Tokyo & Yokahama, Japan

We arrived in the port of Yokahama after a day of transit, which typically entails no work, lots of eating and napping, games or movies with friends – similar to a weekend day (only no errands to run!). We went straight to the largest city in Japan -Tokyo. On the train, we sat in awe watching a young, Japanese man adorned with 20 stuffed animal cell phone charms take out a large, child-like yellow mirror to groom his hair with a pink, Barbie-looking comb. Anyway, we spent our day on trains and on foot, mingling through crowds of people; viewing fall leaves, Christmas decorations, bright signs; pointing out known store brands; and ducking into stores to examine the hats, stickers, cameras, cell phone charms, candy, liquor or whatever you can possibly imagine to be on sale. We went to Shimbuya to cross over the largest pedestrian street in the world (see picture). Our friend, Stephanie, convinced us to dip into a photo booth store to take a photo together and then garnish it with bow ties, hearts, bunny ears, gaudy eyelashes, and strange sayings, such as “Dangerous” and “We are so happy!” We went to the top of the government assembly building for a great view of the city. And last but not least, we visited the US Embassy to add passport pages needed in order to acquire our visa into South Africa. To our surprise, NFL football was on the television making our wait enjoyable. The amount of security was noteworthy; in fact, we had to show our passports before crossing the street since we were technically walking on “American soil.”

The second day, always the day when we start to feel physically tired from doing so much walking and touring, we headed out to satisfy our obsession with fall leaves one last time. We went to several parks with our favorite being Harbor View Park with a view of the harbor, Bay Bridge, and a rose garden. We walked along the marina most of the day, including a short walk to Minatomirai Pukari Pier, a “floating pier which moves up and down with the tide” as the visitor’s guide states. It was definitely overhyped. More eventful was the world food market with exceptionally high prices. We spent more than an hour in this grocery store. For example, a bag of Funyons or a Ritter Sport chocolate bar was six dollars. There is such a selection of food oddities (by our standards) though that it is fun just to explore. For lunch, we enjoyed a huge bowl of super-thick rice noodles with soy sauce, green onion, finely cut radish, and a big tempura egg.

By the second day in ports, I find myself trying to find the most efficient way possible to walk the least. I convinced Chris and Stephanie to stand, not walk up the escalator to conserve our energy and feet. This is coming from a person who exercises daily!

Now, we are back on the ship for 10 days with the extreme opposite in terms of walking. No doubt, we are going to get antsy with the limited space available for 800 individuals in 10 days. My hope is that knowing we are coming to the end of this voyage will bring appreciation for ship life and we will take pleasure in the simple moments, such as fruit every day for breakfast (if we wake up), saying “hello” to 50 people a day, fist bumping with the waiters, watching the ocean while lifting weights and contemplating its immensity, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with our extended family, taking a bridge tour, a one minute commute to start work, etc.