Yokohama is also home to Japan's tallest building, Landmark Tower. 48 floors are shopping, restaurants and office buildings. There is a 5 star hotel on floors 49-70. A skydeck with 360 degree views is on the 69th floor. On clear days, you can see Mount Fuji from here. We didn't go up this visit, as it was a cloudy day, but plan to at some point. The building also has the world's second fastest elevator - only taking 40 seconds to go from level 1 up to level 69.
Another attraction we visited was the Shinyokohama Ramen Museum. It is actually not truly a museum, but a "food amusement park" as they call it. Of note, it is not wise to go to a museum in another country, as there were some historical parts of the building, but alas, all in Japanese. Basically, the building is set up to resemble a street-scape replication from the year 1958, Japan. Ramen was introduced into Japan in 1859 when it opened its ports, allowing introductions of new foods/etc. Ramen in Japan is based on the Chinese ramen that was brought into the country at that time. Apparently, Japan thinks its ramen is better, because they exclusively use the dashi (soup stock) for ramen, while those silly Chinese use the dashi in more than one dish. ;) Anyway, there are 9 ramen shops set up in the museum and showcase the variations in Japanese ramen. We chose to eat at Sumire, which apparently has the most famous miso ramen in Japan. Next time, we are going to order the small bowls and try out multiple shops in one visit. :)
The other place we visited in Yokohama was Chinatown (Yokohama Chukagai). This is the largest of Japan's Chinatown's. This developed in 1859, again when Japan opened its ports to international entry/trade. In this area are 2500 Chinese inhabitants, with tons of shopping, restaurants, food shops and millions of Chinese gift stores. There are 4 main gates (North, South, East, West), each a different color.
Chinatown is more confusing than Dupont Circle in D.C. (which to me is horribly confusing, lol) and we were hopelessly lost for at least one hour in search of the Chinese Kantei-byo Buddhist Temple. Just when we were about to succumb to the overwhelming oppressive heat/humidity (it is more humid here than in D.C., which I still can't believe is possible), we turned the corner to smell incense and to see lots of touristy groups of people taking pictures on its steps!
Buddhism is Japan's second most common religion. Shrines are to the Shinto religion as Temples are to the Buddhist religion. Buddhism arrived in Japan by way of India through China and Korea in the 6th century. Buddhist beliefs are apparent throughout many modern day aspects of Japanese life, especially in emphasis of Zen or mental control. A Buddhist temple with have a main hall (hondo) and also possibly a pagoda, cemetery and buildings used by Monks. The Kantei-byo temple was built by the Chinese in 1873 and is dedicated to the Chinese god of good business and prosperity. This temple differs from a lot we will likely see in Japan, as it is quite small and a lot of the temples throughout Japan are huge, sprawling areas with gardens and places for meditation. There were a lot of candles, incense, water and flowers around the temple, which I believe represent the Four Elements teaching of Buddhism. In the hondo, you can remove your shoes and kneel before the alter and Buddha in silent prayer.
We both passed our written driving test, so theoretically we should know how to drive on the opposite side of the road, but will find out tomorrow on our actual driving test. :) Probably more food adventures this week, and then we are going to Tokyo for Labor Day weekend. More posts to come! :)
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