Thursday, October 18, 2012

Tokyo - Day 5 Yokohama


10th September Day 5: Yokohama.

I had been looking at the weather reports for Mount Fuji for about a week, trying to pick the best day to head up. I was planning on going on Monday (10th) but the weather just looked really average, lots of rain and lots of clouds… Yeah probably not the best idea with shoes with no tread and not even proper waterproofed clothes, so instead I opted to go to Yokohama which is about 1 hour east of Tokyo, right on the ocean.

Yokohama is just another city, but what makes it difference is that you have the port/water just near the city and it also provides you with a great sunset over the city if you can hang around for it. Well that was exactly my plan.

I knew that I was planning on heading up to Mt. Fuji the next day (11th September – Day 6) so my plan in Yokohama was to get some supplies and buy a head torch which would be crucial. So at first arrival to the city I cruised around checking out the local shops and just basically exploring the city, it’s a nice city just really relaxed. What I found amusing was that, in the main shopping strip, where they have all the fashion designer clothes there are several speakers placed all around the street playing really relaxing music, I loved it, it must make all the shoppers a bit more chilled out that they just spent $300 on a pair of jeans.

From the main shopping strip, I kept walking and ended up walking past the main Baseball stadium in Yokohama, the home of the Yokohama Baystars. Woo Hoo!

I would have loved to have gone to watch a game buy I was short on time, so I had to miss it… maybe another time.

On my travels in Yokohama I stumbled across the local Chinatown! So I cruised in down and around Chinatown trying to find any bits of cheap food… unfortunately it wasn't china prices… but I did manage to find some little snacks to eat.

So the sun was getting lower, and I still hadn't found a head torch. I was looking at one of the maps that are placed all around the city when a random French dude introduced himself to me. Perfect, I had someone to hang out with in Yokohama. I was telling him all about my plans to hike Mt. Fuji and he was very interested. But ill get to that later…

I eventually found a head torch which I bought for the pretty reasonable price of 1400YEN ($17AUD), and then myself and the French dude, walked along the sea to find a place to watch the sunset.
We eventually found the standard place where everyone goes to watch it and it was great, the sunset behind all the buildings which made for some great photos… Check them out!

Throughout the whole afternoon, the French guy had been telling me how keen he was to hike up Fuji, he even went to the extent of flipping a coin to see if he should go! So I wrote down all the information about where I was going to be at what times etc etc etc… but when it came to the day he didn’t show. I wasn’t that surprised, but its still annoying when someone says they will do something and they don’t bother.
But, still my time in Yokohama was amazing, great sunset got everything I needed for my Fuji hike, I was prepared.

TL;DR – Went to Yokohama watched a beautiful sunset! Planned for Fuji!

A photo between the two buildings... THERE IS THE SEA!

Ferris Wheel in Yokohama


Nice bridge in the back ground!

The port of Yokohama!

Finally made it to China Town


The Entrance gate of ChinaTown


A small temple in China Town


Yokohama Stadium

The Sun Starting to Set!

Beautiful!

Who would have thought that a sunset over a CITY would be this beautiful!


All of a sudden at 6pm, all the lights turned on!

The Ferris wheel looked amazing!


really wanted a Tri-Pod to do some long exposure shots!
Next blog MT FUJI!

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