or, Seijin no hi (pronounced: Say-gene-no-he). This weekend was a 3-day hiatus due to the 20 year olds in Japanese society. A national holiday for all those leaving the teen years behind and heading into "adulthood".
For us, it was an excuse to finally visit the pedestrian-friendly port city of Yokohama. Honestly, we have been talking about this day-trip since November. Luckily the weather was great this past weekend, albeit cold in the shade or when the sun went down, but just fine for our stroll linking the many, various neighborhoods that make up the Yokohama waterfront.
Technically, we live within Yokohama city boundaries but practically speaking, the boroughs of Tokyo are easier for us to access and thus explaining our failure to actually visit Yokohama proper until almost a year after moving here. Anyway...
We decided to begin our day excursion from the northern most train station and walk south to get an idea of the layout. Truth be told, Ericka and I visited this area about 12 years ago when we caught a Cirque Du Soleil show in a puffed-up tent by the water but neither of us have a memory capable of remembering the details clearly or a proper layout of the city, so for us, it was part deja vu and part new adventure all rolled into one.
Our first stop was the Anpanman Museum. If you've never heard of him (pronouned: Ahn-pahn-man) all you need to know is that he's an animated character resembling a type of sweet, red bean filled pastry that has been a staple (no pun intended) for Japanese youth and bellies for about the past 40 years. He was actually dreamed up by a man during WWII who quite frequently faced starvation and frequently dreamed of this popular, sugary, bean-filled treat. Here's a link if you are interested.
Anyway, at the Anpanman Museum Ericka and Miki took in the glorious 3-floors worth of exhibits while a sleeping Sam and I took a 45 minute "walk around the block" to chart our next destination. I found a small cafe with outdoor seating in the sun, grabbed a cup of hot tea and glanced over a map and guidebook to Yokohama.
After meeting up with Miki & Ericka 45 minutes later we leisurely made our way along a very wide, pedestrian-only boulevard to Landmark Tower, perhaps the Yokohama, well... landmark. There we caught a funky water fountain, E drank a lavender Earl Grey tea and Miki watched some daredevil on a 20 ft. unicycle juggle fire & knives. Right, just 'nother day in Yokohama...
We eventually made it to World Porters, a massive shopping/amusement district accessible only by a long ocean-spanning causeway to a man-made island out in the middle of the harbour. This area is famous for 3 reasons: the international shopping options & boutiques; the amusement park & ferris wheel; and the red-bricked warehouses on the periphery called, Akarenga (pronounced: Ahka-ren-ga). Links below. The first one in Japanese.
We put all 3 to good use, although for slightly different reasons. At the "international shopping" venue I bought 2 lovely Belgian beers in bottles, we made a quick dash to the 400 foot-high ferris wheel, sipped those beers in the scant 25 min. it takes to make a complete revolution and then waltzed over to the red brick warehouses to catch the glow of a sinking sun. Miki promptly fell asleep after the ferris wheel (not because of anything the Belgians could be accused of) and Sam toddled around on the grass.
(side note: About 13 years ago, our dear Swiss friend, Flurina, arranged for a ladies-night-out on behalf of Ericka's 25th birthday (or thereabouts!) and the "highlight" was an evening trip on this very same Ferris Wheel. At the time, they enjoyed a few quick glasses of Champagne and strawberries before descending to a sobering Earth and who knows what else... I was out of town...)
As the sun made its final dip to the west and the chill really set in, we shuffled our way back to the train station and began the 1 hour commute home.
All told, it was a great day for everyone and we've told ourselves that we shall return soon to continue our exploration of Yokohama Port.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Oh, I should explain the Miki-in-the-backpack thing. A few weeks ago I purchased a weather-proof backpack suitable for commuting and large enough, obviously, for small children! It's been great for hauling home large amounts of groceries and for carrying Miki when she's too tired to keep up.
1 comment:
yep, obviously I remember that night out. and, the rest will be ericka's & my secret, ne? ;-) anyway, genki??!
Post a Comment