A Special Cooking Course My wife and I spent last year on one of the new cruise lines around the southern half of Japan. It was upon the Merry Princess, a 2,500-passenger behemoth that contained every luxury and distraction that a modern man could possibly crave. We both found it to be a relaxing, easy and relatively inexpensive way to explore some of the more “off-the-beaten-path” areas of the country. We were having a grand time, and we both experienced the peace of mind that comes from untethering yourself from the troubles of daily life. That is why I was so shocked to one day wake up and find myself in a hospital bed. It was certainly not the way I had envisioned ending our cruise. Anyway, we stopped in Beppu, a spa town designed for tourists and built over an active geothermal area

