Yokohama & Yakitori (Friends & Food)
We got off the Shinkansen at Shinagawa (Tokyo) and took the local train to Kannai (Yokohama) – avoiding too many changes. At 4.30 in the afternoon it was almost dark and threatening to rain – back home again. Our first stop was our favourite Yakitori restaurant, next door to (the famous) Isezakicho shopping street – back home again - then a short walk back to our hotel near Chinatown.
Next night, Yasuko’s best friend (like a sister) Yoko-chan had invited us to stay over at her home at Fujisawa, 30 minutes away by local train. Daughter Yuriko, who had visited us whilst on her honeymoon in Australia 2 years ago, was home for the weekend and Yoko regaled us with some delicious food – too many items to mention. We also picked some fresh kakis (persimmons) off the tree in their garden.
After a walk in the park Yuriko and her husband Shin-san drove us back to Yokohama to meet (former partner) Bo Hansson at the Y. C. & A. C. (sports club) where we watched the end of a rugby game from the sideline, beer in hand – nothing has changed. Bo and Yasue took us for a delicious meal in Chinatown which is bigger and brighter than we remembered.
Yasuko went up to Tokyo to visit more of her friends while I looked around Akihabara electric district. It’s easy to get lost in the streets and arcades and hundreds of stores. One store, Yodobashi Camera, is 7 stories high, covers half a block and sells almost everything electrical. It (the district) has to be seen to be believed, but despite the temptations I didn’t buy the 12 megapixel camera (or anything else).
We weren’t finished with the food delights. Next night we went out with another former colleague, Yuki Oigawa and his family for some fantastic shabu-shabu and sukiyaki. Son Keisuke spent a year with us in Brisbane when he was a teenager and went to our local high school at Coorparoo, so we had lots to talk and laugh about.
We had a spare day so we had the brilliant idea to go to Hakone and get a close(r) view of Fuji-san – fatal error!! It was cloudy all day and we couldn’t catch a glimpse of Fuji-san, so we went to the hot spring instead and had (yet another) bath.
Last day in Yokohama we walked around our old district, through the park, and past the school. The little stores in Motomachi shopping street have all turned into boutiques, so it’s window shopping only. We met and had dinner with Yoko’s (younger) brother Yuzo who appears to have forgiven Yasuko and Yoko for their endless teasing when he was just a little boy and they could push him around.
Next it’s off to Shizuoka and Kyoto. The main thing about Yokohama is that although there have been some new developments, everything (and everyone) is still the same.
