Day Six: Yokohama |
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During the planning stages of this trip I decided to visit Yokohama if I get a chance. There really isn't any rational explanation for my desire to drop by this fairly young modern city unless you know that Yokohama is a sister city of Odessa. And it's very close to Tokyo. And it has a very nice Japanese garden (I have a weakness for Japanese gardens) that was created in early 1900s but actually contains some very old historical buildings that were moved to the garden from other sites, restored and artfully arranged to display them to their best advantage. So, all those reasons combined to give me a perfect day trip from Tokyo. On Monday I hopped onto JR train and a short ride later was getting off at Yokohama station. Additional half hour on the bus, after some confusion I did manage to first get onto the correct bus and then get off at the correct stop, and I was at the Sankeien Garden. The guide lists this garden as the reason to visit Yokohama, and I quite agree. The place was beautiful, and would probably be even more beautiful sometime in the spring and summer when it's full of blossoms. But even now, when most flowers were past bloom and the leaves have barely started turning, it was still extremely enjoyable. And with an effort I did manage to find some flowers (or something close to the idea).
These little guys were too busy ... basking in the sun to notice a horde of tourists taking pictures:
Sankeien is divided into two parts: the Outer Garden and the Inner Guarden. Outer Guarden was created to enjoy various flowers, while Inner Guarden was meant as an elegant composition of old architecture. One of the examples is a 17th century pavilion Rinshunkaku.
Interior designs that are visible through the openings of the pavilions were created by some famous artists of the past and I wouldn't have minded taking some of those screens home:
Pretty Old Tenzuiji Juto Oido caused me a lot of trouble. I was determined to photograph it, а если я чего решил, то выпью обязательно. So I almost fell off into water, right after I climbed over the railing and onto a thin stone rim around the water basin. All that just to bring you this simple image:
I have a weakness, if I see a big, long flight of stairs I will usually climb it, just to see what's at the top (who said something about cats and curiousity?). In my travels I've climbed lots of stairs and usually at the end you expect to get rewarded with something other than just pains in your legs. Well, these stairs (there were actually a lot more of them than fit into a picture) led to this view. Not really worth it, wouldn't you say?
To compensate for the useless climb to the observation point a little way to the side stood a three story pagoda. Unfortunately, an old small Japanese dude planted himself smack in the middle of the best picture taking spot, blocking most of the pagoda with his blue panama hat. He was trying to be helpful, explaining to the visitors some significance of something. In Japanese. Not very helpful for me. After I stood there for several minutes staring at him he got a clue and moved out of the way. This shack is not just any shack, it's a tea arbor that at different
times had been graced by a presence of such people as Rhabindranad
Tagor and Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Apparently, a tea used to be served
in this arbor every day until somebody stole a very historic tea
kettle. Eventually the kettle was recovered Old Yanohara House is open to the public and allows one a glimpse into the layout of an old Japanese farmhouse complete with a kettle set over a fire-burning hearth. It also allowed me (after I leaned over a sign saying 'off limits') a glimpse into a real Japanese latrine. My trip through the garden ended before the day did, so, I decided to visit few more Yokohama sites and took the bus to the harbor and Yamashita Park. Harbor looked exactly like what one would expect: water and boats (there Yokohama's resemblance to Odessa ended, as far as I was concerned).
The park had a nice rose garden in the center and some very interesting sculptures sprinkled around: a modern construction that looked like it was created from garbage containers; a monument to the friendship of Japanese and American girlscouts, with one girl standing dejectedly to the side, she must have been from some other country; a small sculpture of a girl in red shoes (we'd have to take the sculptor's word for the shoe color); and an Indian water fountain that didn't have any water in it.
As my final stop, I headed for a skyscraper. I pretty much skipped all such sights in Tokyo, tall building don't impress me much, but, if you are going to see one, better make it the tallest skyscraper in Japan: the Landmark Tower.
For some bizzare reason, the Tower has a ship, Nippon Maru, permanently parked next to it. The vessel must feel quite out of place surrounded by skyscrapers.
I dragged myself all the way out here to visit the shopping mall located in the area. I am in search of suitable souvenirs to take back home. When I walked into the mall, though, I got a bit of a shock. First of all, it was five stories high, secondly, names of stores located at the mall made my heart come to a halt (Tiffany's, Christian Dior and so on). I did managed to drag myself through some of the floors. Try guessing how long I lasted (I'll give you a hint: the entrance to the moving walkway to the train station was located on the third floor). To console myself after such utter failure to buy anything, I got a pastry and headed home. Complete album: |
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