Yokohama

 

Yokohama is the last stop in the first segment of the World Cruise. From sandals and shorts we now find snow and freezing temperatures (for us). SNOW!!!! Oi. So instead of complaining we are too hot, we now get to complain we are too cold! Because we are in Japanese territory we hear our Internet connections will be iffy if at all, and it is true. Japan has Internet regulations, Wakari Masen!* I say. It is frustrating when you are over dependent on the Internet. We spent three nights here. Too long in my opinion. Maybe it is because we find we are limited in what we can do with David's scooter. The ship is almost full again, about 200 got off, and 200 Japanese cruisers got on. This is a short segment.

On the first day David and I had a mission. I need a new camera. Mine has a huge speck trapped in the middle of the lens. We had a good basic knowledge where we "might" be able to find their one big camera store. We headed out on the free shuttle to the drop off at the train station. (((Cruisers had a choice to take a Crystal bus, round trip to Tokyo (about 90 minutes) for $178 or take the train for $3 which takes 20 minutes. We heard from fellow guests their 5 hour tour to Tokyo took 8 hours because of the congestion due to the snow.))) So off to the unknown we go with scooter, snow and a language barrier our only obstacles. Once we navigated the busy train station, we only had to go underground from the East exit to the West exit.  We had to find up elevators and down elevators.  Exiting the West side, we found ourselves at an intersection where we could see the camera store but did not know how to get to it. So close yet soooooo far.


  


Turning to the left we found  no cross walks.  Are there stairs? bridges? any elevators? Japanese signage was not helpful. We felt stranded.  We then retraced our steps to right this time. Success. We went all the way around the circle to the one intersection not blocked with a legal walkway. No one spoke English and all tried to be very helpful. Once we understood third floor, we found Panasonic.

It was interesting to try to get the sales people to understand what we were looking for.  I had my Panasonic camera in hand. We wrote things on paper back and forth until we all came to the conclusion what we wanted would not be in the store for a few more days and it would be the Japanese version. David thought it would be helpful to tell the sales staff that the Panasonic DM something 40 is the same as the new DM something 60 and we would be happy with either version .... That did not prove helpful.

David did really well on his scooter. I pretty much walked in front of him to clear the way. We so stood out among the Japanese people. It was an adventure. I was proud of him for having the courage to go out in this weather while feeling unsure of where we were going. To me, that is the fun.

Even though it is a large city, Yokohama reminds me of a small college town. We both stayed on the ship the second day. On our last day, I headed out on my own. It was a bit scary at first. Very little is in English, they only accept Japanese yen, all the signage is in Japanese, and very few accept credit cards. People were nice to me, seeing I needed help, people would come up to me to give me directions often going out of their way to show me the direction I needed to go. I took pictures, like the dropping of breadcrumbs, but that didn't work as everything looked the same :). By the end of my outing, I was more confident. I am positive to others I looked as if I lived there. :) I get a sort of rush going out on my own. A little bit nervous but excited to explore at the same time.

 
 And finally I get to the shuttle!!!


 I arrived!    Yokohama Train Station.

Hmmm which train should I take?
 

The underground ......

 

Great!  YOU ARE HERE it screams at me in a big bold circle.   Well HELLO! ,  I KNOW that.  That I DO KNOW!  But what good does that do?

 

I found the store I was looking for but got there 30 minutes before it opened. I explored other underground walkways and found my way back. I then waited in the sea of local shoppers for the bell to announce we could all herd in. I thought it interesting how people wait inside the stores all dressed nicely, white glove service,  awaiting shoppers to come in.

 

 My absolute favorite thing in Japan is their upscale markets. Like Whole Foods but up the bar 100%.

 

You know, if they only fed us once in a while on this cruise, I would not be so into the food markets in Japan! After roaming around, I found my way (easily I might add) back to the shuttle and headed back to the ship. On deck 12, they were still serving lunch .... :)

 Konnichiwa!

         and Sayohnara!




 * English translation: "I do not understand."