. Then, on Wednesday mornings only, a free tai chi class meets in the courtyard at nine; join the back row or just sit and watch. It finishes at ten, which happens to be the exact minute the fortune hall five minutes up the road opens — so you are the first ones in for the tarot, twenty minutes each, plus the reading of your palms. Then back for the bags, a seven-minute taxi to the pier, twenty-five minutes on its famous wooden roof looking at your ship, and aboard.

船Getting back: Aboard by about 12:50pm. She sails at 3pm.

Frogs, then a boatToba, Japan

The one early start — up at seven, because everything outdoors happens before nine while it is still cool. The ship anchors offshore so small boats ferry you in, then a ten-minute taxi to a seaside shrine famous for two things. Two big rocks standing in the sea, joined by an enormous rope of woven rice straw, said to be the husband-and-wife gods who made Japan. And frogs — stone frogs everywhere, because the Japanese word for frog also means "to return safely", so people come here to ask for a safe journey home. You pull a paper fortune out of a frog's mouth. Two hundred flat metres further on there is a tiny red shrine right at the water's edge for the sea dragon. Then back for a sightseeing boat built to look like the dragon's underwater palace, which drops you at one of Japan's biggest aquariums — indoors, air-conditioned, with a dugong, the sea cow that probably started the mermaid stories. Lunch is inside.

船Getting back: Back on the ship by about 2pm. She sails at 4pm.

Beach dayKōchi, Japan

First an air-conditioned museum on a hilltop with a big window looking straight out over the Pacific. Then down onto the beach — the pebbles here are genuinely five different colours if you crouch down. You go down before lunch because there is no shade at all on the sand. Then a ramp, not stairs, up to a lookout where you can see a little red shrine on the headland at the far end. Then a long cool lunch indoors.

船Getting back: Back on the ship by about 2pm. She sails at 5pm.

Nothing to doAt sea, between two Japanese islands

The ship does not stop today. She threads the narrowest gap in Japan — about 650 metres of water — with a suspension bridge passing right overhead. Watch from your balcony, then go up to an open deck for twenty minutes or so, because a balcony only faces one way and you want to see both shores. That is the whole day.

Swimming dayJeju Island, South Korea

The only day in a different country, so there is passport control on the way out and on the way back, and about a kilometre of covered walkway each time. First a waterfall at nine, while it is still cool and while the beach is closed anyway — you cross an arched bridge over the gorge with seven flying women carved along the side of it, look down at the falls, and come back. Then the beach, which has black, grey, red and white volcanic sand, for a proper swim — lifeguards are on from ten. Then a long lunch somewhere air-conditioned.

船Getting back: Back on the ship by about 2pm. She sails at 4pm.

Three dragonsNagasaki, Japan

A bright red Chinese gate built to look like the front door of a dragon king's underwater palace — you see the whole thing from the flat forecourt, because everything behind it is stairs. Then a free public lift carries you up a hillside to a garden of old Western houses with the best view in the city, and the walk down finishes indoors with the two real dragon costumes the city parades every October. Then a third dragon gate in Chinatown, at pavement level, and Chinese lunch.

船Getting back: Back on the ship by about half past one. She sails at 4pm.

Rest dayAt sea, all day

Nothing at all, deliberately. The one thing worth getting up for is the Japanese bath on the top deck — cypress-wood tubs, hot water, and nothing through the glass but open ocean. Two hours, booked on the first day aboard because it sells out. You wash thoroughly at a seated shower first, then get in; the bath is for soaking, never for washing.

Geisha and samurai dress-upOff the ship at Yokohama, then Tokyo

Off the ship in the morning and about an hour and a quarter by car into Tokyo. Then the big one: three hours of being turned into other people and photographed — full white makeup, a heavy lacquered wig and layers of silk for one of you, laced armour and a crested helmet for the other. Late lunch by the enormous red lantern gate afterwards. The hotel room that night looks down on a floodlit temple with the Tokyo Skytree changing colour past the river.

Temple, then flyTokyo, then home

Check out of the hotel first and leave the bags at the desk, then Tokyo's oldest temple: a gate with a four-metre red lantern hanging in it, a covered shopping street that has been feeding pilgrims since the 1600s, a bronze dragon pouring the water you wash your hands with, and a golden dragon painted across the ceiling of the main hall. All done by eleven, with an unhurried hour for lunch before the airport coach.

船Getting back: At the airport by 2:35pm. The flight leaves at 5:35pm, and you are home in Montréal the same evening.