So, Thursday morning (a little over a week ago), we got ready and took the train to Yokohama. This is the second largest city in Japan and just south of Tokyo. It is a port city. We had originally planned on going to the aquarium in Tokyo, but at $18 per person, it seemed too pricey. Katsu had always wanted to go to the Chinatown in Yokohama (which is the main draw) and it was about an hour and half train ride from Saitama (where Katsu's parents live) with no train changes.
After ditching our bags in lockers in the train station, we set off to Chinatown to find a good restaurant to eat. Chinatown looked similar to those in the US (I've only seen Boston and NYC ones), with two main differences: 1) it was clean and didn't smell and 2) the Chinese people working/living here are fluent in the local language (i.e. Japanese). So, a very nice Chinatown all around. Katsu took his time deciding on a place to eat, at which point, Andrew had fallen asleep in the stroller, so he was asleep through the whole lunch and didn't get any food. The food was good and nicely portioned. Afterwards, we bought some sweets at a store and wandered around towards the harbor.
Chinatown pics:
Next, we walked to the port. It was SO nice to be next to the ocean and to feel not so claustrophobic. Andrew loved looked at all the fountains and the cruise ships. And Seth just loved looking at everything. We enjoyed the walk, ate our snacks, and then went into a convenience store to get some noodles for Andrew. I guess because this is a stop for cruise ships, but this was the convenience store of all convenience store with a huge play area that Andrew did not want to leave and was too distracted with to eat. So, I walked around the port area more with Seth and just enjoyed the ambiance of the city.
Yokohama port:
We walked back to the train station and found the Chinatown temple on the way back. I think it is scarier than the Japanese ones - the gods look angrier to me anyways.
We then got back on the train (with our luggage), switched trains, and, being too lazy to switch to the subway system, decided to walk to the hotel. After consulting one of those Japanese offices whose sole function is to give directions because finding anywhere in Japan on one's own is impossible and carrying Andrew's stroller up through pedestrian bridges, we finally got to the New Sanyo hotel - an American military hotel. But we didn't have a guest pass and after some frantic searching for our friend Trevor's cell phone number, we got into the hotel and into America. It was definitely weird hearing English, having everything in $$, and having an American bathroom (well, mostly - I mean, why the heck was the phone in the bathroom ... still puzzled over that one).
The hotel had a nice view of the temple, being in the same general location. It also had a nice buffet for dinner and breakfast which we heartily enjoyed (American food!) and an American store with fresh cookies! And American TV. It was kind of weird, but nice to escape culture shock for a few hours at least. Although, really, the only thing I had missed was having people to talk to in English. So, it was fabulous to being our trip with Trevor and his wife and kids.
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