Yokohama 7 June 2008

And so, we finally visited Yokohama.. Today was a rest day after Marco left.. and we slept in late and was able to reach Yokohama only around 5pm.. Takin' the Hibiya line to Naka-Meguro, we had to swap to the Japan Rail line there and took about an hour to reach the 2nd largest city in Japan!

Very populated in deed as the moment we stepped out of the train, there was a sea of people heading in all directions. Quite reminded me of Shanghai Railway station where the crowd was just overwhelming...

Our first shots of Yokohama..
The Mazda RX8 is for Hao. Can consider doing that to yours.. tasteful and very eye-ball grabbing!

The cityscape struck me as greyish and industrial like. Until we reached Chinatown when things got more colourful!



Oh yes.. en route to Chinatown, we visited basement of Sogo in search of a money changer.. pretty low on funds now as we have been spending quite some at UniQlo on clothes the day before. We got distracted (as usual...) by the supermarket there and made a round there to do some food sampling! Great timing as our mouths were gettin' itchy already after our plain-jane soba lunch at Naka-Meguro station. There goes some hunger-inducing photos below! Enjoy. we did.



And finally in Chinatown at 715pm. Was supposed to meet Tom, my dad's buddy from Chicago, who's been in Japan for the past 10 years, at The WindJammers pub. Amazingly, we walked past the place without noticing it.. Thus we had to link up at a main police station nearby.

Chinatown's a Kirei (pretty) sight! Vibrant hues of colored neons signboards vying for our attention from the moment of entry through the gates. Rows and rows upon of restaurants, cafes, titbits stores selling food in a written language we finally could comprehend..



We had more of a craving for Japanese food than Chinese cuisine, thus Tom brought us to a nice little joint at Sakuragicho aka Nego. An old town with less crowd and buildings with more character.. The food there was amazing.. Especially the grilled beef and pork, consumed with a dash of wasabi. My! It was succulent. Photos ain't there for all the dishes we had as i conveniently forgot to capture them. The interior were of wooden fittings and natural wood themes and thus felt cozy, warm and very authentic. And throughout dinner, Ben and i bombarded Tom with plentiful questions on cultures and correct language usage.

This was by far the most expensive meal we had in Japan. And very graciously, Tom bought us dinner before showing us around some of the scenic night spots.



That's it! i'm hungry from writing about the great food we had today. And Ben's probably napping now and gettin' up at 3:30am for the Euro 2008 Portugal vs. Some Team.

Stuart - In the lounge area of Hoteiya using wifi with some soft jazz and classical music in the background.