Yokohama is about a 30-minute train ride southwest of central Tokyo.
I started off in Yokohama in the area known as Minato Mirai 21. It is a seaside urban area in central Yokohama whose name means "harbor of the future." As you can see, there is a large shopping mall there, as well as an amusement park known as Cosmoworld.
The building that I am actually taking these pictures from is called Landmark Tower. It is the tallest building in Japan, but only the third tallest structure in the country. Great views of Yokohama from here.
If you look way out in the distance, you can see bits of the Tokyo skyline.
This is looking down at Sakuragichō Station, which is where I got off the train in Yokohama.
Landmark Tower is 296.3 meters (or 972 feet) tall. Nothing compared to the Tokyo SkyTree's 350-meter and 450-meter observation decks, but still one of the better views I've ever seen. If you look closely in the picture, you can see the baseball stadium where the Yokohama DeNA BayStars play. Wish I could have gone to a baseball game while there.
Anytime I'm high up, I gotta do some tilt-shift. ^.^
More unique buildings and a little kiddie amusement park.
At the bottom of Landmark Tower is a shopping mall called Landmark Plaza. They have curved escalators! Seriously! It was so weird and amazing to ride on this since it's so rare.
Here is what Landmark Tower looks like from the outside. Very impressive building.
The walk from Landmark Tower to the man-made island is quite nice.
World Porters is a colossal shopping center with just about everything. Groceries, cinema, retail shops... you name it.
I only went into World Porters for one thing. And that was Leonard's. If you've ever been to Oahu, Hawaii, you should know this place. They are known for making the best malasadas, which are balls of fried chewy dough covered in sugar. They have two store locations in the whole entire world; the one on Kapahulu Avenue in Honolulu, and this one in Yokohama. I treated myself to two delicious, fresh, and warm malasadas here and they were heavenly.
Another place I had to visit in Yokohama was this. It's a museum for Cup Noodles. Yes, this actually exists. No, I'm not kidding you.
I can tell you that if you even have the slightest bit of interest in instant noodles or ramen, then this place will be worth stopping at.
This was the very first kind of instant ramen you could buy. I bought a package at 7-Eleven and ate it back at home. It tastes like normal chicken flavored Cup Noodles that we get here, except a bit bolder. There is no flavor packet; the seasoning is already dusted on the noodles.
There's a little theatre and a very educational video to watch at the museum. It talks about Momofuku Ando and how he invented instant noodles for Nissin Foods. More importantly, it goes over how Americans were actually the ones who gave him the idea for cup noodles! I did not know that.
They have a replica of the shack Momofuku Ando used to practice and research making instant ramen.
One thing that you really must do when you visit here is spend the extra bit of money to make your own Cup Noodles! You get to choose the flavor and decorate your Cup Noodles to take home with you. I didn't do it because I was pinched for time, but it looked super fun.
On the top floor, there is a food court area with eight different restaurants offering up a unique style of noodle from all around the world. They had spaghetti from Italy, phở from Vietnam, tom yum kung from Thailand, and much more. I tried a couple places for my lunch here. Another great part about it is that this was the only place in all of Japan that I encountered a soda fountain with free refills! Soft drinks are expensive in Japan, so this was a real treat for me as there was a bunch of stuff I hadn't tried, like melon soda. Mmm... so good.
After the museum, I was off to the Red Brick Warehouses. These buildings used to be customs buildings back when this area served the port more, but now it's a shopping area. This square is usually empty or is filled with stalls, but I happened to be there during the Flower Garden event.
Really stunning display at this location.
This is one of my favorite shots from the entire trip. Kids loved running up and down the little alleyway between the flower gardens.
From there, it was time to walk around the waterfront towards Chinatown.
There's a nice pedestrian walkway that goes from the Minato Mirai to Yamashita Park and over Ōsanbashi Pier.
Is it Yokohama Blue or Blue Yokohama?
Ōsanbashi Pier is the oldest pier in Yokohama. Saw lots of people coming and going for a cruise ship docked there.
This is at the west entrance to Yamashita Park. Yokohama reminds me a lot of San Francisco in terms of being a populated bay city. It's not hilly like S.F. is, but the buildings, parks, and Chinatown you'll see later feel similar.
Yamashita Park was very pretty. The boat in the background there is the Hikawa Maru. It was first put into service in 1930 along the Yokohama-Vancouver/Seattle line. The ship had first-class cabins that attracted the likes of the imperial family and Charlie Chaplin for the transpacific journey.
This is a famous statue in the park called "Little Girl with Red Shoes On." It is based off of a popular Japanese song/poem about a Japanese girl who was given away by her poor mother to American missionaries for a better life. The song plays out like she went off with them, but fact is, she never left Japan. Apparently she developed tuberculosis before boarding the boat and was forced to stay. There was no cure back then, so she died shortly after.
I eventually reached Chinatown. Yokohama Chinatown is the largest chinatown in Japan.
It quickly developed after the port of Yokohama had been one of the first Japanese ports to be opened to foreign trade in 1859. It became the residence of the many Chinese traders who settled down in the city.
I had written down some key restaurants that I wanted to try in Chinatown, but the addresses were confusing as hell, so I kind of followed my nose and the crowds to the busiest places. One of them was a dumpling place that made the best I have ever had in my entire life. I watched them being made fresh right in the shop. These suckers literally explode with hot soup all over. In fact, there was a comical video playing outside of people attempting to eat the dumplings without the soup flying all over the place. Man, I would love to eat these again.
It was super busy for a weekday. It's important to note how otherworldly being in a Chinatown in another Asian country is. Back in Seattle, our International District is a mix of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, etc. stuff. Here, it was like China mixed with Japan and that's it. I wasn't sure whether to say "xie xie" or "arigato" when saying thank you to people.
Really sweet looking gate in front of a temple in Chinatown.
After Chinatown, I was ready to head back to Tokyo to attend a Culture Japan event. I follow Danny Choo's website religiously as it was my portal to Japanese culture and life. He does a great job of taking tons of pictures and posting them for anyone interested to see. He's grown in popularity and helps run an anime toy company, as well as hosts a couple TV series about Japan.
I reached out to Danny while I was in Japan to see if I could meet him for lunch or dinner and chat with him on one of my days there. He let me know that others wanted to meet as well, so he held a Culture Japan Tokyo meetup at a Chinese restaurant near Musashikoyama Station. It turned out to be pretty awesome because I got to meet a ton of English-speaking people from all over the world. I became friends with people from other parts of the U.S., and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Malaysia, Singapore, and of course, Japan. Boy, do I wish this meetup had occurred earlier in my trip because I definitely could have traveled with a few of these folks.
This is Danny Choo's "daughter," or Dollfie. They are semi-popular in the otaku world. They aren't for me, even in the slightest, but I appreciate them and don't judge those who like them. I'll just stick to my nerdy anime figures. If Danny's last name looks familiar to you, yes, he is the son of the famous and expensive shoe-maker, Jimmy Choo.
I got to speak to Danny for a solid 10 minutes or so at the meetup. He was very kind and asked me a lot of questions because we have similar experiences. He actually used to live in Seattle and worked for Amazon. He also worked for Microsoft at one time, so we were able to relate there. He was a really nice guy and I appreciated the time and effort he put into putting this party on.
Danny and I towards the end of the meetup. We stayed until the Chinese restaurant closed and scrambled out into the shopping arcade to take pictures. All of the locals were probably thinking to themselves, "Baka gaijin! (Stupid foreigners!)" since we were blocking part of the walkway.
Here is pretty much everyone who showed up at the meetup. Added quite a few folks on Facebook and have been keeping in touch. Some still work in Japan, others were just there on vacation, like me.
This is the Musashikoyama Shopping Arcade that the Chinese restaurant was in. Didn't have much of the food since I was so busy talking to folks.
So I went to CoCo Ichibanya for my last meal in Tokyo. The pork katsu with pork curry was delish! I already miss this place.
Thus ended my last full day in Japan. Next time: Day 8 - Tokyo Narita Airport and Leaving Japan.
See all 156 photos from Day 7 of my Japan 2013 trip here. See all 10 mobile uploads from Day 7 here.
Day 1 is here.
Day 2 is here.
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