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.
T
his 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.
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