Seen on our way to the station: a Shiba dog, Japan's ubiquitous breed. In spite of their diminutive size and inherent cuteness, they apparently see regular use as police dogs among other things.
Yuya had volunteered (or been volunteered?) to show me around until he had to take off for his part-time job around 3.30pm. Unfortunately, his guidance around Minato Mirai ("Port Future", a set of artificial islands built to represent all that is most modern about the city) appeared to largely consist of the most famous shops - and after yesterday, and compounded by bonus lack of sleep, I quickly grew very frustrated at the boring nature of this and inwardly cursed the homestay system and everything that prevented me from exploring alone. However, after withstanding a shopping mall modelled (badly) after America, I spent some time intensely concentrating on becoming present (for those not familiar with the term, think on-the-spot meditation), and gradually managed to regain some inner clarity.
To be fair to Yuya, the Queen's Square shopping centre did have a very fetching ceiling.
Landmark Tower, notable for its height (second in the world, I'm told), straightforward name and vast number of brand name shops within. Also the Sky Garden, but we'll get to that later.
A piece of unusually elegant modern art in between Queen's Square shopping centre and Minato Mirai station. Is meant to represent a rollercoaster, as I understand it.
The World Clock, biggest ferris wheel on Earth at the time of its construction. Still the biggest clock, technically. Part of the once-cutting edge but now bedraggedly retro Cosmo theme park.
Having restored myself somewhat, I managed to negotiate a move to Yamashita Park, close to various notable locations which we finally managed to explore. These are perhaps best narrated via the photos I took, since Yuya and I did little worthy of note in the process.
Yamashita Park, quiet and bordering the bay. Note the Marine Tower in the background; it'll be back.
A more distant view of Minato Mirai.
I also saw and photographed two more of Yokohama's landmarks, Nikawamaru and Nipponmaru, 1930s passenger ship and training ship respectively, but frankly wasn't that impressed. Ultimately, they were just ships, and looked it to me, so I will omit them from this account.
This picture deserves a little more elaboration. The platformy thing in the foreground is the Zou no Hana or Elephant's Trunk, a breakwater surrounded by a small, newly created park of the same name. On the right are the Akarenga Souko, or "Red-brick Warehouses" (got to love Yokohama's naming sense), very old and presently retrofitted on the inside into a selection of highly trendy shops. And on the left...the white buildings are dedicated to Yokohama harbour's 150th Anniversary, in honour of which one building (they're tents, really) is host to goods and foods for sale from representatives of different countries, while the other contains infinite souvenirs proudly presented by the Anniversary's own mascot, Tanemaru the...seed-type thing. Yes. Yuya and I ate at the former, he having British "fish and chips" and I Russian "pirozhki". Both were notable for decent taste and tiny portion size. Not actually having had meat pirozhki for a very long time indeed (I dislike savoury pirozhki, but love the apple-filled ones to bits), I can't comment on authenticity.
On our way back, we walked past the entrance to Landmark Tower's observatory - Japan's highest - but Yuya advised me not to enter due to the steep entry fee (about 6 pounds). I let him discourage me, as my intuition was screaming "come back here after dark, ye foolish mortal!" The voice of my intuition has a little bit of a flair for the dramatic, entirely unlike myself.Before we leave Yuya to his part-time job, I'd like to comment on a couple of points of linguistic interest today. First, my triumph with "kenchikuteki", or "architecturally speaking", which I pieced together from: a) a very vague fragment of memory and b) the knowledge that "ken" is a reading of the kanji for "building" and "chiku" of the kanji for "construction" ("teki" is an adjectival suffix). I practically made the word up from first principles, and was delighted when Yuya recognised it without query. Second, the observation that you can do practically anything with the conjunction "to iu" (lit. "so to speak"). Don't know how to grammatically fit a word you know to something you want to describe? So far "to iu" has worked without fail. It generates sentences along the lines of "he is what you might call an X person", which are grammatically unimpeachable if semantically vague.
Engrish break begins now! Welcome to "Blender of Tinkerbell", a children's clothes store.
This one's for certain female Death Note fans.
I respect their honesty, if nothing else.
Then again, if it's a choice between slow service and a restaurant that describes its quality with quote marks...
At any rate, I jumped at the chance to explore Yokohama on my own. Once Yuya left, I decided to make my way all the way across my map's Yokohama to the Motomachi area, an old part of the city containing such sites of interest as the Foreigners' Cemetery. I could have taken the train one stop...but instead I decided to walk through the city and stop off at any points of interest I found, as well as getting a feel for the less touristy areas. On the way, I discovered a glorious second-hand media store ("Books-Off" - Secretary J, you are awesome and I would offer to marry you if there weren't good reasons not to), but sadly had to admit that, apart from a couple of DVDs, I couldn't really justify buying anything else - the Naruto manga already pushed my luggage weight uncomfortably far. Unfortunately, just as my sense of direction remains almost eerily accurate, my map remains hopelessly unreliable. In part due to this, I walked way too far and got hopelessly lost. Don't get me wrong, I still knew which way to walk to get to the harbour in the north-east, for example - I just had no idea of how far away it was.
From along my route: Hebiya, a store dedicated exclusively to the sale of stuffed snakes. Have I yet professed my love for Japan in all its unpredictability?
At any rate, I was very eventually rescued by the hand of fate, namely 35-year old Shinobu, male nurse and semi-biker (he has the clothes, but a retro bicycle rather than a motorbike), who rode up to me and asked where I was headed, then proceeded to escort me all the way to Motomachi while chatting about weather, countries and other miscellanea. He told me he was married, with one son whom he named Kiara - not because it means anything or is a normal Japanese name, but because it's easy to pronounce in English and his son will not suffer from Shinobu's own fate of being periodically called "shinobi" (another word for "ninja").
After I gratefully bid Shinobu goodbye, I discovered a missed call on my mobile. Returning the call, I learned that I hadn't been accepted for the modelling event after all. Ah, well. Easy come, easy go. On the plus side, having watched an episode of Naruto Shippuuden with me, Michiko told me that in that strange orange outfit I looked exactly like the eponymous protagonist. Make of that what you will.
Motomachi's shopping area was not of great interest, though I did wander into my first 100 Yen shop. It was an enlightening experience. Everything in the shop was 100 Yen (about 70p) and included quality stationery, a variety of foods and household goods, and even blank CD and DVD packs. Any student I know would kill for that sort of bargain. (NB: I hereby disclaim any responsibility for any murders by people seeking cheap tickets to Japan after reading this post)
I then headed to the Foreigners' Cemetery, said to have fascinating headstone inscriptions, as well as being the major historical site where over 40000 men and women from every nation have been buried over the last 150 years. Incidentally, the area still appears to be a foreigner hotspot, based on the number of schoolgirl groups (both Oriental-looking and not) who walked past me gossiping in perfect English. As I walked up the curving and seemingly endless path up the hill, I could see glimpses of the cemetery through the fence, seemingly filled with peace and dignity. I couldn't wait to walk through it for myself and see what messages my predecessors in Japan had left behind with their loved ones.
Unfortunately, when I finally got inside, every available path in was roped off or barred with a "no entry" sign, though there was no-one there to enforce any of this (or ask about it). Now, as my friends all know, breaking into cemeteries is one of my favourite hobbies, second only to anime, but on this occasion I decided not to indulge myself, influenced perhaps by the watchful eyes of the three small cats who were the sole inhabitants of the Superintendent's Office. Still, it's a pity, and I wish I knew what was up, since everything about that cemetery's entrance, as well as my guidebook, suggests that it should be open to visitors - well, everything except the fact that it's thoroughly closed.
Instead, I headed further up the hill for the last of my destinations - Minatonomieruokakouen, or Harbour View Park. On the way, I accidentally discovered the local cat gathering site, on an elevation behind a bus stop, and spent a happy few minutes photographing the cats. Two of them even allowed themselves to be stroked. Did I mention how Japan has a particularly high concentration of cats? There was even one out in the middle of Harbour View Park, staring at me sceptically.
There will be a special mystery prize for whoever can spot all five of the cats hidden in this photo.
The view from Harbour View Park. Sleepy, old-fashioned Motomachi gradually shades into the sparkling industrialisation of Yokohama Harbour.
The Marine Tower returns! This shot took an eternity of lining up and fiddling with camera settings, but I feel was worth it.
Finally, being a foolish mortal, it was time to keep my promise. Happily, Motomachi-Chukogai, where I ended up, is the terminus station, and Minato Mirai with its Landmark Tower was directly on my way back. For 1000 Yen, I got onto Japan's fastest elevator (and perhaps the only one in the world with a speedometer; weird things started happening to people's ears as we ascended) and was taken up to the Sky Garden.
The Sky Garden was incredible. The inside was reasonably unexceptional, though they really knew their target clientelle - including a couples discount and a cafe with two-seat sofas arranged to face out to the windows, and generally vast amounts of couple-type photo booths etc. I rather wish they'd turned off the lights, but this is only because those interfered with my photography a little. Beyond that, the Sky Garden is unworthy of comment - at least next to what one could see from it.
Yokohama Harbour at night. If the person you brought to the Sky Garden wasn't in love with you to begin with, then after being immersed in this atmosphere...
Looking further to the left, the view is no less spectacular. One day, no matter what it takes, I will bring my girlfriend here.
Still, no photo can adequately express the sense of wonder at seeing an endless sea of light stretching into the distance. For those of you who will one day visit Japan, the Sky Garden will be waiting.
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