Yokohama and Enoshima Island

Another chapter of my holiday action was a fun filled couple of days and nights in Yokohama, an awesome city (Japan's 2nd largest) just an hour's train trip away from Tokyo and more interestingly, the birth place of my mother. i took the train from Takasaki, arrived in Yok's and met up with Sarah, who was already there with her sister Kylie and their friend Kirby, both of whom were visiting from Bris-vegas for a couple of days.

There was lots of cool stuff to do, the city isn't as bustling as Tokyo but its got its own laid back charm and being a port city it was great to just stroll on the walkways alongside the sea and breath some fresh ocean air into my lungs. our hostel was situated closeby to the Yokohama China Town, which i had previously been told was a must for our visit. so, on our first night we walked through the neon lit, restaurant-lined streets of China Town and soaked up all the city's atmosphere. we had a chinese dinner and afterwards continued our walk through the streets. to top the night off we suddenly happened across a small jazz joint named 'Wind Jammers' which i had seen listed in my Lonely Planet. since arriving in japan i hadn't seen any live jazz and was experiencing major withdrawl symptoms - so we went in, sat down right in front of the band and drank (unbeknownst to us) thoroughly over-priced cocktails all evening. the band played all the classic standards and my withdrawls were eased.


The next day consisted of some serious sight seeing. we ventured into the city centre and watched lots of street theatre, went to Cosmo World (a small theme park by the bay) and took the world's fifth fastest elevator (45km/h) to the top of Landmark Tower, Japan's tallest building to check out the amazing views. on our last day we took a train, crossed a 600m waywalk over the sea and arrived at a beautiful island named Enoshima. being the new year holiday season the island was packed with hundreds of japanese people who were there to pray and pay their respects at Enoshima's Shrine situated at the top of the mountain. it was beautiful and the ocean views from inside the island's lighthouse were spectacular, i was so happy to be close to the ocean again. there were loads of these giant sea eagles that nest on the island and when we were watching some fishermen below us on the rocks, the eagles all congregated in the skies above them, fighting the seagulls for any scaps the men caught and tossed away. they flew so fast and were right above our heads - it was amazing!

All the pretty pictures are here.