Day 21: Yokohama

I told myself that I'd spend a bit more time getting out of Tokyo (or at lesst very central Tokyo) in my remaining time here, so I deccided that I would go to Yokohama today. In truth, I had actually decided to go to Yokohama Sea Paradise which is like an amusement park and aquarium combo but it turned out that it was another hour south of Yokohama. By the time I wrapped up doing what I wanted to in the main city, I decided I was just too tuckered out to add another 1.5 hours to today's commute plus the actual time at the aquarium.

TL;DR No penguin or dolphin photos today

After my hour-long journey into Yokohama, I had sort of expected it to be kind of boring but I ended up being pleasantly surprised! I spent most of my time in the Minato Mirai area.

My first stop was Rinko Park. The park seemed lively and there were people jogging, lounging around, and hanging out in tents. Actually it was kind of funny because I was like very surprised at first at all the tents, since I was thinking it might be a bunch of homeless people like you often see in Seattle, but then it ended up being a bunch of families lol (Also FWIW, there are homeless people in Japan. I've personally seen them tucked away in secluded areas near Skytree and in Shinjuku anecdottally)

Somehow the only decent photo I took

There was also a festival going on in the park called the Yokohama GoGo Dog Fest 2024 (Autumn). Although it might alienate my audience, I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of dogs. I can understand why people with puppers would enjoy the festivities though. There were a lot of stalls around and seemingly a lot of families having fun.

Next, I decided to visit an observation deck. I know I always say I don't really like them, but I go to so many I'm starting to wonder if I actually do like them?

Looking towards Tokyo, it's actually kind of crazy that the buildings are basically uninterrupted all the way between them.

You could even make out Skytree, which is 32.7 kilometers (19.7 miles) away! To be fair though, my digital zoom and imperfect eyes weren't giving me the most detail.

I actually didn't know until looking it up later, but the Sky Garden observatory that I was in was actually in Japan's 3rd tallest building (5th tallest structure), the Yokohama Landmark Tower. That means I actually only need to visit one more building before I've visited all of the top 5 buildings in Japan lol. It also explains why the views were so good and unobstructed. None of the other buildings in Yokohoma were obstructing the view at all, which was super nice.

Looking towards Mt. Fuji, I was able to make it out but it was a bit hazy.

Looking a little closer, we can see its shape a bit more clearly. I actually think Mount Ranier is much more imposing in Seattle than Fuji is in Tokyo (or Yokohama). I think part of it is that Ranier is actually 2,000 feet taller, and part is that Ranier isn't obscurred by a mountain range between it and the city. I do think that Fuji is more aesthically pleasing though. Let's just scale it up a bit!

IDK why but I scoured the map and my photos and determied that the tower in the foreground is a random NTT communications tower

After spending some time at the observatory, I made my way towards the Yokohama Museum of Art. But I ended up seeing another interesting museum on the way and stopping there first: The Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum. It was a pretty small museum, but it had some pretty cool stuff like submersible display, some rockets, and all kinds of other stuff. It's basically the propaganda arm for an industrial titan, but still cool.

Since most of the exhibits were short and many others were focused on children, I made quick work of the museum and headed towards my original destination. However, I ended up finding out that the Yokohama Museum of Art is actually largely closed until February of next year for rennovations. Luckily for me, a couple of the galleries were open (and free!), so I still got to see some MC Escher works up close!!

That was pretty cool since I had been pretty into his art when I was a lot younger.

The final few things in my iteniery also didn't work out too well either. I had intended to go to the Cup Noodle Museum, but by the time I arrived, they had already stopped selling tickets for the day. That was alright since I had also planned to walk to Yokohama Chinatown.

Along the way, I ended up seeing a few more weekend events going on: the [National Hometown Fair 2024] and the HotchPotch Market & Music Festival. The Hometown fair seemed to be mostly food and a lot of it looked pretty good but I had already eaten and some of the lines were really long. The music festival had some sort of jazz band playing when I walked by, which provided a nice atmosphere. I think this one was kind of like a flea market or something since there were various vendors selling all sorts of stuff there.

I also found out in my research for writing this that hotchpotch is like the British (original??) version of the phrase hodgepodge. Image originally from https://www.arcship.jp/hotchpotch/

I did eventually make it to Chinatown, albiet slower than I expected. Although the vibe was nice and it was very aesthetically pleasing, a few of the main alleys were way too crowded for my liking. I think if you really wanted any of the food the vendors were selling, it would be much easier to go a street or two over to buy it.

After exploring for a bit more, I boarded a train bound for Tokyo for my hour-long trip home.