The MS Deutschland heads for Japan in spring, to visit Tokio, Kyoto and Mount Fuji, with cherry blossoms. Tobias Fährmann boards with editor-employed wife Saskia and son Paul (9), a kendo-fan whose practice sword is customs-confiscated while he came for a Tokio school. Saskia professionally knows bestseller-author Hendrik Claasen, who gives the ship lectures and bullies Paul, Tobias cancels 'sick' I an attempt to draw his parents together, which works out with a twist. Half-German Anna Sato visits her old-fashioned father Hiroto's country with fiance Daniel Felber but refuses him asking for her hand and meets her elder sister, geisha Misaki Sato. Yet Daniel confronting Hiroto Sato only seems to make things worse. Identical twins Laura and -sneakily hiding as her- Julia Friesinger boarded without a second ticket, a recipe for confusion and trouble with separate crew dates Dennis Starke and Philipp. *Oskar Schifferle gets lost in fascinating Tokyo without cellphone, wallet or notions of Japanese, desperate even to find his way back after finding the Japanese acts he promised to book for the cruise show are unavailable during the festival, but a local vendor and the crew help out.
—KGF Vissers