In Japan, many companies (not all) give their employees a week off to visit family and family graves for the Obon tradition. During this week, I was given time off as well, and I was taken to Yokohama's Chinatown and the Minato Mirai district.
The trip south was quick and wasn't a hassle, only taking perhaps forty-five minutes or so. Going to Yokohama took only two transfers from Kawasaki's Anata no Warehouse, and our first destination was the Chinatown. Before this trip, Osaka was the only other place in Japan that I ever visited, so the Chinatown was the furthest south I've been to on the eastern side of Japan.
The Chinatown was massive compared to any other Chinatown I've been to, and much cleaner. There was still litter to be spotted in the area, but it was definitely spotless compared to the griminess of the Vancouver Chinatown. The area also seemed a lot easier to traverse than Seattle's Chinatown, as there was a distinct lack of hills. Here, pedestrians blocking the way would be the only issue with driving as the streets were also comparatively wider than most of what I've seen in Japan. In terms of size, Yokohama's Chinatown would probably be just slightly smaller than the combination of the Seattle and Vancouver Chinatowns.
I also felt much safer out there. Granted, we were there during daylight, and I never actually felt threatened in Seattle's Chinatown, but I didn't feel the need to look over my shoulder every now and then like I usually do in unfamiliar places. Vancouver's Chinatown always made me uncomfortable whenever I even drove through the area at night, and a handful of Japanese people that I've met in Tokyo have been shocked by what they've seen there.
As I was on a bit of a budget, I didn't buy much. We looked around a few shops and took in views of some temples, but the only purchase I made was a bracelet for myself in this area. I noted that there seemed to be a lot of trinket shops out in this Chinatown. Perhaps I just don't remember the trinket shops in the other Chinatowns, but there was a significant number of full-blown storefronts in Yokohama's Chinatown. We spent a lot of time walking around and looking at things as the Chinese temples here are more accessible. I don't remember seeing many in either Seattle or Vancouver.
After walking around and soaking it all in, we started to walk towards Minato Mirai. We took a route through Yamashita Park, enjoying whatever we could get of the seaside breeze on the muggy day. Yamashita Park had a great view of the sea, and the area around it really reminded me of Vancouver. The architecture of the buildings here were very western, and I felt like I was in a hotter version of the Seawalk. We stopped by a man-made peninsula and took a break from walking. The peninsula was actually the Osanbashi Yokohama International Passenger Terminal, and it seems to be designed like the deck of a cruise ship with grass on the top. This area was elevated and had a good breeze going for it, which made the seaside view much more enjoyable. We sat down near the tip of the peninsula and enjoyed the environment. It seemed like other foreigner-native Japanese couples had the same ideas. I was told that this particular spot was a popular date destination at night.
We continued on towards Minato Mirai, leaving the Yamashita Park area and moving into the Red Brick Warehouse area. There was an event going on in the space between the two brick buildings during our visit. The event was like a beach party of some sorts, with stalls lining an area of sand selling Caribbean-inspired food and drink. A wooden walkway snaked its way all around the beach-like area. We didn't stay there for very long, as we weren't interested in the surrounding food and drink and it was really hot, so we went inside one of the brick buildings.
The inside of the building was really one long hallway lined with shop areas and counters. These places did not feel very much like storefronts, as they didn't seem to have any borders between them. I couldn't tell where one area ended and where another began. We were starting to get a bit peckish, so we moved through and looked around for food. Finding nothing that we were interested in feeding on, we moved on to the actual Minato Mirai area.
By now it had gotten dark. We entered a mall of sorts called World Porters. The building seemed quite high end and we looked around for a little bit after taking a break with some frozen yogurt to stave off some of the hunger. Much of the merchandise here seemed to be out of my budget, so I wasn't particularly interested in them. We left the building and out into the street, where we could see Cosmo World, the area's theme park. Skirting around the theme park, we headed for Queen's Square.
The buildings here had merchandise that was a bit more interesting to me, but I decided to save my money. We went into these buildings to try to find a restaurant, coming across a directory detailing some fancy looking-restaurants. My immaturity chuckled at one of the restaurants, as one of them was described as "cock food." My girlfriend was unimpressed with my reaction and we continued on to the underground floors of one of the buildings here, where we settled on a Soup Stock, a soup restaurant chain. I had never tried it before this point so I was agreeable to the idea.
After the meal, we went out and came across a street performer at the bottom of a set of stairs leading to a crosswalk. The it was an open area, and he looked like he had been performing for some time before we arrived, having had some equipment set up. We didn't watch him for very long, because whatever his trick was, he tried too hard to manipulate his audience to stay to a very specific area in front of him. One of the older audience members even seemed to yell at him to get on with it before leaving. We followed suit shortly after and went to a vantage point where we could see the colours of the ferris wheel at Cosmo World change in various patterns. Cosmo World was interesting enough just watching the lights and patrons enjoy themselves, and we stayed there gazing at the theme park for a good chunk of time. By this point, the both of us were tired from walking all day, so we decided to head home.
That about sums up my trip to Yokohama. Honestly, if it was a bit closer, I'd be going to the Chinatown more often. I made the Minato Mirai sound like it was high-end and boring, but honestly if I had a bit more coin, it would be a great shopping area. Cosmo World seemed to be worth visiting as well, but considering I was just around to go sightseeing for the day, it seemed like it wasn't really worth spending a few thousand yen just for a couple of hours.
As always, thanks for reading!