Precious Memories: Yokohama

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Yokohama

Family Reunion Cruise -- 8-Day Roundtrip Keelung, Taiwan on Diamond Princess

Day 4 -- Yokohama, Japan November 21, 2018 (6:00 AM~5:00 PM)

Our ship arrived the port of Yokohama before 6:00 AM, but they announced that we should not plan on leaving the ship until after 7:30. I suppose with guests disembarking at this major port, it would take a while for them to process those who really needed to get off early.

Horizon Court was super busy this morning, and we had a hard time finding a table for us. I found this buffet restaurant not big enough to accommodate everybody when it is meal time even with both sides opened. Very often we had to walk around a couple of times and wait for a vacant table. That is why I would rather go to the main dining room if possible.

We were ready to get off the ship at 8:30 but had to get in the long line through the gangway and then immigration. It was very crowded inside the terminal and we were in line for about half an hour before finally got through the process.

Out of the immigration and security area waiting for the rest of our group.

That's the free shuttle that would take passengers to the Sakuragicho Station.

Taxis waiting in line

A little quiet this early in the morning at Osanbashi Pier.

We went on our planned walking tour of Yokohama. This would be my fourth time here and I was the appointed guide for this day.

Loved these old pictures of the pier along the wall as we walked to the main street.

Oh, and these tiles...

At the entrance of Yamashita Park, there's the Happy Lawson, the only Happy Lawson in Japan. I wanted to check out what made this a Happy Lawson so we went in for a peek. Not sure, but probably the difference is they have tables and chairs inside for people to sit and enjoy their snacks. They also sell a lot of souvenirs featuring Yokohama.

Along the promenade.

Yokohama Marine Tower

Water Guardian Statue and Fountain

Beautiful fall leaves along the main street.

We walked straight across the Horikawa River, under the highway overpass, to where the Mega Don Quijote Store is and spent close to two hours there so our 'shoppers' were able to buy everything they needed. Since I did not need to buy anything, I went down to the supermarket at the basement to see what they have there. I found a package of tuna sashimi there for an excellent price and shared it with the guys as we waited for the ladies to finish their shopping spree. So creamy and fresh! This store has everything you would want to buy, from groceries to second-hand LV bags. Better than a Super Walmart and I believe it's open 24-hours.

Just be careful when crossing the street.

Then we followed the Horikawa River to the Motormachi street...

and then crossed back over to Chinatown.

What do they sell in Chinatown? Lots of buns! This is a huge bun shop with many varieties to pick from. ChC had some last time and was ready for some more.

Daisekai had many local products and souvenirs for sale.

One of the side streets.

We decided to just walk to World Porters where we would get some lunch. This is the Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall right near the Nihon Odori metro station.

Crossing the Bankoku Bridge to Yokohama World Porters.

We enjoyed another wonderful lunch at the revolving sushi restaurant Miura Misaki. Only this time, they did not have too many plates of sushi going around the conveyer belt and we had to order them from the chefs instead. Probably because there weren't that many customers there that day. We also noticed that the prices went up since the last time we were here.

Instead of the real sushi, they had pictures on the plates going around the belt. We just had to fill out the slips of papers for our orders.

This was a special for the month.

After our lunch, we slowly walked through the Red Brick Warehouse, looked at some of the stores there and back to the ship. We had walked for 5.5 miles and we were all tired. Oh, our disappointment was we couldn't find the Cheese Tart stand that was there in May. We were so looking forward to have some more of those warm and delicious cheese tarts.