One Day in Yokohama

Hello Yokohama~

It was Sunday, April 2nd 2017, when we arrived at Yokohama. The weather was much better, a bit cloudy but there was no rain. We only spent one night in that hustling harbor town and went to Fujisawa by next morning. So we tried to make our best spending this precious one day in Yokohama. My oh my, there were lots of flowers everywhere in this city...

Yokohama Park

Yokohama Stadium

Yokohama Park

After we put our luggage at our hotel, we actually wanted to go to Chinatown from Kannai Station. But along the way we decided to stop at Yokohama Stadium and Yokohama Park. There was this Garden Necklace event and tulips were blooming around this area. Some pink cherry blossom were already bloomed too. I'm not sure if there's always tulips in this park or it's because of the event. It's a wonderful sight for me, I had never seen so many tulips in so many colors before. I almost thought that we actually visited Koukenhof...

Tulips bloomed all over the place

Garden Necklace

The Garden Necklace had a mascot which I'm not sure if it's a bear or mouse or hedgehog... We called it Green Kuribo since it had floral frizzly rounded hair and green all over the body.

There were lots of pigeons in this park, another rare sight for me. They're not particularly tame, but they seemed pretty eager every time somebody gave them food. Families seems to enjoy their Sunday around here.

Japanese Garden at Yokohama Park

Still in Yokohama Park, when we walked further to Chinatown direction, we found a small Japanese style garden with pond  inside. It was really relaxing and gave a different atmosphere from the tulip garden. There were some birds nestling around this area, but I'm not sure what kind of bird are they.

Gate to China Town Area

China Town

Across Yokohama Park, finally we arrived at Chinatown district. This place was really crowded and there were lots of tourist too. The vibe that I got from this area reminds me of Dottonbori in Osaka. Vibrant and cheerful, but with a lot of Chinese characters.

Lots of people here~

Our goal to visit Chinatown was mostly about food. We wanted to know how Chinese food are handled in Japan, especially for Nikuman (meat bun), Kakuniman (pork bun), and Grilled Xiao Long Pao. My brother was the one who research around this area and he picked 2 place for us to try. Each already had a pretty long line.

Nikuman

Kakuniman

As a Chinese descendant in Indonesia who grew up with Chinese cuisine but also a Japanese food lover, I have to say... don't expect too much with Chinese Food in Japan. The meat bun and pork bun that we bought were awesome. So if you want to try some Japanese-Chinese food, stick with the bun kind and you'll be fine.

Yaki Xiao Long Bao

Xiao Long Bao

Xiao Long Pao is my favourite kind of dimsum, sadly both of xiao long pao and grilled xiao long pao that we had tried in Yokohama was a bit disappointment for me. the skin is a little thick but wasn't smooth. It had this glossy rough kind of texture in the skin surface. The broth and meat inside was pretty good, but not as delicious as I had expected.

Chinese restaurant in Indonesia like Paradise Dynasty and Imperial group has a much better xiao long pao with smooth but firm skin and delicious content. My brother who already tasted grilled xiao long pao in Shanghai said the Chinese one was whole lot better in different level.

After we warmed up our stomach with dimsums, we strolled around this area and looked around some interesting shops. Then we head to Yamashita Park.

Yamashita Park

Yamashita Park - NYK Hikawamaru - Osanbashi Pier

Yamashita Park is a beautiful flower garden by the sea side. This park was very lively. Couples and Families seems having fun around here while enjoying flowers. We met another Green Kuribo so this place was also a Garden Necklace spot. On the pier we saw NYK Hikawamaru, a big old ship that turned into Maritime Museum. Seagulls are hanging around this area. I wonder if we can actually fed them.

Beautiful seaside garden...

NYK Hikawamaru

From Yamashita Park we were walking towards Red Brick House using the seaside pedestrian road (or bridge...?). Along the way we saw Zou no Hana Terrace, a park that seems the be Children friendly place, and another spot of Garden Necklace which we enjoyed from above. We also saw Osanbashi Pier. It seems relaxing to just sit in the green grass and enjoying the view of the seaport.

Hello again, Green Kuribo~

Another Garden Necklace Spot

Awesome Yokohama~

Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse

This place might be where Mariko was kidnapped and confined in Waki Yamato's Yokohama Manga.
(Okay, this one might be too segmented...)

Red Brick Warehouse

Nowadays, instead of warehouse, it became a shopping center for indie fashion and food. Lots of young people were hanging around here. There were an indie girl band performance when we arrived in this area.

Inside the Red Brick Warehouse was overwhelmingly crowded with people. There's a lot of interesting shops and foods but it's too crowded for me to enjoy the place and the walkway seems a bit narrow. In the end we prefer to walked around the building rather than went inside. ^^;

After some hours walking around, we finally got tired and pretty hungry. Instead of walk to Minato Mirai area, we had decided to find nearest station and went to Yokohama Station. While we tried to find the station, we also enjoyed the scenery of Yokohama old style buildings around this area. 

This town is pretty~

We went to Marui City Yokohama and got enough rest by sitting and waiting for the lines for Cafe Accueil. We wanted to enjoy pancakes before we went to Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. Click HERE for more about this cafe.

Hakkeijima Sea Paradise - Aqua Museum

Hakkeijima Sea Paradise - Aqua Museum

This place is almost 1 hour by train from Yokohama Station by Seaside Line. Just outside Hakkeijima station, there's another Cremia spot. 500Yen for the most addictive ice cream I've ever had so far. :d

We crossed over the road (or bridge... again...?) to finally arrived at Hakkeijima Island and went to Aqua Museum. It was 5-6PM, windy and cold. But the fee for Aqua Museum is a bit cheaper at night, and we do prefer enjoying aquarium scenery as the last activity of the day.

2 years before, we visited Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. If Kaiyukan has an enormous aquarium with whale shark inside and a very lovely smiling seal, then Hakkeijima Aqua Museum offers you smaller but more varieties of aquariums and more activities inside. We even got to see Dolphins and White Belugas show. They were so cuteee~

Dolphin Fantasy

White Belugas

Since it was Spring, the decoration and lighting were having pink and Sakura for the aquarium theme. Walking around this Aqua Museum was very calming and relaxing. But since it's dark, it was pretty hard to took a nice photograph around here.

Sakura Tree

Small aquarium with Sakura for decoration

so cute~

It won't be complete without jellyfish

I wish I could stay here for more hours...

This place is actually better to be enjoyed by day rather than night since there are also amusement park in this area and some animals are asleep by night. But even at night, we really enjoyed our time there. If only it could last longer.

One day in Yokohama was almost over. We spent the rest to went back to our hotel and eat some bento for dinner. The next morning we would go to Kamakura. ~