Day 11 – Yokohama and the Japanese Hospitality

Konnichiwa Tomodachi!


I spent the day in Yokohama, the capital of the Kanagawa area. With a population of 3.6 million, this is Japan's largest city after Tokyo. Yokohama is known for its Port; the 1st Japanese port to be open to foreign trades and also know for its Chinatown, the largest in Japan.

The day did not go quite as planned nevertheless I had an amazing time;

First I got lost when I arrived and a Good Samaritan drove me back to a main hub where he called his girlfriend who spoke a little English and she gave me directions

Secondly around 3pm I went to a traditional eatery. I was about to order my meal and there was a kid and his parents at the table next to me and he kept on looking at me. Marie taught me this word (KAWAI) which means cute in Japanese. I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to use this word and I did…Well all I can say is that this word had its impact. The parents kept on thanking me (in Japanese) they invited me to their table and started ordering an 8 course meal to give me the full traditional experience…At some point I got a little worried ...I wasn’t so sure of what I said... Here I was in Yokohama at a table with a Japanese family who could not speak a word of English… and I could only frame a few words of Japanese. (What did I get myself into???)

Well it all worked out. The food was out of this world;the shark, octopus and even “the unknown”... It all melted in my mouth and the spices wooh!! I was so full that I had a double espresso to get back on my feet.
By that time I realized that it was night!!LOL!

Pictures:(cut and paste the link in your browser)

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=137637