Yokohama Mama!

Well hello, faithful readers!

Quick word about Friday night. A few friends and I went to a local bar Friday night to hang out and it was quite nice because I actually met a few Japanese people with whom I was able to practice my Japanese. I met one woman who was supposedly a famous singer in Japan – the bar had a bunch of posters of her posted all around. We played darts, chatted, and generally had a good time. It was nice to meet some Japanese friends, since I do spend a lot of my time around Americans, something I hope to change soon.

Yesterday, I went on a TUJ-led trip to Yokohama, the 2^nd largest city in Japan. It was only about a 35 minute train ride south of my dorm, so it was sort of like where White Plains is in relation to NYC. On the way down, we actually passed by fields of trees and other nature-y stuff like that, sights that we don’t see very often in Tokyo. When we got there, it was like we were in a totally different country. The air was so clean (compared to here, though I didn’t really realize the quality, or lack thereof, of the air in Tokyo until I went to Yokohama) and there was so much more space. All in all, Yokohama really reminded me of a combination between the pier area in Baltimore and someplace like Boston.

So we got to Yokohama and went to the top of the Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. It’s fairly small (69 floors) in comparison to the Sears Tower and what not, but the views were spectacular. What was also cool was the elevator that took us up 69 floors in a little under 40 seconds. It was good fun. After buying a 200 yen packet of mixed nuts (hey, I was hungry), we went back down and headed over to the pier for our taxi ride to Yamashita Park and Chinatown. The boat looked like some sort of compressed fish, but it was fun being on the water and seeing the quite picturesque skyline of Yokohama from a distance.

We arrived at Yamashita Park soon thereafter, which is supposedly really fun in March and April when it gets warmers, because a lot of street performers and jugglers come out and bands play and people just hang out. Yokohama is most famous for its Chinatown, however, and rightfully so. A friend of mine asked me how it compared to New York’s version, and all I could say was “It’s about 100x cleaner and a lot more spaced out”. I definitely didn’t feel that eerily unsafe feeling that I get sometimes walking around Mott St. in NYC. There were street vendors everywhere selling various touristy trinkets, like those cats with the waving arms and weird turtle things. It was a really neat place, because next to all the shops and stuff were a bunch of temples and shrines. The other really big difference I noticed was that there wasn't much "Chinese" around. Most of the signs were in Japanese. Whereas in New York, the second you walk into Chinatown, everyone is seemingly Chinese, here it was more like being in an Epcot Center version of Chinatown. Nonetheless, we ate at a fabulous Chinese restaurant, perhaps the best I’ve had in years, and then walked around for a while and watched a friend of mine eat a scorpion (“It tastes like exoskeleton”, he said afterward.)

Next we went to Motomachi, a shopping area, got a snack and just walked around for a bit. After that, the bigger group disbanded and a group of 11 of us went over to Cosmo World, Yokohama’s amusement park, to ride the Ferris Wheel (the "Cosmo Clock" or "Co-su-mo ku-ra-ku" in Japanese). The Ferris Wheel in Yokohama is the second largest in the world, right behind the London Eye (in London, duh). I think it’s about 430 feet high or so. At night, it’s brilliantly lit up and quite spectacular (see the picture below for a glimpse). After a 30-minute wait, we finally got on and got to see all of Yokohama at night. You haven’t really seen Japan until you see it at night from 25 stories high in a Ferris Wheel.

Afterwards, we went to dinner in this enormous mall and then headed home, exhausted. It was definitely a great trip and really gave me one of those “I’m in Japan” moments that I mentioned in my last entry. If given a choice, I’d probably live in Yokohama over Tokyo, just because of the atmosphere. It’s a very laid back place and has everything you need right there. Plus, its really nice to be right on the water.

Next weekend, we head off for an overnight stay in Hakone, the hot springs capital of Japan. Hopefully I will be able to get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji, since it has been a bit too hazy to see it whenever I’ve been anywhere where it is visible. I'm also going to DEFINITELY mess up the hot springs "rules" and "rituals", like washing yourself before, etc. etc. etc., so I'm sure I'll have some great stories to share.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention (lucky you I remembered!) that I used a Japanese-style toilet for the first time yesterday, which is basically like a submerged urinal in the ground. Basically, you just squat and pray. It was quite uncomfortable and left me wondering why that aspect of Japan isn’t as technically advanced as other parts. I mean COME ON, I rode a escalator yesterday in Yokohama that curved around a corner. Use some of that technology and convert all the old-style toilets please! Western-style toilets are numerous, and actually most of them have heated seats, perfume spray, etc. It was quite a shock to use the old style, though I guess I had to do it eventually!

Jaa mata ne!