Happy New Year! Yokohama Edition

Hm, I'm a little behind on my blog postings, and I like how I am posting about my New Year...in June. At least I am posting about it though! Anyway, Nova gives you 7 days off for New Years (New Years is one of the most important holidays in Japan. Christmas is considered a "date" holiday here, but New Years is when you get together with your family). My friends Mai, Jessica, Donna and I decided to go to Yokohama and Tokyo for our vacation. Yokohama is now the second biggest city in Japan after Tokyo (in your FACE, Osaka) and also has the largest Chinatown in Japan. We decided to go there first. Chinatown was really cool and had great food. We checked into our hostel, which was ridiculously tiny...like, so tiny I could touch both walls at once:

Here is Mai, hanging out in her room. Did I mention we slept two to a room??


The main shrine in Yokohama:





And at night:




Chilling with the ladies and Mr. Lion:


So, the shrine is pretty, right? Very cool and Chinese-y. However, that was not the coolest thing I saw in Yokohama. Oh no, not by far. Those of you who know me realize these next few pictures pretty much mark the pinnacle of my existence on Earth. Nothing made me happier then walking down the street and seeing this:




Ahhhhhhh! Oh man, you might want to click on those pictures and enlarge them. The puppy is wearing a hat, vest, pants and SHOES. And damn if he isn't working it! I couldn't wipe the grin off my face after that and am currently looking for a similar outfit for Gracie!

The next day when we woke up there were men making mochi (Japanese smashed rice) outside our hostel. Mochi is...interesting. They literally smash the rice with this wooden mallet until is has the consistancy of Elmer's glue. I tried it once....it sat in my stomach for days. Not a fan.


This guy was Japanese porn star of the year in 1972.

Then is was off to downtown Yokohama, home to the largest Ferris Wheel in Japan.



Of course, we had to go on it. Although I got some good pictures of Yokohama, I have to say I did NOT like the Ferris Wheel. It was windy and shaky and I was a big wimp. The girls had fun though!




A homeless man asleep in the park:

How adorable is she????

One night for dinner we went to this bar called Kon's Corner. We saw it and thought, "why not?", sat down and realized it was ridiculously expensive. We thought we would eat there and then go somewhere cheaper to drink. Then we realized there was going to be a live piano player, and thought, "oh, we'll have a drink and listen to the melodious sounds of a lovely musician, how sophisticated and adult." Then this dude shows up:

Yeah, the piano was playing...as back-up music to this guys singing and dancing. His first song? Black-Eyes Peas. I am not making this up! It was awesome. Did I mention there was dancing? We had no choice (as the only other English speakers in the hizz-ouse) but to sing and dance along. As you can see, other people got into it as well.



Now, I cannot remember how or why we started talking to this other table, but let me tell you, they were as rowdy as we were, and when I say rowdy I mean drunk. And they bought us a bottle of champagne! Instant friends.



This is our poor tormented waiter, who we all thought was cute intially, but who became cuter and cuter as the night went on. We had a song dedicated to him, which was awesome. We asked for Color Me Badd, but the guy didn't know it, so he sang Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing" instead. Man oh man. You have not seen agony until you have seen the face of a poor Japanese guy who doesn't know what the hell is going on but is forced to stand at the table of four foreign girls while some other dude sings a song in which the only word you understand is "sex." Hahaha. It was like watching a gazelle innocently wander into a lions den.


So, after that fun night, we headed towards the cemetary for foreign veterans. It sounds depressing but it was actually really interesting. They had a big monument up and it detailed how different soldiers died and when. It was interesting.



Its the tiniest door in the world! Alice in Wonderland sized:


Japan makes me laugh:


Yokohama night scene:


After Yokohama, we headed on a small day trip to the largest Buddha head in the world. Actually, I don't think this is Buddha, but I can't remember where this place was, what it represents, nothing. I just remember it was huge and we got to go inside it, just like Pee-Wee got to go inside the dinosaurs during HIS big adventure. Awesome.




That's a big shrine! Thus ends our Yokohama adventure. Next up: Tokyo!