Yokohama- Chinatown & Bay Area

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Today we ventured out to Yokohama, another large city about an hour away from Tokyo. We had heard that Yokohama had quite a large and famous Chinatown, and we really wanted to check that out as well....

Once we arrived in Chinatown, we immediately realized that although similar to NYC's Chinatown, there were two main differences: The first being that this Chinatown was MUCH cleaner than that of New York's, but alas, was much more EXPENSIVE as well (food, shopping, etc!) In fact, it took us awhile just to find a restaurant for lunch that wouldn't cost us over 5,000 yen/person (about $50/person!) After lunch, we did a little sightseeing, shopping, tried some "machine-squeezed packets" of frozen yogurt (very astronaut-like), and checked out a few Chinese temples and shrines in the area. As you can see, they were all beautiful! So many bright colors and intricate design....

After spending a few hours in Chinatown, we hopped back on the train to check out the main area of the Yokohama Bay area. Immediately after stepping out of the train station, we knew this area was rich with things to do. Right away we headed to CosmoWorld (an outdoor amusement park right on the water), and rode a roller coaster that actually took its riders through an underground hole! After CosmoWorld, we headed to La Vivre shopping complex, where we shopped, played a strange sort of mini-golf game on the roof of the building, and had dinner at a western-style restaurant called L.A.S.T. - which was oddly similar to T.G.I. Friday's! On the way home we tried to go up in the Landmark Tower, Japan's tallest building with the world's fastest elevators, but we were too late! The observation deck closed around 9pm, and we had just missed the deadline to buy our tickets!! Oh well, maybe next time...

We really enjoyed Yokohama and hope we can visit this city again before we head home in September!

Love,
Larry & Melanie

JAPANESE FOR THE DAY: "Kaimono ga suki des." - I like shopping.

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