Yokohama, Japan

Sunday, April 14, 2019         Yokohama, Japan       2nd largest city in Japan

Yokohama has a population of 3.1 million. This city is noted for the beginnings of the Japanese Railway system with the first railway opening in 1872.  The Earthquake of 1923 destroyed much of the city. Unfortunately, half of the city was leveled again in 1949 due to the World War II bombings.

This morning we had the most unusual breakfast offer…probably an authentic Japanese breakfast. Chicken soup, beef curry, carrot smoothie, rice, slaw salad, yogurt, crescent rolls with jelly, coffee, tea. Larry quickly found an egg sandwich down the street several blocks at a local coffee shop. 

Extremely high end shopping was in the area.

While enjoying breakfast at the outside table café, several fast cars sped down the one lane road through Motomachi, an exclusive shopping area along a street of really nice shops.

 Larry inquired what was going on and was told that they were showing off their cars before a big race that day. The cars were impressive….mazarratties, porches, lamberginies. Wild to watch the high dollar cars pass by.  It was really exciting ….especially when the engines were gunned !

We walked back to the Global Cabin to get our luggage and meet a taxi to take us to the port, a quick ten minute drive.  We went through immigration and boarded the Holland America Westerdam in time for lunch. 

We enjoyed the afternoon unpacking and meeting up with our California friends, Julie and Mark. Together we enjoyed a great dinner and show. Larry and I went to sleep thinking about all the fun we were going have visiting the next eight ports of Japan and Russia.

Tokyo, Japan

Saturday, April 12, 2019            Tokyo, Japan     Largest city in Japan    (30 million people)

The ship docked at the Osanbshi International Passenger Terminal in Yokohama, Japan. On top of the terminal a 400 meter roof of rolling walkways and green grass provided a unique area for outdoor exploration. Originally built in 1894, the pier was modernly reconstruction in 2002.

Today we left the Celebrity Millennium behind with our luggage and headed to the Global Cabin, a unique over night experience in the heart of Chinatown. Modern and clean, it offers small module rooms with bunk beds, breakfast, and good internet….no frills and perfect for an overnight stop. 

We dropped off our bags and walked out of the facility enjoying the Buddhist Temple (Yokohama Kanteibyo) right across the street.

                     The streets in Chinatown were narrow with only an occasional car passing.

Yokohama is Japan’s second largest city with a population of 3 million. During Japan’s self isolation period (1603-1867), Yokohama was a small fishing village. Because it was one of the first to be opened to foreign trade in 1859, it grew to be one of Japan’s major cities. It has one of the world’s largest Chinatowns with over 600 shops and we can hardly believe we are right in the middle of it.
18 million people visit  Yokohama Chinatown every year.

We found our way to the Ishikawacho Train Station and purchased a roundtrip ticket into Tokyo, about a 45 minute ride. We passed community after community with apartments and buildings as far as you could see. The train stopped 14 times. 

When the train got to the historical (Kodemmacho) Tokyo Station(1912), we were amazed at the gorgeous doomed ceiling inside the station. It was a very busy station for Saturday morning. We walked out of the building to find two city bus tours. It was such a beautiful day we decided on the hop on hop off bus tour to get a quick layout of this mammoth city (30 million people live here).

                       Outside the Tokyo Train Station was an awesome piece of older architecture.

            We boarded at the Marunouchi Mitsubishi Building crossing the Nihobashi Bridge.

We passed the Tokyo Skytree, the world’s highest tower. Massive amounts of people swarmed about below the bus like bees a buzzing. It was such a beautiful day that just about everyone in Tokyo had to be out and about.

                                                 Japanese Cherry Trees were in full bloom.

                                          Opportunities were open for a rick-shaw ride.

We passed the Asakusa Tawaramachi….famous for making the food replicas that you see displayed outside all the Japanese Restaurants. We passed lots of shopping areas for discount clothing, electronics, and food stalls….

                                             with millions of people buzzing about again.

                       Evidence of daily life showed up on the balconies with clothes drying.

We disembarked the bus back at the sky rises and walked to the Imperial Palace (only open on Dec 23…the Emperor’s birthday and Jan 2 for the New Year). 

Official Guard protecting the entrance into the palace.

                           This is the home of the Emperor and Empress of Japan.

We took pictures of the scenic Nijyubash Bridge then walked a mile to the Imperial Gardens that was open to the public. 

                   

                       We saw a lovely manicured garden with lots of  spring time trees blossoming.

The street in front of the Imperial Garden had these lovely engraved stones in the sidewalk.

As the afternoon cooled down we walked back to the train station and rode it back to Yokohama arriving at dusk.  The Temple across the street from our hotel was  all lit up.

We walked the streets of China Town for a couple of hours enjoying the shops and bright light atmosphere. 

                              The food options were numerous with so many restaurants.

                                                      So many Peking ducks to choose from...oh my!

We had a lively chat with a couple from Tokyo who enjoyed practicing their English on us before we headed to our bed for the evening. We were ready for a good nights sleep after having such an exciting day.