So, today
turned out to be quite the surprise. I was expecting to simply return
home after school, as I’ve really been feeling like I need a day to just
rest without any activities, but Nicky had made plans to visit with her
friend Lisa whom she met in Canada over a year ago. The original plan
was that Lisa would come over from Yokohama to go to an onsen with
Nicky, but by the time I had gotten out of class, it happened to be that
Nicky had gone to Yokohama herself... being that Yokohama sounded far
more entertaining than an onsen and that I didn’t want to miss the one
chance we’d probably get to see Lisa and explore Yokohama with a guide, I
ignored the fact that I was tired and hoped on a train to meet them at
Yokohama station.
Cosmic Road was amazingly fun- Nicky
and I went on so many rides, and went through a kind of ridiculously
corny haunted house (for Japan’s obsession with ghosts and horror, I
would expect their haunted houses to be scarier...), all of which Lisa
insisted on paying for, which was pretty insane. Honestly, we really
tried to pay, since the park is set up with pay-per-ride instead of with
general admission, but she wasn’t having any of it. Eventually, I
relented and accepted her generosity~ the park was so much fun-
especially the Mouse, which pretty much was a ride that was on a track
narrower than the cart, and turned at such sharp angles and speeds that
you were certain you were going to go flying into the Yokohama skyline.
Also, the views of the city from the top of the rollercoasters were
beautiful, for as long as you could focus on them, hehe.
After we’d had our fill of the amusement park, we headed towards the bay to see the “old brick house” which is Yokohama’s Red Brick Warehouse.
The buildings used to be used as customs houses pre-WWII, and after the
U.S. returned permits to Yokohama, they were converted into a shopping
mall. I liked the area, as the breeze was really cool coming off the
bay, and when we were walking towards a nearby park, we saw an awesome
orange stingray and jumping fish. I also tried out my small camera’s
panorama function, which you can see above- a handy setting!
Though I can’t remember the name of
the park we visited nearby, it had an old Japanese vessel docked
permanently there. The Hikawa Maru is the last surviving ship of three
in a set of ocean liners named after important shinto shrines of Japan
that house the three treasures of Susanaoo. The ship was huge, and
apparently is now a permanent youth hostel, if anyone is interested in
staying in Yokohama while they’re in Japan. (EDIT: the hostel closed in
1973, unfortunately!)
After we explored the park a bit, we
walked to Yokohama’s Chinatown, which honestly, starkly contrasts
everything I’ve seen in Japan so far. In terms of color, Japan seems to
favor natural colors in its buildings and shrines, but the moment we set
foot into Chinatown, we were surrounded with every color of the
rainbow, particularly gold and red. The temples had an insane amount of
detail on them (pictures in the gallery). I’m sort of divided from being
impressed by the style, and being overwhelmed by how busy it was. In
any case, it was nice to see such a stark contrast between the two
cultures, at least in how it was presented there.
Lisa
bought us some steamed pork buns for dinner, and then we grabbed another
cab to go to her apartment to chill for a while. Nicky fell in love
with Lisa’s soft-bead pillow and “lily pad carpet” and I in general
enjoyed the air conditioning. However, since I have a test tomorrow, we
called it a night after thirty minutes or so and made our way back to
Tokyo. I’m looking forward to attending Lisa’s wedding on Halloween, and
having a bit of time to explore Yokohama again...