The Volendam sailed into the massive bay area of Yokohama very early at 6am or so with the bow opened and where they were serving Yokohama rolls, juice and coffee of course. After what seemed like miles of moored vessels and commercial dock areas, we docked starboard at the Osanbashi Yokohama International Passenger Terminal, one of the most innovative terminals we have ever seen.
Today happens to be the end of another segment with about 300 guests disembarking and around 159 people joining. The total amount of passengers is now a little over 900. The last segment was from Singapore to Tokyo (Yokohama) for a total of 21 days. The final segment is from Tokyo to Ft. Lauderdale for 34 days, although there will be some leaving in Seattle and more leaving in San Diego. Some folks will be boarding in San Diego as well. It makes our heads spin trying to figure this out. We are certain there are good deals out there to fill the ship the best HAL can.
We have been in touch with the Princeton Tailors who will have a representative join the ship today and tomorrow in Yokohama in order to correct some major mistakes that occurred with some of the guests orders. Roxanne agreed to meet with us at 11am. She came to our room and decided that the slacks of the tux had to be re-made since they were 6 inches too short. We had requested covered buttons with the brocade vest, but they came with regular buttons. The tux shirt had tiny round buttonholes made for a different type of studs, so she said she would send a set of the jewelry instead of replacing the shirt. Good deal. She took both pieces and promised to have them delivered to the ship when it arrives in Seattle on April 29th. We trust they will follow through with their promise, and we were glad to see they backed up their excellent service.
With that out of the way, we left the ship around 11:30am and entered the huge and new terminal. They had a treasure trove of printed maps and brochures which one of us loves. We did bring umbrellas just in case it might rain. It was overcast with hazy sun, but the temperature was a comfortable 63 degrees. Humidity was only 75% and the winds were minimal. It would turn out to be a beautiful day. Outside the terminal doors, we ran into Captain Frank and his wife Alexandra and it appeared they were out for a day of exploring and lunch for sure. They had a few officers with them and they all seemed very impressed with this terminal. The walkways down each side were made with teak or something similar, and were said to look like the back of a whale. A funny warning was printed on this unique walkway and that was watch for splinters. Not so funny if you were not wearing proper shoes.
The population of this city is 3.7 million people, the second largest in the country we read. The total number of local passengers using the Yokohama train station is 2.3 million every day. The number of ships of all kinds and sizes arriving to the port daily is 90. Impressive numbers to say the least.
It was a long walk down to the street level where we turned left on the main street. This led to Yamashita Park (1930), a seaside strip of re-claimed land planted with an expanse of lawn and flower beds. It had a gorgeous view of the harbor with statues and floral displays. It became apparent that there was a competition of flower designs and displays – all planted in every bedding plant and bulb that exists. The main bulbs used were tulips for spring time. The creative scenes drew many locals to this park, especially those with their little dogs and some cats. These pampered pets were even dressed with jackets or dresses and groomed to the hilt. The owners posed their animals in each display to take their picture. Even a large long-hair cat was posing for pictures. Each and every animal had a stroller made for them, like a baby stroller. We have seen this while in Tokyo but did not expect it here.
Speaking of Tokyo, this port was the gateway to Tokyo where there were some tours offered. One excursion was a tour with an airport transfer for 5.5 hours and $200. Tokyo on your own was 7 hours for $110. Then it was temples and shrines for 5 to 5.25 hours and $100 and $190. Highlights of Tokyo was 5.25 hours for $120 or best of Tokyo for 8.5 hours and $210. Some of the longer tours included lunch. Since we have done some of these tours in the past, we decided to see what Yokohama had to offer on our own. We were glad we did.
At the far end of Yamashita Park was a docked cargo-passenger liner from 1930 called NYK Hikawa Maru, which appears to be a museum these days. It traveled between Seattle and Japan and was called the Queen of the North Pacific. In those days, it was considered lavish with top notch services, cuisine, and décor. During WWII, the ship was used for a naval hospital for the Japanese Imperial Navy.
From here, we turned inland and crossed the street where the Hotel New Grand was located, another icon of old Yokohama, only bigger and better with a new tower added to the property. Walking a couple of blocks away, we entered the Choyo Gate (East) to Chinatown, one of the largest in Japan if not in the world. It was packed with tall colorful gates, temples, and restaurants. Walking the main pedestrian street revealed dozens of shops with clothing and souvenirs. Chinese food had to be the most places here with small take-away counters to large opulent restaurants. If you wanted to stroll down every alleyway and side street, you would be here all day, it was that large. Besides the all-you-can-eat diners, there were both Chinese and Japanese restaurants and grocery stores. Bakeries and tea shops topped the list. It was souvenir heaven for many. Along the way, we saw several fortune-telling tables where the locals were reading palms, and not just the tourists.
Here’s a snippet of history about this Chinatown. In 1859 Yokohama opened the city to international trade. Western merchants arrived with Chinese assistants as interpreters with the Japanese. In time, these Chinese people became chefs, tailors, barbers, and restauranteurs. They lived in a foreign residence area but suffered during the Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95. Then they survived the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 and the attacks during WWII. Being a resilient, these hardy people survived it all and got along well with the Japanese from there on.
We stuck to the main street so as not to get lost. And being that it was afternoon, it was lunch time for hundreds of students who attended private schools close by. High school age, these uniformed kids were buying the local food that was sold at windows of cafes. Some of the sticky buns had different faces put on them to identify the fillings. Some were bean curd while others were shark fin. We did see many kids eating what appeared to be breaded chicken or fish pounded thin. They used their fingers or with the sushi, they used chopsticks. We saw skewers of something red, which turned out to be frosting-dipped strawberries with green grapes separating the berries. None of these kids were eating sandwiches like we did at that age.
One of the local shops had some kimonos hanging outside the entrance. One size fits all, we bought one with a Japanese floral design with a black fringe on the bottom. It will be a nice souvenir from here and perfect for dressy evening on the ship.
There was not any place for lunch for us in Chinatown, so we backtracked through the park and ended up at the Wharf House at the front end of the park. They had a wide variety of food from Japanese to American. We were seated at the back patio with a view of the harbor and the Volendam as well. We ordered two large Kirin draft beers to start, followed by one serving of nachos and French fries to share. The servings were not huge, so we added one dessert of a chocolate brownie to end the meal. It was so nice sitting and relaxing after all the walking. We were lucky to have such a nice day weatherwise.
We got back to the ship by 4pm and spent the time until dinner online. We will never be caught up with photos until we have the upcoming seven days at sea. The attendance at dinner was spotty with many guests onshore and also eating in the Lido with the special steak dinner. We ordered one chicken starter and a shrimp and pork wrap. We both decided on the fish and chips without the fries, but were disappointed to how greasy the breaded fish was. The tartar sauce helped. Half of our plates were filled with broccoli and stir-fried noodles. For dessert we both had the vanilla rice pudding with raisins – very good.
The piano player, Panos Karan did two shows in the World Stage with a breathtaking performance that was not to be missed. Sorry, we were so tired, we missed it. Had to rest up for another busy day in Yokohama tomorrow.
Bill & Mary Ann
