Yokohama!

Vacation in Tokyo, Part 3

May 2000

So the next day was Wednesday, January 26th, and I was on my own. My legs were sore from all the walking I'd been doing, but I applied some Aspercreme on my muscles and set out for another great day. Since I was solo again, I could just go at my own pace and just see the stuff I wanted to see.

My first destination was Yokohama! I exited Sakuragichou Station and my first destination was Minato Mirai 21, the harbor that embraces the future 21st century. Here I saw plenty more examples of futuristic architecture, as though it was straight out of a science fiction movie. Like Odaiba where I had visited the day before, Minato Mirai 21 gives immediate access to Tokyo harbor's seashore. It features the Landmark Tower, Japan's tallest skyscraper, and several other recognizable landmarks, such as the Intercontinental Yokohama Hotel that overlooks the water like a giant orange wedge and the Cosmo Clock 21 Ferris wheel, which doubles as the face of an immense clock. The Nippon Maru sailing ship is docked nearby, serving as a museum.

Also in the area is the Queen's Square shopping mall, home to another Snoopy Town store, and Yokohama World Porters, a really neat international store. Here you can buy imported foods from all over the world. In fact, Yokohama is a city with a very international flair, with its own Chinatown which I visited later that day. Although I don't live in the town to really warrant purchasing any groceries, Yokohama World Porters was a cool place to look around just to see the various International goods that those living in Yokohama can enjoy. I didn't spend much time inside the mall, since I am not fond of just wandering around shopping malls for the sake of it. I only really spent time looking in the Snoopy Town.

To the left is Queen's Square and right is Yokohama World Porters.

I bought a bento lunch and headed to Yamashita Park and took plenty of pictures there. It was an excellent place for people watching. A pretty girl feeding the seagulls flying all around her, people taking their dogs out for a run, little children chasing the birds... One guy took a picture of me feeding some leftover rice from my bento to a crow with my chopsticks. I wish I could've seen how that picture turned out. The guy who took the picture was another photography enthusiast, and he had a huge lens on his camera.

The winter skies grew hazy and gray as I made my way to Motomachi. It was a quaint area with narrow streets, and it almost seemed like I had been transplanted into a European city neighborhood, except that the signs remained in Japanese. From there, I went to the Foreign Cemetery. When Commodore Perry sailed to Japan and forced relations open between the United States and Japan, this cemetary was established for the burial of his crew sailors who had died. After Yokohama was opened as an international port, the cemetary became a burial place for foreign residents of the area. It really awestruck me that these were the first wave of the modern expatriates to live in Japan. What were their lives like? What did they accomplish in their lives? It was just amazing to me, since I knew that I would soon be living in Japan myself.

Left: Motomachi. Right: the Foreign Cemetary. In the background you can see Yokohama Marine Tower.

From there, I headed to Yokohama Harbor View Park. I saw couples there together as I sat alone and overlooked the cityscape over the water. My thoughts turned to my dear Mayu-chan, and how I wanted so much to take her to this overlook together someday.

Next stop: Chinatown! I was impressed with the beauty of this place. I'd only visited a Chinatown in Los Angeles before, and that was nothing compared to Yokohama's Chinatown. I arrived right before sundown, so I witnessed Chinatown lighting up at night and I took several pictures as the sun was setting. I ate some lo mein noodles (called "Shanghai Yakisoba" on the menu) at a restaurant because it was the cheapest item on the menu. I was not expecting all of the restaurants to be so expensive. You can expect to pay at least 1,000 yen up to 3,000 per person there.

I then returned to Tokyo and took some time-lapsed night photography of Akihabara.

Go on to Part 4 of my Vacation in Tokyo and read about how I teamed up with Jet Jaguar to stop a vicious 50 foot panda bear from knocking over Tokyo Tower. Or not.

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