Asuka II - A Cruise Ship Gets Underway!

What does one do when one has nothing better to do? I say go watch a ship get underway; it's more fun than one may think. Check it out:

My wife and I were walking around the Yokohama waterfront when we heard music coming from the Osanbashi pier. We love music so we followed the sound to its source and we found this Junior High School playing and they were good!

They had quite a crowd of people enjoying their performance.

Turns out they were there as part of the of the Asuka II cruise ship's underway celebration.

What a turn out!

The Asuka II isn't the largest cruise ship to sail the seven seas, although it is pretty nice none the less.

It's a cold grey day but that doesn't seem to dampen the celebratory mood of the passengers on the ship nor the well wishers on the pier.

I can't believe that these girls are in junior high school - they are performing like pros.

 They were playing everything from pop hits to big band swing.

Kind of reminds me of the Japanese movie "Swing Girls".

 The band plays on and the ship starts to pull away from the pier.

Here comes the powerful tug boat!

This tug is really pouring on the power.

There she goes!

People are moving to the end of the pier for the final farewell.

If you don't take a picture with your smart phone I guess it never really happened.

Somebody is starting to get a little heavy for grandpa's shoulders.

That's better.

It may be hard to see but in the distance the Asuka II is starting to pass under the Yokohama bay bridge.

A fellow photographer.

And, just like that the thrill was gone. and we're back to our walk about.

Thanks for stopping by!
Mike

Bonus shots!