10 November 2017
Clinically clean
The modern architecture of Yokohama
Whilst my health is much much better than yesterday, my original plan for today was a 30km round trip up a mountain in a remote location.
I decided I am not quite up to it, yet. Come hell or high typhoon, I will do that tomorrow. That will be Saturday though, so I expect it to be quite busy. Less chance of getting lost or eaten by a bear, harder to find spots for public urination.
So, instead of heading out of Yokohama, I stayed right in it, and walked its length and back, about 30,000 steps on my rest day.
Along the way I saw lots of big modern buildings, wide open avenues with trees, business people, middle aged white men in suits, their wives lounging in fancy bakeries, that sort of thing.
I also noticed when I left this morning that the hotel has plastered apology bow signs in the lift and reception about the false fire alarm yesterday, which was apparently due to an 'unfortunate issue'.
In news events, I can report that Trump visiting China and spending more time with Xi Jinping than he did in Japan wth Shinzo Abe has got everyone here riled up.
Apparently he said a lot of nice things about China, Japan really wanted him to declare war on them and not even go there. The news stations here are literally playing any speech he made in China line by line, pausing it, then having a pannel of 'experts' offer their opinions on what he might have meant.
The assumption that he means anything he says or actually knows what any of his script means is probably where everyone is going wrong.
Yokohama is very yellow. Leaves are plentiful, at least 10 leaves fell on my head today just as I was walking around. This keeps an army of people employed sweeping all day. Some even shake trees to make more leaves fall down quicker.
I also saw quite a lot of people being supervised collecting rubbish with tongs, community service perhaps.
Down near the port is a big rose garden. Very un-Japanese.
The port tower is still functioning. Crap photo.
This cruise ship was also a hospital ship in WW2, and is now a museum. I thought I might go on it, but no admission before 11AM, so you wont be getting my $3.
The very modern skyline of Yokohama. Looks a lot like an Australian city. The weather today was still amazingly good, and I wished I was wearing shorts. Its supposed to be warmer tomorrow also.
This is the overseas passenger terminal for cruise ships. Its quite an amazing place. Seems to be made of wood and grass and is enormous, really gave a great view inside the ships berthed either side.
This bridge goes all the way across the bay back to the south east of Tokyo, at some point I believe it turns into a tunnel before becoming a bridge again. If only they let you walk over/under the bay using it, I would do that for sure!
Its so long they have 2 sets of 'roadside services' in case you run out of fuel or urgently need ramen whilst crossing.
UPDATE: I checked google maps, this connects up to that bridge / tunnel, nearer to Kawasaki.
This is how you do a model ship, make it big enough to actually sail in the ocean.
The red house is now a shopping mall, also opens late, so I kept going. Thousands of school kids hanging about pointing at me and hurling insults.
Kind of feels like a cold square in the Soviet Union.
Obviously I am too early for the ferris wheel, but thats ok, I have been on it before.
There is actually more than one amusement park, if thats your thing.
This long avenue of colorful trees leads to the Nissan car company global HQ. I had read you could go in and see every old car they ever made on display. I could not find that, just a modern showroom not worthy of a photo, and a starbucks, and a gran turismo simulator with a busted controller that had the horn button jammed on.
Another example of the clinically cold architecture of modern Yokohama.
Its only once you get to the Yokohama central station area that it looks more like the rest of Japan. Quite a small area and still filled with very large department stores and underground malls.
This old part of town is a long way from where the Chinatown section and the main people hanging about areas of town are these days.
Guns are a real issue in Japan. Mass shootings are occurring almost daily. Actually I dont know that theres been any gun murders this year.
On my way back to the hotel, I went past the big baseball stadium, and they were in there training. I could see in and take a photo. What appeared to be a junior player was standing guard at the gate, I asked if I could take a photo and he seemed too shy to answer.
Next to the stadium is this little garden. I have actually been here before. I also saw someone on the internet who went and took photos of a snake in a tree in here!
And then at the Lawson, I found 0 calorie Calpis! How a fermented yoghurt drink can have zero calories is no doubt patented Japanese secret technology. It tastes exactly like the calorie laden original to me though.