So, I pretty much on a whim decided to go visit Yokohama today (Actually the plan was two days, but I changed my mind).
All I can say is, wow! Yokohama was a really really neat city. For those of you that don't know, Yokohama is about 20 minutes by JR train out of Tokyo.
So I left home around 8:00AM this morning to catch the Ueda Dentetsu Train from 大学前駅 to 上田駅. From there I took the Shinkansen to Tokyo, where I transferred to a JR train on the Tokaido line to get to Yokohama station. When all of this was said and done, I arrived at 11:00AM in Yokohama. It wasn't too complicated, and I didn't get lost! It was pretty easy to find your way around.
From there, I explored a bit near the station (but not too far). Around 12:00PM, I took the Minato Mirai train to Minato Mirai station (I love the trains in Japan. They are a really nice way to travel, and their whole system is so efficient).
When I got off the train and took the escalator up to Queen's Square, I was treated to a rather nice surprise. It seems I had gone on a Jazz festival day! Inside the Queen's Square Building (one of the festival venues in the city) was a jazz band of a grade9~10 highschool band (from what i gather using my poor Japanese skills). For that young, they were AMAZING. I literally spent 40 minutes listening to them (got a few photos too). After they were done, another group (of University students this time) came up and started playing, but I had decided to go explore Minato Mirai district by that time.
After leaving Queen's Square, I walked north to Rinkoo Park which was right on Yokohama bay. It was a small park, but it was very pretty, and there was a fruit tree sculpture that was a mash of fruits (got some pictures of that too)!
From Rinkoo Park, I went back to Queen's Square and took the Minato Mirai line further down to Nihon Odori. From there, I walked north-east to Yamashita Park. Another seaside park, but much larger. And to my surprise (again with the surprises!) a world food fair was going on! There were different foods (and merchandise) from many countries in the world, including Canada (but too bad the Canadian merchant couldn't even speak English. lol go figure). After having to make the hard decision, I decided to go with some Egyptian Chicken Kabob, and it was good... Really good! In fact, I want some now (too bad I'm back in 上田 :P).
From here, I decided to take the "Kaiko no Michi" path from the west end of Yamashita Park towards Yokohama Landmark tower (might as well save on travel costs and get in on the scenery). On my way over, I noticed the Osanbashi Pier from the path. It didn't look like any pier I've been to, so I decided to investigate. It was definitely worth the extra walk. The Pier had two levels, one for incoming international passengers (don't know where they come from by boat, though) and the top level. The top level was quite different, they had grass on the sides of the pier, and a small cafe. (Too bad a coke costed 350円 , somewhere around $3.50 canadian). After watching the boats off the pier for a while, I decided to resume my walk towards Landmark tower. Along the way, right in front of World Porters in the Shinko District, was another Jazz venue. This time it was a lot more improv/random noises type jazz. This lasted about 45 minutes (time well spent!) and it was pretty neat (pictures from this too!). I liked it when the lead singer shouted 「みなとみらいおげんきですか？」(similar to the way bands yell "HELLLOOOOOOOOO TORONTOOOOO") but no one in the audience responded. She said something in Japanese (I can only assume a "comeon people, show some enthusiasm") then yelled it again with not much of a response. Then Mr. trumpet responded with a hilarious fanfare (you know, that one when people make lame jokes), and she proceeded to give him funny looks :P. During one of the final songs, she was leading the trumpet player by singing and having the trumpet respond, and she sang a really really high part and the trumpeter just stopped and gave her a weird look, if only I had my camera out then! haha.
So after the lovely Jazz in the park, I finished my walk and went into landmark plaza (adjacent to the tower) and checked out the shops inside. very nice, very clean. I was really impressed with the inside... but that was just to kill time until the sun set so I can go up to the 69th floor of the Landmark Tower. The Landmark Tower is Japan's tallest skyscraper at 296m and has the fastest upward travelling elevator in Japan at 750m/min! Sky garden ftw! It was STUNNING. You could see for really far, and the whole town just looked lovely at night (I kind of wish I went in the morning too. I wanted to take a picture of Fuji山). I took many many pictures with different shutter settings and effects on my camera, I'll post as many as I can but there are just too many! :P
And thus concludes my day in Yokohama. After the lovely sights in the sky garden, I took the Minato Mirai back to Yokohama駅 and took the JR train back to Tokyo, transferred onto the Shinkansen, took the Ueda Dentetsu and arrived back here!
Definitely a super fun day.
(When I get the chance, I will post the map of Yokohama and point out where everything I visited was. and I'll upload the pictures soon enough! :P)
Edit:
Pictures!Edit2: I added a little to the SkyGarden information! It was lacking! :P
