On Tuesday 13th December we took a train to Yokohama, approximately 40 minutes south of Tokyo. We were met at the train station by Will's colleague Masaya. Masaya was an exchange student at Victoria University Wellington for a year, and is now a lecturer at Yokohama National University. Will and Masaya headed off to the university to work, and I set off exploring Yokohama. I went for a nice walk from the train station to the waterfront, and then caught a bus out to Sankeien garden, a vast traditional Japanese garden which is one of tripadvisor's top things to do in Yokohama.
Despite being a dull overcast day, I had a lovely time wandering around the gardens for a couple of hours. I was a few weeks late for the main autumn show, but the colour that was left on the trees was still rather impressive.
It was then time to bus back into the city centre to meet up with the guys. Masaya and his friend took Will and I out for okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake). It was a cute little traditional restaurant where you sit on the floor (after removing your shoes and placing them in a locker -you always need to make sure you are wearing decent socks in Japan!). Luckily there was a pit under the table so my poor old knees could cope...
After a quick lesson from Masaya...
...Will set about cooking us our dinner. He did a great job, and the final result was super tasty!
After dinner our hosts were keen to continue the evening, so we ended up in a random American themed whiskey bar where they insisted that Will join them for beers with whiskey chasers. I was quite happy I had decided to stick to water for the evening! Masaya was a very generous host, we weren't allowed to pay for a single thing all evening. I think he quite enjoyed taking his former supervisor out on the town!
The following night we walked to Kabukicho which is the entertainment/red light district of Shinjuku. There were girlie bars everywhere! Some of the names and signage amused us...
That night we had tickets to the Robot Restaurant, which isn't so much a restaurant as a slightly kitsch 'robot' show. It was pretty expensive, but very much one of those 'only in Japan' experiences. It is actually a lot tamer and family friendly now than it used to be, with the performers now wearing (a bit) more than they used to, much to Will's disappointment!
Here is a clip from the past...
The inside of the place is wall to wall bling. The toilets give a taste of what is to come...
While you wait for the show to begin you hang out in the OTT lounge and get entertained by the 'robot band'.
The show itself was silly, but a lot of fun. Being the time of year it was, our show was vaguely Christmas themed...
The section with laser lights was very cool.
Some of it was downright weird!
Or a little disturbing...
Being Japan, everything was very orderly...
Here are a few more pics to finish. All in all it was a very entertaining night out!
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