Our last day in Japan – and the last day of our trip! It was a beautiful sunny morning, so we decided to take a day trip to Yokohoma, the second biggest city in Japan. Yokohoma is easy to get to from Shinagawa. The JR Tokaido line from Shinagawa only takes 23 minutes. On arrival at Yokohoma, we caught a bus from the bus station to the celebrated Sankeien Garden. The bus is quite slow (it takes about half an hour) but it drops you right outside the Garden, and it’s definitely worth the trip.

Sankeien Garden is a 43 acre traditional Japanese Garden with a long history. It was established by silk trader Tomitaro Hara in 1906. Hara was a cultured man and an accomplished poet, art collector and tea ceremony enthusiast. During his lifetime, the gardens became an important meeting point for artists of the day.

 

Hara rescued a number of traditional buildings from across the Japan which were facing demolition and had them rebuilt in the garden.

These include an impressive three story pagoda from Kyoto which dates back to 1457. There are temples, teahouses and a farmhouse from the Edo Period (17^th century) which belonged to a silk producing family. The family lived downstairs and the silk worms lived upstairs in the eaves of the roof. The buildings are surrounded by beautiful gardens with ponds, streams and trees. There are some restaurants in the grounds and we stopped for a refreshing beverage whilst contemplating an exhibition of the art of Bonsai (the art of cultivating miniature trees in containers which mimic the shape of full sized trees).

After a few hours, we dragged ourselves away from the park and caught a bus back into Yokohoma to explore the city. Yokohoma was one of the first ports in Japan to open up to foreign trade back in 1859. Our first destination was Chinatown, the biggest Chinatown in the country. It was a Sunday, and the colourful streets were full of Japanese families strolling up and down, trying to decide which restaurant to visit. We were hungry, too, but choosing Chinese food which is veggie friendly when the menus are all in Japanese was a daunting prospect and we ended up grabbing a pastry in a coffee shop.

After Chinatown, we walked down towards Oshanbashi Pier in the harbourside Minato mirai 21 district. ‘Minato Mirai 21’  was selected by the public as the name for this newly developed area. It means ‘port of the future in the 21^st century’.

Down by the harbour, dozens of ‘Cosplayers’ were posing for photoshoots or taking selfies, and a group of parcours enthusiasts were pulling off some impressive stunts. The pier was also impressive – the biggest pier I’ve ever seen. It even has its own lawn! A cruise ship was setting sail and the edge of the pier was lined with hundreds of people waving yellow handkerchiefs as the cruise ship passengers threw streamers off the boat and waved back.

Our time in Yokohoma was almost up as we’d arranged to meet Oscar for dinner in Kawasaki. No time left to visit the cup noodle museum, unfortunately! We walked back to the station, following the old tram lines on a newly constructed walkway which took us past a tall ship in a dock and an amusement park with a big wheel and rollercoasters.

Dinner in Kawasaki was a quick but satisfying feast of tempura at a station restaurant, then Oscar surprised us by taking us to one of his old haunts (he used to work in Kawasaki). We plunged through some unmarked doors into what looked like a dark, abandoned warehouse. As we walked in, we found ourselves entering another world – the Walled City of old Kowloon. Kowloon was a lawless slum in Hongkong which was ruled by triads, with high rates of crime, prostitution and drug abuse. It was broken up by the government in the nineteen nineties.

In fact we were in Anato no Warehouse, a multi-floor games arcade with a cool design reminiscent of the film ‘Bladerunner’. Once we’d got over the shock, we went upstairs to sample some retro pinball machines and play a few games of table tennis.  Our exit from the building was even spookier than our arrival as we crossed a bridge, over pools of what looked like acid. A pair of double doors hissed open and we spilled out into a car park, the doors hissing shut behind us.

After leaving the Warehouse, we bid farewell to Oscar and caught the train back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the airport. What a way to finish our trip to Japan. From ancient buildings, tea ceremonies and bonzai to fast food and a futuristic multistorey game arcade, all in one day.

Thank you for reading the blog, I hope you’ve enjoyed our Senior Gap Year Adventures. This will be my last entry for a while as we are back in the UK now. However, we are planning some more adventures later in the year – watch this space!