Yokohama

FIRST INTERNATIONAL PORT!!! HELLO JAPAN!!!

We pulled in to Yokohama around 9 am, greeted by spotless blue skies, warm weather, and traditional drumming performed by several musicians at the port. The boat cleared around noon and I was one of the first people cleared through Immigration and Customs. However, since I was waiting for some friends from another Sea, I had to wait for almost an hour to set out. Luckily, the port itself was a beautiful structure, with architectural features like a green roof. On top of that, Japanese tourist greeters wrote anything we wanted in calligraphy (I just went with my name), and took pictures of us dressed in kimonos. The best part was that everything was FREE! Amazing.

When we were all finally gathered we headed off to the post office to get money and the train station to go to Kamakura! The trains were extremely easy to navigate since everything was in English, so after getting everything figured out we arrived in Kamakura around two. A few of the people in our group (there were eight of us) had read about a three-hour hike starting at a shrine near the train station and ending at Diabutsu, a huge Buddha statue, so we soon found our way to the trail. When asking for directions to it, one woman said “ooh, this way go up down up down” and she definitely knew what she was talking about. While the hike was by no means difficult, it had sections that climbed steeply just to go straight back down. One part in particular had so many steps up that my friend and I decided to pose for a picture looking like Rocky. The weather was pleasant, probably around 60, with a slight breeze enough to make you chilly if you were standing but very welcome when tromping up hills.

The first Shrine on the hike was Jochisi. Japanese are very particular about their shrines, and all of them have similar elements. Every one has a tami which separates the sacred shrine from the rest of the world. Before you enter the shrine you have to cleanse yourself by washing your hands in an outside station. The shrines also have similar architecture, which apparently is modeled after the buildings that store rice because agriculture played such a large role in religion. Outside of the Shrine, we saw a man brushing a cat with a broom. It was very bizarre.

We continued on the up down up down hike. Just when we were starting to get worried that we would not be able to see the Buddha, the path emerged into a residential neighborhood. We walked for a few minutes until we met a crossing guard who directed us in the right direction. However, we were promptly distracted by a small grocery store that had all kinds of enchanting Japanese food items. After selecting some treats, we continued on our way to the Buddha, asking people for direction confirmation along the way.

We came to the entrance, paid our admission, and rinsed our hands in the water to purify ourselves. Then, we walked around a corner and BAM! There was the Buddha. It was absolutely ginormous, standing (well, if you want to be specific, he was sitting) Buddha. It was incredible.

After seeing our Buddha, we decided to head back to Yokohama for dinner. When asking for directions at a 7-11, we met a Japanese woman who spoke perfect English because she grew up in New Jersey until she came to Japan for an arranged marriage. While we did not cross paths for long, this fact still sticks out to me as a prime example of cultural differences. I can’t imagine uprooting my life and moving to another country to marry someone I had never met.

We all wanted sushi for dinner, so we asked a man at the information desk at the port where the closest restaurant was. Unfortunately it was past eight so the place he recommended was closed. While realizing this, we ran into two Japanese people, named Kazumi and Takashi, found out our predicament and led us to their favorite local sushi restaurant. It was in the basement of a completely unmarked building, next to a dozen other similar establishments. Since there were so many of us, we got to sit in the special back area where we had to take off our shoes. Then, Kazumi and Takashi stayed, they had already eaten but they wanted to share dinner with us! They ordered us a bottle of sake on the house and poured it for us (sake, correctly poured, spills over the glass and into a small dish). The menu was entirely in Japanese and we couldn’t even differentiate between the numbers and letters, but they ordered everything for us! It was unbelievable that they were so willing to help and get to know us. As we talked more, we found out that they both worked in tourism and the woman was the man’s boss. They were both extremely friendly, Takashi didn’t speak English very well and Kazumi was by no means fluent, but it was very fun to talk to them about anything we could think of. Takashi headed off about half way through the meal, but Kazumi decided to treat us to desert! We insisted that we pay, especially since there were so many of us, but she wouldn’t hear of it and picked up the bill. My friend and I split an ice cream ish sundae. I say ish because it only had three scoops of ice cream (green tea and two others I can’t remember) and the rest was made up of these weird gelatin-like cubes. They were clear and about the size of dice, but they were made out of seaweed and didn’t really have a taste.

We bid Kazumi a very thankful farewell, and headed back home to the ship to sleep after a magnificent day in Japan.