The Hikawa maru in Yokohama

Back when I was living in Yokohama, I often passed by the Hikawa maru, and I didn't know a thing about the ship until I decided to do a bit of research today.

The Hikawa maru was built by the Yokohama Dock company and was launched in 1929. Her first voyage was 5/13/1930 to Seattle, US from Kobe Japan as a cruise ship. Because of her lavish art deco interior she was referred to as the "Queen of the Pacific" and various celebrities of the day were among her passengers. All in all the Hikawa maru crossed the pacific about 254 times. During the war she was repainted and used at as a hospital ship, and used by the US army after.

She was returned to Japan in 1947 and was refitted to once again carry passengers across the Pacific. However the convinience of the airplane cause the Hikawa maru to loose a large amount of travelers and service was terminated in 1960. In 1961 she was permanently berthed at Yokohama and became a floating youth hostel and meusem. The hostel closed in 1973, and the mesuem followed in 2006, despite being declared a "cultural asset" of Yokohama in 2003.

A few years of uncertainty followed, but ultimately Hikawa maru was refurbished and the museum re-opened to the public in the spring of 2008.

I wasn't able to visit the museum in the Hikawa maru because it was being restored during the time I was there, but the outside is very grand so I can only imagine how interesting it is on the inside. Please check her out if you get the chance!

Access: The Hikawa maru is berthed in the harbor along Yamashita Park and can be accessed by taking the Minato Mirai line and getting off at Motomachi Chuka-gai station.

Day 12 - Asakusa, Odaiba, Yokohama

Day 10 - Yokohama

Today we went to Yokohama, I was pretty excited to go back to Yokohama since that's where I live last year and as such it holds a special place in my heart despite the bad memories. We took the train from Shimbashi and it's about a 25 minute ride. It gets quite packed at peak hours so avoid them if you can, or grab a seat. When we arrived we quickly left the station via the west exit (I think), Yokohama station is the most busy, hectic station I have seen even during off hours. It's kinda a long hike from the station to Minato Mirai but we did it!

On the way to Minato Mirai we walked past stores and fields. Sadly we kinda took a long way around and we were both sweating in the heat and strong sun. We stopped at Sun Kus and I got a grape and calpis drink, it didn't help too much. We went the rest of the way to the Landmark Tower and Queen's Square, and stopped for a bit of looking around. I visited Passport and FrancFranc in the Landmark tower but didn't get anything, the shopping in the Landmark Tower is kinda richy. They had a pokemon store but I didn't feel confident enough to go in.

Arcade at Cosmoworld

We then made our way to World Porter's, passing on Queen's square this time. We walked through Cosmo World, it was fun seeing the rides and shops that hadn't changed. Of course I took a bunch of pics of the ferris wheel but me and Shouma didn't get on because I guess that's only for couples.

World Porter's just just across the bridge from Cosmoworld and the shopping is more middle to low end, thus my kind of shopping. I got a lucky bag from 3COiNs there, and it had some cute stuff in it. There were tons of cute girls clothing, but not any really cute bags. Shouma got a bracelet like the kind he lost with an ex at a love hotel. And then he looked around a sporting good shop until he got hungry. We were finally going to eat at the cake buffet today so we had to head back to the station and downtown Yokohama.

Ultraman overlooking visitors

The walk back to the station was kinda miserable as we were both tired of walking, sweaty and hungry. We stopped at the Queen's Square but since the ladie's room had a long line we kept going. Then we stopped at a bookstore with a Starbucks in it, ladie's room for me and coffee for Shouma. We decided to avoid the station so we walked around it, taking more time, but way less people. The Sweets Paradise cake buffet is in the Vivre building if you happen to be near by.

Inside Sweets Paradise

I heard of people having to wait 30 minutes or so to get in, but we got there around 2:40 and there wasn't a line, there were plenty of spare seats. We bought the tickets and had 60 minutes to eat all we could. Shouma didn't want to eat cake so he could eat salad, pasta, sandwiches, rice and curry. But really the cake is number one. There's a lot of different kinds of shortcakes, but also some chocolate cakes and cheese cakes. I ate as much as I could, way more then the Japanese ladies, but not as much as I though my American stomach could handle. One time when I was getting cake I knocked a pair of tongs onto another cake and there was much bowing as the staff handed the soiled tongs back to the kitchen. Such a small thing became a big embarrassment in Japan haha.

The cake line up.

Walking past Donki

I waited a bit for Shouma to smoke outside the Vivre building, having to eat at such a girly place full of girly food was a huge stress to him I guess. We were both still tired, and now bloated so we decided to head back to the hotel. I wish I could have spent some time in downtown Yokohama, it's pretty lively, but I spent the rest of my night being sick in the hotel haha.

Manner Police are on Patrol!

Well this recent article caught my attention on the Mainichi daily news because it had Yokohama written boldly in the headline, so I surfed right over. The basic gist of the article is Yokohama is now employing a senior aged crew of 11 manner police, which will soon be released to work on the subway's afternoon routes.

All the manner police will be escorted by subway attendants in case things get a bit hairy, and they have been trained in how to address strangers. The manner police are a mix of men and women over 60, with the oldest crew member at 81 years old. They are wary of the confrontations that will inevitably arise, but they are ready to get out there and start helping make the train riding experience more pleasant for everyone.

Some of the actions that the manner patrol will be policing include blocking the train doors, taking up more then one seat, and using a mobile phone. I'd say there are plenty of other "infringements" that they will be looking for, but as a past rider on Japanese railways I can tell you those three are the top offenders by occurrence levels.

Really the mobile use doesn't bother me when it's just emailing, but I have seen/heard people talking on their mobiles and yes, it's rather annoying. I think keeping people away from the train doors is going to be difficult. Many were the times Shouma shooed me towards the doors, explaining it was the most comfortable spot. And on a busy train, indeed it is. I think this is delightful idea and if they can pull it off I think it will have some benefit for the train riders and everyone involved with the train system.

I lived in Honmoku

When I was living in Japan I stayed in an area of Yokohama known as Honmoku near the Sankeien garden. Honmoku is a very nice and pleasent area centered around a main street with shops along it. The main attraction I would say is the MyCal complex. I was looking at photos of it today and I wish I would have taken some photos myself because there is a real luck of them on the internet.

The nicest thing about the location of where I stayed was it's proximity to the Mycal complex, It was really just on the block in front of our apartment. So it was really easy to go to the Saty supermarket, McDonalds (there were 2), the theater, or the department store. I don't know how many times I bothered Shouma to go with me to buy gashapon! And Saty, while usually crowded was just delightful after 9pm when they would mark down the parishables. I wish I would have learned about that a bit earlier on.

I wish things were set up like this around here. I can't just walk to the supermarket, I could walk to McDonalds (if it were worth it) but there's sidewalk only halfway. I know it's the American way to make everything as big and spreadout as possible, but really it's not convinient especially if you don't have a car. Well here's a nice picture looking down towards the Mycal complex!

Photos from my trip

Well I'm back in the US again.
The sad thing was I had unreliable internet access (locked with parental controls no less) at my place in Yokohama. Thusly I wasn't able to update at all.
Now I've pretty much lost any interest in writting up a report.

So please take a look at my pics from Japan!!


Also feel free to browse the pictures at my Flickr album Here!!