Our long sea journey northbound was absolutely worth it. We arrived at the "land of the rising sun", Osaka, Japan to a band on the quayside and many locals waving the ship into port. Japan is one of the highlights of our voyage so far, it just didn't feel like we had to travelled to a different country, it felt like a different universe!

We quickly found that Japan is very clean, the people very polite and their mannerisms so different to what we are used to. The Japanese are very courteous and respectful and we felt very special to be spending our first day in Osaka.

Our coach had two tour guides and we drove through the ultra modern Osaka city to the Japanese Railways Shin Osaka Station. Shin means new in Japanese and it was there we boarded the Shinkansen Bullet Train, the New Main Train for our special journey to Hiroshima. There are three train names that translate to, sound, light and wish. The train was ultra modern, sleek and sped us 260kph through the wonderful Japanese countryside, we really did feel special to ride alongside the businessmen and travellers in our carriage. The journey took us 90 minutes by rail and would have taken 5 hours by car, although the train was fast, the views were stunning and you could easily walk around the train, the ride was so smooth. We bought refreshments from the trolley and the steward gave us a bow as she left our carriage, so polite!

What amazed us were the wonderful ways that people read their books and magazines on the train, back to front and top to bottom, even the businessmen on their laptops were typing in their spreadsheets in Japanese!

We arrived in Hiroshima and lunch was served at the top of the Rihga Royal Hotel, giving us excellent panoramic views of the city. The weather was very kind, it was bright and sunny and felt warm out of the wind.

After lunch our guide took us to the Shukkeien Gardens, created in 1620, the name means "shrunk gardens" and they were perfectly manicured miniatures with beautiful waterfalls, bridges and huge koi fish.

We travelled onwards to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. The memorial consists of the Atomic Bomb Dome, the Hiroshima Trade Centre, the only building remaining after the atomic bomb and which stands as a reminder to the world of the damage that nuclear war creates. The Peace Bell and Children's Memorial tell the story of the people of Hiroshima and the devastation that was caused on the 6th August 1945 at 8.15 am, the moment time stopped in Hiroshima. It was very emotional to hear the stories, watch the videos and to think that this only happened 65 years ago. It is the hope of the Japanese people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the memorials will encourage peace for the world. Hiroshima today is a very modern vibrant city and it is impossible to think that there was nothing here after the fire and radiation from the bomb in 1945.

After buying some interesting sweets, drinks and sushi at the station, perfectly on time, a trade mark of the Shinkansen, our bullet train whisked us back to Osaka for our night out.

The night life in Osaka is very different, the neon signs glow very brightly, it is said that they can be seen from the International Space Station, yet the many bars are very small and cramped, often above shops. The bar we hit was full of the entertainment staff from Universal Studios in Osaka and they were very friendly and interested about meeting Queen Mary passengers.

We had been in Osaka for only 17 hours but we had done so much and really had a taste for the place, it's friendly, super clean and modern, the people are very interesting and so is the signage, the food and our conversations for directions! We will be adding Japan to our destinations we need to come back to and explore. At midnight Queen Mary sailed away, luckily for us we have another stop here in Japan at Nagasaki on Saturday, more sushi, yum! Konichiwa!