Adventures in Japan

Day Twenty Three: Yokohama

Yokohama is the second biggest city in Japan. It is famous for... being the second biggest city in Japan.


There ain't much to do in Yokohama. But we went there anyways.

Our first stop was Chinatown. The Chinatown in Yokohama is the biggest Chinatown in all of Japan. Still not big enough to have a decent Chinese bakery. Carla hasn't had a tuna bun in over three years.


Chinatown doesn't seem all that big. There's a big gaudy gate that you pass under and a wide street to walk down. Then something down an alleyway catches your eye and you wander down it. The alley meets up with another main street. That street meets another. Yokohama's Chinatown is deceptively big. But lacking in big gyoza, so I have to give the edge to Kobe's Chinatown. It's cleaner, more compact, cheaper and more delicious.

The only other thing to do in Yokohama is shop.

No. That is not true. That is a damned dirty lie.

The only other thing we did in Yokohama was shop.

It went about as well as our last shopping trip, which is to say not at all.

But it weren't all bad. The shops that we shopped in were pretty cool. The buildings that housed the shops were pretty cool too. There were some old red brick buildings that used to be factories but have been converted into boutiques and cafes and such. Those were real nice. Except for the Lush.


When are Lushes going to be banned? They're stinkier than McDonalds. I doubt you could escape the smell even at the top of a Ferris wheel.


You know what else is stinky? Charging ten bucks to ride up to the top of your tall building. I'll pay five bucks, fine, but ten bucks is just stupid. Especially since most cities that have buildings tall enough to charge to get to the top of are also so smoggy that the view is hardly ever all that great.


The tall building in Yokohama wasn't super duper tall either. But I believe it does have the world's fastest elevator. It was the world's fastest elevator at some time in recent history at least. Where, I wonder in print, has the world's fastest escalator?

In conclusion: Yokohama is like a big, less charming Kobe.