Woot finally reaching the end the first part of our Japan trip, the Tokyo part =D Byebye Tokyo! We’ll be seeing you again in a few days time~ The plan for the day was to tour Yokohama with Chi-san as our guide, and then to take the night train from Yokohama station to Kyoto =) I love trains.
Woke up from a good night’s sleep (futon convert!) to a traditional Japanese household breakfast!
It looks like it’s taken straight from an anime scene huh =DD Chi-san’s mom asked if we wanted japanese or english breakfast the night before and Yisha and I both shouted “JAPANESE PLEASE!” =DD
breakfast cooked by Chi-san’s grandma. Pan fried salmon, potato and egg salad, rice and miso soup. oishii!! The salmon was awesome =) That white packet is actually Natto, which was really gross lol
After breakfast, we packed up and LUGGED our luggage to dump at Yokohama station.
Chi-san lives in a hilly region (like most of Japan) so we had to pull our luggage up and down hills and stairs…in the heat x.x This is an example of the kind of stairs that we had to carry our 10+kg luggage up and down (thank god it was down here and not up) and around in Japan
Chi-san also brought us to visit the temple near her house, which was gorgeous!! Apparently the young monks living in the temple are actually very hip and cool =D
The temple grounds. Aoi sora^^
Looking at these pictures, I can still hear the cicadas chirping, feel the warm summer breeze on my skin and sweat trickling down my forehead and the general stillness you get in hot summer afternoons. They just scream NATSU.
The Japanese zen temple. It was so quiet and serene.
I love Japanese zen temples, the architecture and colours are so simple and elegant, unlike the flashy gaudy chinese temples.
These are sheltered passageways that bring the monks to different parts of the temples. The monks walk on the elevated platforms because they are not supposed to touch the ground barefooted.
We met a young monk and an old monk here and asked them if we could take a picture with them and the young one was all “yes =DD” but the old monk refused (lol geezer) XDD But I like it that the younger generation are still following tradition (they have a temple university) but they are less uptight and rigid =)
More temple ground. It’s huge, by neighborhood temple standards. There are at least 3 big buildings and lots of wide open spaces with trees.
After that we walked to Chi-san’s neighborhood train station (how I survived with all my luggage is still a mystery. The human spirit is a strong thing) to take the train to Yokohama. Dumped our luggage there and it’s off to Yokohama’s famous Chinatown for lunch!
Heading to chinatown and passed by this lovely shopping street. Another pretty bread shop (excuse the blurred pic, I was catching up to Yisha and Chi-san ^^)
Chinatown! (lol @ the panda)
Well honestly, chinatown is more like a place for Japanese tourists. For us chinese, it’s overpriced(compared to Singapore and China) and not as interesting as other Japanese stuff because it’s nothing new to us. Still they have some pretty cool items. I think Yisha bought a few boxes of instant Siew Mai or something. lol. Did you ever eat it??
Snack. It’s pan friend bao. Delicious!
Lunch at a small chinese restaurant =) The food was great and Chi-san treated us to lunch, I feel so bad for mooching off her x.x Thanks Chizuru-san for your generous hospitality! We had an awesome time ^^
Green…fried rice. Despite it looking like alien goo this dish was bloody good!
Chinese stir fry
There was also a bunch of other dishes but I can’t find the photos. lol
After leaving chinatown, we went to the Yokohama bay area. Our ultimate goal was the ferris wheel ^^ A Honey and Clover fan would understand why we were so bent on sitting the ferris wheel. Actually it was just Yisha’s personal obsession, I just wanted to sit it because it’s gorgeous =D
Yokohama park by the sea
Big ships
That long building at the end is the Yokohama passenger terminal. Kinda like Harbour Front? But much bigger
View of Yokohama’s city. It reminds me a lot of the Raffles Place area
Close up. Can you spot the ferris wheel? ^^
Drinking Fountain!
I think these are cultural symbols representing Yokohama…?
One of my favourite in Japan, convenience stores!! This is Lawson the best convenience chain in Japan (in my opinion) and this one is the Miffy version.
More reasons why Japan is made of win:
Epic Flavours!
Everything has to look appetising
Going up to the port/passenger terminal
The passenger terminal itself! It’s built to look like the deck of a ship
There are many grass patches on deck where you can sit/lie down and rest when the weather is good. Great dating spot!
From the passenger terminal we walked to where the red brick buildings were. I think back in the old days these brick buildings were used as warehouses. They have since been converted into exhibition places. Chi-san brought us there for a digital media exhibition ^^
Pretty buildings
Behold! An ice cream fair at the brick houses.
They sell the funkiest ice cream…
Space ice cream for astronauts
Curry ice cream!
Shark ice cream!
Horse ice cream…?
Caviar ice cream =0
Squid ice cream
…Snake ice cream
in the end Yisha bought this lovely ice cream from an Obaa-san. She shaped it to look like a rose!
Close up
Best Kakigori I’ve had in Japan!
Inside the exhibition there were a bunch of weird fun techy devices that only Japan can come up with. I have videos but I’m too lazy to upload them =D
This was really cool. If you place your hand on the metal bar, the device will produce musical sounds when you hit any part of your body. I think it works using the electrical signals in the human body.
Paint splattering machine…well a quick way to do abstract art =D
No idea what this is but I like the umbrella
Posters showing the animation shorts being screened
And this! was the most fun of all the exhibitions
*quote from yisha*
“((: this was ridiculously awesome and fun. they made us write stuff with light sticks and captured all of it in low-speed photography (i think)!”
I know I have the photograph of our lights somewhere (we wrote YOKOHAMA) but I can’t find it x.x
Anyway after passing time at this exhibit, the sky finally grew dark enough for the ferris wheel to be viewed in all it’s awesome glory. And trust me it was indeed awesome!!
Tada! The gorgeous Yokohama Ferris Wheel. Time check!
Why is our Singapore flyer so dark and fugly and not lighted up in beautiful rainbow lights!!!
Yisha and Chi-san
Into the amusement park!
The ride costs about $10 per person and lasts about 15mins? or 20. From the peak of the wheel, you can see Yokohama city in all it’s lighted beauty =) Unfortunately Yisha’s night photography skill wasn’t l33t enough so we don’t have any photos of the night scene (do we?)
From here on only rambles and gushes.
After the ride, Chi-san asked if we wanted to visit the ONSEN (aka hot springs)! Since we were both high on adventure and happiness (ferris wheel rides does that to you) we agreed readily. I have nothing but praise for the hot springs. It’s like a luxury spa club but 10x better.
I took these pictures from the internet so credits go to whoever that took these photos!
This is the front desk =) It cost about 20+ odd (sgd) to enter, and Chi-san paid again x.x We definitely have to repay her kindness!
(this picture was taken from http://www.welcome.city.yokohama.jp/eng/tourism/topics/0811/index.html)
No photography allowed inside (duh) but male and female hot spring areas are separated (double duh).
Random fact: if you have a tattoo you can’t enter ^^ Most public areas in Japan don’t allow people with tattoos to enter because tattoos are still largely an indication of Yakuza.
Once inside, you get an ID tag (you just let them scan it when buying stuff. payment is made when you leave) Yukata of your choice and then you go to the locker room where you strip naked. Only a tiny towel is allowed inside the hot spring baths x.x It was really embarrassing for us at first but we were still high on ferris wheel happiness so we got over it =D Anyway once you get used to the view it’s all a bunch of bodies wandering about. Nothing too special. The whole place was very clean and hotel like. They have indoor baths and outdoor baths areas, and sauna rooms.
Nothing I type can describe the feeling of tight muscles from days of walking relaxing in the hot water -floats to heaven- some spas have water jets to massage your body too *_* And from the outdoor baths, you can see the city lights in all it’s splendor, but it’s not advisable to stay too close to the railings as someone might see you naked. lol. Chi-san told us that in winter it’s paradise to sit in the hot hot baths and watch the snowflakes flutter down gently while drinking hot sake!
And apparently Onsen water is very very good for the skin (that’s why all the Japanese have such good skin).Our faces and body felt much smoother after the soak! After the baths, we wrapped ourselves up in the yukata and went to the outdoor foot bath.
(this picture was taken from http://www.kanagawa-kankou.or.jp/korean/area/images/yokohama_central_05.jpg)
It’s really at night when the beauty of the whole atmosphere comes alive. Relaxing your tired feet in the warm water, feeling the summer night breeze caressing your face, muscles relaxed and languid while gazing up at the ever changing lights of the Ferris Wheel.
For meals they have this big room covered with tatami mats. We bought our food and ohh it was so good to just stretch on the tatami and enjoy the aircon and hot green tea. I ate healthy rice and salad XD I felt the need to not put on more calories after supposedly burning them in the sauna and hot water.
Chi-san asked if we wanted to stay the night (just pay $12sgd more!) and we were soooo tempted to do it. But we’ve already bought the tickets. Well we could have canceled them and then take the first Shinkansen in the morning because the Japan Rail Pass covers the charges anyway but we didn’t. BIG MISTAKE.
Why? Because firstly, we didn’t get a good sleep at all that night on the train. It was so bloody noisy and it kept stopping and the lights didn;”t go off. Secondly, we had to transfer 3 times, with our huge ass luggage. Thirdly, we soon found out that the Shinkansen is the possibly the best transport invention in history. It’s extremely fast, 2hours from Tokyo to Kyoto as opposed to one whole night on a normal train with 3 transfers, very spacious! and very very good to sleep in.
Luckily, thanks to our meticulous research and planning, we arrived in Kyoto safely despite all the transfers^^ I’m so proud of myself. We didn’t get lost at all.
To end off day 4, I’ll talk about how much I like Yokohama. Even though we only spent a day in this city, we felt so very at home here. Perhaps it was due to Chizuru and her family’s warm hospitality, or probably also because Yokohama felt very much like Singapore. It’s a big city, but not too fast paced or distant like Tokyo. And also because the Yokohama bay area gives me the feeling of Raffles Place and Harbour Front! And the Onsen was the best unplanned trip that we had <3 Not to mention the prices are surprisingly reasonable! 30+ sgd for all that awesome facilities. Heck you pay that amount for a chalet and you don’t even get a clean bathroom -_-”
End of Day 4
Coming up next, a Night Train Special!
