Japan is hot these days (both literally and figuratively). Fortunately, travel advisors with clients interested in seeing Japan have a new option to offer them. MITSUI OCEAN CRUISES, which has a decades long history in Japan offering short cruises to the Japanese market, opened to North American cruisers earlier this year and it’s unlike anything in the market.
Though the line’s head of commercial strategies, Anthony Kaufman, is loathe to use the word immersive in its marketing, the cruise line does offer North Americans a truly immersive onboard and shoreside experience that blends Japanese and Western sensibilities in a unique mix that’s definitively different.
The differences are something Kaufman relishes and he was quick to point out on a recent cruise around Japan that he wants North American clients to feel out of their comfort zone on a MITSUI voyage.
Not that the overall experience is uncomfortable. With all sailings targeted at North Americans onboard a former Seabourn ship, the MITSUI experience is reassuringly comfortable. But it is different.
TMR recently returned from an eight-night sailing around Japan onboard MITSUI FUJI. Here are the seven most important things travel advisors and their clients should know about the cruise line.
1. MITSUI OCEAN CRUISES Is Not a Year-Round Product for North Americans
Not all sailings of MITSUI OCEAN CRUISES are available to North American passengers. Currently, only itineraries on one ship – MITUSUI OCEAN FUJI – are open, and even then, mostly only seven-day and longer sailings in select seasons are available.
For 2026, for instance, sailings open to North Americans are not available until March (the start of Cherry Blossom season) and there are no sailings for North Americans in June. (Itineraries beyond June 2026 have not yet been made public, but in 2025 there were no options in October or November.)
When the line’s older ship, Nippon Maru, is replaced by MITSUI OCEAN SAKURA in late 2026, some of its sailings also will be opened to North Americans. Again, for the time being, mostly sailings of at least seven nights will be available, also during select months only.
(MITSUI offers a number of three- to five-day sailings for the Japanese market, who tend to prefer shorter cruises, but these are mostly off the table for North Americans.)
Sailings feature a mix of on- and off-the-beaten path cities in Japan, as well as (usually) one stop in South Korea (usually either Busan or Jeju Island). Most sailings also include two to three sea days, so they are not port-intensive itineraries.
Oceanfront suite. Photo: Dori Saltzman
2. Three Accommodation Categories for North Americans
For the sake of simplicity, MITSUI is only advertising three stateroom categories for North Americans to book: Oceanfront, Veranda, and Penthouse Suite. However, for advisors with clients that want the top suite on whatever ship they sail, the Owner’s Suite and other top suites can be booked by special request if available for that particular sailing.
Though the ship is marketed as all-suite, only the top 36 suites include butler service. (To make use of the butler, clients need to call with their request. Unlike on many other luxury cruise lines, the butlers do not proactively offer any services.)
Additionally, of the three advertised accommodation categories, only the Penthouse Suite is technically a true suite (meaning the bedroom is separate from the rest of the room). However, a curtain can be drawn between the bed and the living space in the Oceanfront and Veranda rooms.
Photo: Dori Saltzman
3. MITSUI OCEAN CRUIES’ Fleet: Former Seabourn Ship(s)
As of September, 2025 MITSUI operates two cruise ships: the Nippon Maru and the MITUSUI OCEAN FUJI (the former Seabourn Odyssey). In late 2026, the Nippon Maru will be replaced by MITSUI OCEAN SAKURA (the former Seabourn Sojourn).
The 458-guest MITSUI OCEAN FUJI underwent a refit in 2024 before joining the fleet. The most extensive changes were made to the ship’s bathrooms, replacing all Western-style toilets with high-tech Japanese toilets.
Some of the soft goods were also replaced at the time, with some soft goods continuing to be swapped out.
Spaces have remained relatively unchanged, with mostly the same décor and art. The Restaurant is now The Restaurant Fuji; The Grill is now the extra-fee Hokusai Fine Dining; and The Colonnade is now Hachiyo (the ship’s small buffet restaurant). The poolside grill remains from before, as well. (More on the cuisine later.)
The only change of any note, is the small casino, which, due to Japanese law, cannot be used for real gambling. Instead, on select evenings, the casino opens for an hour for “play” gambling (i.e. no real money is bet).
MITSUI OCEAN SAKURA will undergo a similar refit before it joins the fleet.
Both FUJI and SAKURA are smallish ships that can visit ports bigger ships can’t. For instance, MITSUI is one of less than a handful of cruise lines that stop at Shodoshima, Komatsujima, and Tateyama, among other smaller ports.
Posing with Haenyeo divers. One half-day shore excursion is included in the cruise fare. Photo: Marius Cocuz
4. MITSUI OCEAN Is Fairly Inclusive
Prices for MITSUI OCEAN CRUISES might seem high at first glance, but they are fairly inclusive for North Americans. Fares include most dining, Wi-Fi, most beverages (top-shelf excluded), gratuities, and one half-day excursion in every port of call.
There are two main exceptions to the included dining. The Hokusai Fine Dining restaurant costs extra (15,000 yen per person – or about $100 per person), and the Omakase Sushi experience, which costs 4,000 yen per person (or about $27). Both require reservations and the sushi experience is only available on specified days. Extra-fee Tamatebako tea tastings and wine tastings are also available on select days.
(The tamatebako is a treasure box featured in the Japanese folktale “Urashima Taro,” which is told during the tasting.)
Each half-day excursion hits one or more key points of interest for the port of call and may or may not include a food (or other) tasting or even lunch. Examples might include the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park in Nagasaki; the movie set for a classic Japanese film called “Twenty-Four Eyes,” along with a soy sauce factory in Shodoshima; and the Haenyeo (women diver) Museum and a Haenyeo Village on Jeju Island in South Korea where guests get the chance to meet and talk to one of the divers.
Guests staying in Penthouse suites also have laundry (including express service) included, as well as refillable mini bars. Free self-service launderettes are available to everyone else.
English-speaking guests trying on a kimono. Photo: Dori Saltzman
5. MITSUI’s Funatabi Onboard Experience – Beautiful Encounters with Japan
The MITSUI onboard experience is designed around the concept of funatabi, or “beautiful encounters” with Japan.
These are workshops, seminars, and a variety of hands-on activities that bring Japanese culture to life. North Americans can learn how to play various Japanese games or learn a traditional Summer Festival dance. They can try on a kimono and even borrow one to wear on the evening of the line’s Summer Festival-themed dinner and party.
Arts and crafts classes teach origami and other traditional Japanese crafts (like torn paper art).
Lectures teach guests about Japanese culture or traditions. On our sailing, an expert in Japanese pottery and table setting gave a lecture (separately in Japanese and English) that was enlightening to even most of the Japanese guests who attended.
Available on almost every sailing is at least one performance of rakugo, a type of traditional comedic Japanese storytelling in which a master storyteller (or rakugoka) uses only a small folding fan to help tell his stories and get the audience to laugh. On our sailing it was available twice in Japanese. Sadly, the English speaker who was supposed to be on our sailing wasn’t able to make it. We sat in on the Japanese version for about 10 minutes to see what it was like, but without any translation it was impossible to follow.
While this was an unfortunate occurrence as there is usually an English-speaking rakugoka onboard, it does highlight one aspect of the onboard Funatabi experience in which MITSUI is still lagging: having an English speaker at many of the activities. Unless the activity is specifically tagged as “English speaking,” the chances are high its only in Japanese, which can be disappointing.
In some cases, like learning how to do a dance, playing ring toss, or some of the arts and crafts, that’s okay. English-speaking guests can simply follow along. In other cases, such as presentations and lectures, it’s impossible for English speakers to participate. We showed up for a session of trivia excited to partner with Japanese guests only to find out it was entirely in Japanese.
(We quickly learned, unless an activity is tagged as “English” in the daily schedule, it was almost always only available in Japanese.)
Also somewhat disappointing, when an activity is tagged as English speaking, none of the Japanese guests attend, so we found there weren’t as many opportunities for Japanese and North American guests to interact as we had hoped for.
Extra-fee sushi tasting. Photo: Dori Saltzman
6. Dining on MITSUI OCEAN CRUISES
Dining onboard MITSUI OCEAN FUJI (and presumably SAKURA when it launches) is a unique blend of Japanese and Western cuisines, particularly at the Hachiyo buffet, where all meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) provide a mix of cuisines.
Standards at lunch and dinner in the buffet always included a salad bar, a pasta of the day (plain pasta by request as well), and a noodle (ramen or udon) dish of the day.
The main dining room is the Fuji restaurant, which serves breakfast and dinner on port days and all three meals on sea days. What’s most important for clients to understand about Fuji is that for each meal there is always a set menu and except on “Western” night dinners, clients might not recognize everything on the menu.
Dinner typically featured a salad, a sushi or sashimi course, a fish dish, the main (usually a choice of two options but not always), soup, and dessert.
While special requests can be met (see below), part of the overall experience that MITSUI provides to clients is the opportunity to try out new things. To get the most of out the overall experience, clients should be prepared to at least try some of the food items they don’t recognize.
With that said, and with advance notice, the chef will make vegetarian alternatives for everything on the menu (they’ll even make vegetarian sushi) and gluten-free requirements can also be met.
They also take special requests. By the last night of our cruise, several people in our group had ordered either grilled or fried chicken and French fries.
The third complimentary dining option onboard is the poolside grill, which from noon or 1pm until about 5pm serves burgers, fried chicken, two types of pizza (one is always a plain cheese), and usually a specialty Japanese-inspired burger (or chicken burger) of the day. The fries here are a great option for clients craving a taste of home.
Hokusai is the line’s specialty restaurant and it serves up a mix of cuisines. Appetizer choices, for instance, range from sea urchin jelly with butternut squash puree to grilled scallops, while mains include seared salmon with salted kelp, guinea fowl with vegetables and foie gras, and wagyu beef fillet (for an upcharge), among others.
There’s also an extra-fee sushi tasting several afternoons per cruise. Sushi eaters in our group raved about it, saying it was some of the best sushi they’ve ever had.
A rakugoka practicing his craft of comedic storytelling. Photo: Dori Saltzman
7. English Is Commonly Spoken (but not everything is in English)
One thing your North American clients don’t need to worry about on a MITSUI OCEAN sailing is a language barrier. With at least half the crew from outside of Japan – primarily the Philippines – English is commonly spoken.
We had no issues communicating with waiters in the main restaurant or buffet, nor with our room attendants, shore excursion staff, or entertainment team.
We even found that most of the passengers spoke some English. Any time we were on an elevator with Japanese passengers and we asked them what floor they needed, they always answered in English.
With this said, and as we mentioned above, although English is widely spoken, many of the onboard activities are not offered in English. Despite the fact that most of the entertainment can speak English fluently, several times we were told there was no one available to translate. This may change as more advisors put their clients onboard, and particularly on sailings that have a larger number of English-speaking passengers. (Our sailing had about 25 English speaking passengers.)
Travel advisors can find out more about MITSUI OCEAN CRUISES at mitsuioceancruises.us or by emailing head of North American sales Joe Maloney at joe.maloney@mitsuioceancruises.us.
AloJapan.com