In search of Mt. Fuji: Yokohama

Minato Mirai 21 in Yokohama

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. Originally we didn't have any travel plans for the Lunar New Year holiday that this year ran from February 9th to the 14th. Instead, regular readers may recall that I was going to take my daughter on a quick jaunt from Beijing 北京 to Tōkyō 東京 last November, during the time my wife was visiting her family in Taiwan. However, that plan was aborted the night before departure when I discovered that Shu-E had mistakenly taken my regular U.S. passport with her, and the two of us spent the weekend instead in the nearby city of Tianjin 天津 instead. We had a good time there, but it wasn't Japan. As a way of atonement, my wife suggested rescheduling the trip to the LNY holiday period. And following further negotiations, it was decided that all three of us would go, and that I would structure the itinerary to give the girls a chance to view Japan's iconic symbol, Mt. Fuji 富士山*. 

And so we found ourselves arriving at Tokyo's Haneda Airport 羽田空港 in the early afternoon of the Lunar New Year's Eve. We had our first lunch in country at an airport eatery:

Instead of doing the obvious and staying our first night in the capital, I booked a room for two nights at the Hotel New Grand ホテルニューグランド in Yokohama 横浜, Japan's second-largest city by population (and making up a vast conurbation with Tokyo and Kawasaki 川崎). As they say in the real estate business (which an uncomfortable number of friends and acquaintances from my teaching days in Japan are now engaged in), it's location³. The hotel is located across the street from Yamashita Park 山下公園 and its LNY decorations:

Also berthed directly across from the hotel is the NYK Hikawa Maru 日本郵船氷川丸, a 1930's-era ocean liner that now serves as a maritime museum. I visited her in those halcyon days before the dawn of history, otherwise known as the 1990's:

The reason for staying at the New Grand in particular was its close proximity to Yokohama's Chinatown 中華街. LNY Eve is the rough equivalent to Thanksgiving, a time when family members gather over a sumptuous feast - in other words, an occasion of great importance to my Taiwanese spouse. The Chōyōmon Gate 朝陽門 entrance was only 190 meters from the hotel, and we headed into the district soon after checking in:

My daughter tries her luck at kendama けん玉, a traditional ball-and-cup game. I was accused of cheating when I did much better than her, merely because I would spin the ball first before getting it to land successfully on the different cups:

As if you weren't already aware, we've entered the Year of the Dragon 辰:

Within the confines of Chinatown stands Kantei-byō 関帝廟, dedicated to Guan Yu. Though first established in 1871, the temple has had a rough time, being first destroyed during the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 関東大地震, then by U.S. bombers in 1945, and finally burning down yet again in 1986. The current structure dates from 1991:

Chinatown is home to a large number of Taiwan-related businesses, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering the history between the two countries. The first time I visited Chūkagai was on October 10, 1990-something. While the date is set aside as a national holiday in Japan called Sports Day スポーツの日, it is a different celebration of sorts in Taiwan known as Double Ten Day. On the day I stopped by almost 30 years ago, there was a lively parade on the streets of Chinatown, with many people waving ROC flags:

A common sight in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but not so in Japan:

Shu-E settled on a Taiwanese restaurant for dinner, where I had Pai Gu Fan 排骨飯, washed down with a bottle of Taiwan Beer 台灣啤酒, much to my weary resignation:

It was a multi-lingual whirlwind inside, with the family running the establishment speaking to each other (as well as with my wife) in the Taiwanese dialect, while conversing in Mandarin Chinese and Japanese with those respective patrons:

Dessert was of a 可愛い variety:

After dinner, Shu-E was feeling a bit tired (understandable as the three of us had been up since 0430 that morning in preparation for catching our flight), so she returned to the hotel room. I, however, coerced convinced my daughter to accompany me in visiting the venerable Yokohama Marine Tower 横浜マリンタワー, completed in 1961 and supposedly the tallest lighthouse in the world, at a height of 106 meters/348 feet:

The observatory, at 100 meters/328 feet, provides views of the surrounding area:

Returning to the hotel, where the gift shop has for purchase some very posh teddy bears:

The view from our room on the 10th floor at the Hotel New Grand:

The view on Saturday morning, the first day of the Lunar New Year. 新年快樂 (Happy New Year!) and 恭喜發財 (May you have a prosperous New Year!):

A Western-style breakfast at the hotel's Le Normandie restaurant:

The view from our room was somewhat marred by its close proximity to Sōka Gakkai's 創価学会 Kanagawa Culture Hall 神奈川文化会館. I'm leery of most religions as a matter of principle, but SGI and I in particular have had an uneasy relationship, going back to a Japanese girlfriend I dated for about 1½ years who was a devout follower. Her efforts to get me to convert gave me an insight into the organization the likes of Orlando Bloom and Tina Turner most likely never had, and my refusal to play along and join the cult played a large role in our inevitable breakup. And what is creepy about including these words in this post is that there's a very good chance someone from SGI might leave a comment defending the organization, because they monitor what is being said and written about it on social media, no matter how small or obscure the site. It happened on an earlier incarnation of this blog:

After breakfast we ventured back into Chinatown:

We returned to Kantei-byo to beseech the gods for protection in the new year:

Having made the proper remonstrations, it was finally time to do something, you know, Japanese seeing as we were in, you know, Japan. And that something was the Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Museum 新横浜ラーメン博物館, where nine ramen restaurants from around Japan compete for customers in a mock-up of a shitamachi 下町 neighborhood circa 1958:

For lunch we went with Ippūdō 博多一風堂, mainly because their shop had the shortest wait to get in:

Amber bought some candy cigarettes at the vintage sweets shop:

Yes, you're not mistaken. The wait time to be seated for that one restaurant (Rishiri Ramen Miraku 利尻らーめん味楽) is three hours!:

Momofuku Andō 安藤百福, the inventor of Instant Ramen. Was he Japanese or Taiwanese? Do we care? Apparently a lot of people in both countries do, enough to debate it (for the record, my wife considers him a traitor to the ROC!):

Going to the museum was my idea. For the rest of the day it was up to the girls to decide what to do. So Shu-E did some research on her phone and came up with the suggestion to visit the Iseyama Kōtaijingū Shintō shrine 伊勢山皇大神宮, located in the hilly area behind the Yokohama Landmark Tower 横浜ランドマークタワー:

From the shrine it was a short walk to the Minato Mirai 21 みなとみらい21 area. To reach where all the action was we rode the completely unnecessary (but comfortable, following a lot of walking around up to that point) Yokohama Air Cabin:

I visited the Landmark Tower and Minato Mirai 21 sometime in the mid-1990's, but the redevelopment project has grown considerably since then. The girls pose on the roof of the Yokohama World Porters 横浜ワールドポーターズ shopping mall, with the Cosmo Clock 21 コスモクロック21 Ferris wheel and the InterContinental Grand looming behind them:

It was inevitable that we would brave the lines to go for a ride on the Cosmo Clock ourselves:

The views from 112.5 meters/369 meters up were worth the 50-minute wait, especially considering we boarded at dusk:

If you look closely, you can see that the roller coaster tracks disappear into a hole in the ground:

Back on terra firma a lot of time and money went into an unsuccessful attempt to get one of these figurines:

Dinner in the World Porters mall:

Back on the roof after dinner to watch a brief fireworks display:

For some reason there is a plethora of Hawaiian-themed shops in the Minato Mirai 21 area, like this place selling malasadas:

Meanwhile, this establishment apparently has the blessing of former president Barack Obama, who was born in Honolulu:

On our way back to our hotel, we passed by the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse 横浜赤レンガ倉庫, a pair of former customs houses converted into a restaurant/retail complex. For some reason my iPhone 8 camera made the buildings look somewhat derelict and forlorn, which couldn't be further from reality, though most of the businesses within were closed for the day by the time we came along:

Enjoying a locally-brewed nightcap back in our hotel room:

For breakfast on Sunday morning, we enjoyed a Japanese-style spread at the Tankuma たん熊 restaurant, located in the older building (our room was in the adjoining, more modern annex):

As we were finishing up the MS Asuka II 飛鳥II was pulling into port:

The Yokohama Bay Bridge 横浜ベイブリッジ. Viewing the bridge from Yamashita Park became a popular "date spot" デートスポット after it was completed in 1989:

The massive ship was being guided into its berth at the Yokohama International Passenger Terminal 横浜港大さん橋国際客船ターミナル as we returned to our room following breakfast:

The best shot I could get of the Hotel New Grand. The main building on the left dates from 1927, while our room was in the newer annex on the right:

Following checkout, and with bags being pulled behind us, we returned to the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, passing by the 1928 Kanagawa Prefectural Government Office 神奈川県庁:

The warehouse buildings looked more inviting in the morning light:

Waiting for the complex to open at 1100 hours:

The girls spent almost an hour browsing, with Shu-E eventually buying some skin creams:

With a long train ride ahead of us, it was time to leave Minato Mirai 21:

Passing by the Port Opening Memorial Hall 横浜市開港記念館, a 1917 landmark red-brick building featuring a 118-foot (36-meter) clocktower:

We boarded a train on the Minatomirai Line みなとみらい線 at Nihon-ōdōri Station 日本大通り駅. The train terminated at Kikuna Station 菊名駅, whereupon we exited the building to have lunch at a nearby family restaurant:

Waiting for our Yokohama Line 横浜線 train to take us to Hachiōji 八王子 and places beyond. The Jonathan's on the left is where we had lunch:

Next up: in search of Fujisan at Lake Kawaguchi. 

*Amber and Shu-E had actually seen Fuji-san a couple of times, but not up close. The first time was while in transit at Narita Airport 成田空港, when the silhouette of the mountain could be made out in the distance in the fading gloom of twilight. The second occasion was from a plane as we traveled from Fukuoka 福岡 to Narita on the first leg of a long return trip back to Vilnius, Lithuania.