Sorting out photos for the next A Week in Tokyo and realized that I got a ton of photos piling up. Thought I'd take all the Yokohama ones and make a photo walk out of it.
Yokohama is the capital city of the Kanagawa Prefecture and is located next to Tokyo. The population is about 3.6 million and the amount of registered gaijin-san is about 75,000.
For more than 200 years, Japan went through a period of seclusion [鎖国] where it was forbidden for any Japanese to leave Japan. Trading and communications with the outside world was also forbidden.
In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry arrived at Yokohama with a fleet of American warships requesting that Japan open up its ports for trading. The Tokugawa shogunate agreed by signing the Treaty of Peace and Amity. Since then, Yokohama has developed to be one of Japans major ports.
Zooming back a few mins into the past on the train passing some driving grounds. In Japan, you first learn to drive not on the roads but in a driving center. I remember taking my driving lessons back in the UK which was on the roads. Took me aaaaages to pass. I think my driving was fine but the instructor kept insisting that I get the reverse-and-park-on-a-corner-move correctly. Been driving for over 10 years now and not once have I ever had the need to do this move. Probably an excuse to get me to pay for more lessons.
Do they make you do this in your region too? And for folks who want to find out more about driving in Japan can look up the Japan Drivers License post.
This lady sure looks hot. Would somebody like to help her cool down?
Arrival in Yokohama.
A load of modern constructions in Yokohama. This is the Minato Mirai area.
The tall building is the Landmark Tower. Great views from the top.
There is *a lot* of people around the tower on a Sunday. At the bottom of the tower are performances like this one where there it looked like some gaijin indirectly insulting the Japanese folks...
Mc Dees is completely packed out!
Mc Dees stands strong in any economic climate.
No seats left inside Mc Dees so people spill out to the nearby park to eat.
One of the things one needs to get used to in Japan is lining up for just about everything. In this Starbucks, you need to line up for a seat where you will get a ticket. You then go to a separate queue to line up for your drink. Then you line up again to fetch your drink.
Was the first Starbucks that I saw over here that lets you walk into the bookshop and fetch any book to read.
Akarenga which you saw by night in the Yokohama Photo Walk 1 post.
Skating rink at Akarenga. Finding decent size skating rinks in Japan is tough.
This performer would do any pose that you pose the mannequin in. I should have done a floating Dhalsim pose for him ^^;
And this is the more bustling area around Yokohama Station. Yokohama was one of the first places we shot a Stormtrooper video. Didn't do much back then apart from walk about and just stand there ^^;
Also had that horrible AFX helmet. You can see a comparison in the Shepperton Battle Spec post. Video below was taken in December 2005.
There is a quite a big Volks store in Yokohama too with a load of figure and Dollfie goodies.
http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/volks/sr/sr_yokohama/index.html
All photos taken on the Lumix GF1.
OK, I'll drop you off here while I get back to working on the well over due A Week in Tokyo.
