Memoirs of Lloyd Moss: 1927
On the 26th we left Nagasaki and arrived next day in Kobe. There we found a much different Japan. It's a much bigger city hence the people were more impersonal. The land is fairly flat around the city itself but there was a lovely park on higher ground. Being a much more modern city it was not so interesting as Nagasaki. But there were exceptions such as the night I came upon a band of Hairy Ainus playing music and performing in the street for any yen that people felt like throwing to them. Undoubtedly the high point of the Kobe trip was an arranged trip up to Kyoto the ancient capital. I could write pages about it, but will only say here that we went by train through Ozaka to Kyoto, visited some of the temples in the city then took a street car to the base of Mount Hiei. Then rack-railroad and cable car to the top. From there we walked down the other side through virgin forest of big Cryptomeria trees with here and there a most exciting old temple or monastery. At the bottom of the mountain we came to the largest lake in Japan, Lake Biwa. We rode through beautiful scenery along the shore in another streetcar. Then turned back to a spot where a round brick-lined tunnel cut under part of the mountain back to Kyoto. The interesting part here was the tunnel which was a waterway. So we got into a long flat-bottomed boat filled with straw. There was a pole on the bow with a kerosene lantern fixed to the top of it. The boatmen stood in the stern and pushed the boat along with a punting pole. Most of the way it was completely black in there until finally we could see the tiny bright spot of light in the distance, at the end of the tunnel. It was another trip to remember always.
We were asked not to bring cameras ashore in Japan which was sort of a portent of future happenings. But I bought quite a few hand tinted postcards that are interesting to look back on today. On November 2nd, we reluctantly said goodbye to Kobe and sailed down through the breath-takingly beautiful inland sea and out the strait between the cities of Moji and Shimonoseki. On the way we passed by the first square-sailed full-rigged ship that I had ever seen; a beautiful sight. From there we headed for the Philippines again and enroute passed close to Taiwan (Formosa) at night, just in time to see a volcano in full eruption. What a sight that was, especially seeing it in the dark. On November 7th we arrived in Subic Bay and remained in and around Manila Bay for the rest of November and December.