Yokosuka Part 3

We had so much fun during our visit to Yokosuka, it was almost sad to say goodbye. We tried to make the most of the few hours we had each night when David was out of school. It is a fun, colorful city, that has a long history with the US Navy and therefore a lot of the food and shopping has been influenced by that, especially in "The Honch" where our hotel was located. We had the opportunity to taste and experience a lot of new foods and restaurants while we were here.

I ate Shabu-Shabu for the first time with Brittany and Liliana while David was in school. David and I went to a Shabu-Shabu place before, but what we picked off the menu was cooked in the kitchen so we actually didn't get to use the burner. The table has a hot plate in the middle with a pot of boiling water. You then take different vegetables, noodles, and thinly sliced meats and cook them in the water. Sauces are provided on the side in bowls so when the ingredients are done cooking you put them in the sauce to add flavor. That way each person eating at the table can flavor their meal to taste. It is really fun and quite delicious. Ours was a lunch course where you pay for your meat by weight, and the rest is all you can eat in 60 mintutes, they also had soup and ice cream in the all you can eat portion. 

Many Japanese restaurants don't have high chairs with straps, only smaller chairs meant for children who know well enough to not try and escape. i found a solution for Eisley to keep her corralled and away from the boiling pot and hot plate. I actually get really excited when I see a high chair here, it's the little things in life :)

Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, Melon, and Mango Ice Cream

The girls checking out the first served at a neighboring restaurant. I believe you can choose which fish you would like to see on your table.

Mille Crepe Cake from a bakery counter

Another first for us is that we tried Okonomiyaki. Often described as a Japanese pancake, it has very little in common an actual pancake. This is another cook it yourself meal. The server brings you the ingredients piled in a bowl and we had to figure out how to cook it ourselves looking at some instructions in Japanese. The one we chose came with noodles, cabbage, raw egg, cheese, green onion, shrimp, cod roe, mayonnaise, and batter. I was pleasantly surprised and I am sure we will be trying this again while we are here.

What it was supposed to look like, and what it really ended up looking like. I am assuming that was a lot of user error on my part though.

The Honch

The Honch

A "Buger" Place and some cool street graffiti. David sees a face, and I see Mount Fuji.

Yokolicious is a fun spot to get candies from Japan and around the world, some fresh crispy Hot Wings, and other fun food.

We also visited our first restaurant where you can't wear shoes. You take your shoes off and place them in lockers before entering. It was a beautiful restaurant overlooking Yokosuka, and it had a variety of seating options. We sat at a table that had a sunken area under the table for your legs. They also offered some tables with low chairs or tables where there was no sunken area under the table so you could sit cross-legged on small floor cushions.

Finally, this is what happens when you wear the same sandals almost daily for 2 months. It was snowing when we left Norfolk, so I had packed mostly Knee-high boots and only one pair of sandals. 

I love it when ordinary objects accidentally look like faces.

In Japan you walk A LOT. I haven't walked this much on a daily basis ever before in my life. So when you find a pair of shoes that doesn't give you blisters, you wear them all the time. My awesome flat Target sandals unfortunately aren't the most supportive shoe for what I have been using them for (hiking up mountains, 13 hours on foot in Tokyo, etc) so I finally broke down and bought some shoes I thought could be both comfortable and somewhat stylish. I bought a pair of tan Clark's Boat Shoes, and some awesome patriotic Sperry's. If you know of any cute, comfortable shoes that can handle a lot of walking let me know!!!

The Sperry's David helped me pick out.

Eisley rocking her Sperry's.

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Yokohama

Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan and a major port city. It has a nice harbor area and a lot of nice skyscrapers. There is also a little theme park called Cosmo world. It has a nice ferris wheel that was the largest in the world in 1989 but has since been surpassed.  

Minato Murai 21 (harbor of the future)

Nippon Maru, a 1930's sailing ship that serves as a museum. 

Yokohama Landmark Tower

Each city has their own decorative manhole covers

Yokohama also has Japan's largest Chinatown. It has beautifully designed gates and a bunch of great restaurants and dumpling stands. 

Busy making perfect rows of Chinese dumplings.

Delicious steamed buns. The piggy one is pork, the red is strawberry and the white pandas are chocolate.

Chocolate filled steamed bun. It was interesting, not bad at all. It tasted like chocolate Malt-O-Meal, but not quite as grainy.

A major specialty of Chinatown is whole roast duck. We also found the Yokohama special Strawberry Cheesecake kit kats and Rum Raisin kit kats.

We were able to see Kwan Tai temple, which enshrines the diety Kwan Tai who was a general in 200AD for the Chinese Imperial Army. The Chinese shrines are so ornate and colorful!

Everything in Yokohama was Panda themed, even the caution road rails.

The second temple we found was Mazu Miao Temple where the Goddess of the sea is worshipped. 

We went inside where a sweet man walked us through Kau Chim, a chinese fortune telling practice. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! We were told to ask a question (there was lots of kneeling and bowing involved). Then they give you a cup filled with 100 sticks, each numbered. You then shake the cup while it is tipped slighly forward until one stick comes forward of the others and falls out. To confirm that you got the "right one" you toss two wooden blocks called Jiaobei which have a flat side and a rounded side. If they fall with one facing up and one facing down, then the stick you drew is correct. If not you must start the process over again until you get a favorable result. My fortune is below, google translate as always was very unhelpful. Someone my friend knows was able to translate it partially for me, and he said it means that now is a good time for change and for moving forward, whether it be major life events or travel. 

Map Links:
Yokohama Landmark Tower
Kwan Tai Temple
Mazu Miao

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