Yokahama = Great-ohama

I just finish a two day whirlwind visit in Yokohama, a beautiful harbour city along Tokyo Bay, with lots to do and see I think this was the nicest place I have visited in Japan ....so far.

I arrived on Wednesday morning from Nagoya and drop my bags of at my hotel with just opened in September by far the nicest hotel I have stayed in while in Japan. It’s location along the Harbor, has lots to see and a large entertainment and shopping district but not crowded. There is a large influence of Hawaiian culture and shops with a whole mall based on Hawaiian stores and surfing culture. Since I didn’t bring my surfboard I made a trip to another train museum except this was a model museum, it is one of the largest in the world developed by an Japanese man whose whole life was dedicated to building and creating model railroads and is now located in almost an entire floor over 6,000 soft of a large office building in downtown Yokohama. It was a very quiet day there and I was one of only 3 or 4 visitors I was able to operate a section of the model railroad for about half an hour, If you haven’t realized yet I like all things about railways and Japan has it all.

Engineer Rob 

Next to the railroad museum is the Nissan world headquarters so I stopped by and looked at the new Nissan’s on display, the place was full of business people and models were showing off the cars and I wasn’t sure if
I was suppose to be there but it was interesting seeing some off there new vehicles.
I headed back to the area of my hotel and checked out the harbour area which is very nice with a large warehouse district  that has been refurbished and a large recreation area with a large Ferris wheel. Lots of good restaurants and and big outdoor Christmas market with all kinds of vendors sell the same crap we sell at home.
On day two in Yokohama I ventured over to the Kirin Beer brewery and took in a tour of the
brewery and participated in a beer tasting, a great morning.

After the tour and bit of a hunger I  headed off the China town which they say is the largest China town outside of China. Lot of choices I really like a lot of the steamed dumplings ...lots of variety and hundreds of street side shops that you can eat at. Being full of dumplings I stopped off a the Cup Noodle museum yes the cup of noodle museum it’s a five story building telling the story of Mr Mufimoto who developed cup noodles and was one of the wealthiest men in Japan when he died in 2007. The place was packed and people were designing there own cup of noodle cup and and reminiscing about there favourite cup of noodle packaging over the years, everyone here it seems grew up with cup of noodle the same way we consumed Kraft dinner.
It was a busy two days,  as I write this on the Shinkansen for a 7 hour journey to Sapporo to see Mitch and Hannah for the next week, it’s going to be a fun week ahead.

The Real Toyota City

I just finished two days in Nagoya which as Japanese cities go seems pretty quiet as compared to the other cities I’ve been to. But lots of industry here which I find intriguing. On my first day I headed south of downtown to the Shinkansen and Maglev museum, it was a really great museum with lots of displays (in English). The Japanese really have rail service nailed , but again they have to with 142,000,000 people, they can really do things at a huge scale and with incredible precision, all the train’s whether mainline or the Metro all operate on a tight on time schedule.
Yesterday I  went to Toyota City but not on the famous Automile about 1.5 hours outside of Nagoya, I had booked a reservation of the Toyota factory tour (in English) and museum, once again incredibly interesting, the plant manufactured 5 different types of vehicles simultaneously on the same assembly line which is about a kilometre long. Parts are brought in from all over Japan and are assembled within hours of being brought to the plant. They manufacture about 160 cars on a nine hour shift. The factory museum showed the technology the factories use and new models that Toyota makes at this plant and new electric and hydrogen fuel vehicles, it was time well spent. After I travelled back to Nagoya I visited the Toyota commemorative museum, another exce

llent museum all about how Toyota evolved from a company that made looms for the fabric industry and then evolved into the automobile industry. It was a huge museum inside of an old loom factory.  By the end of the day I was well informed about Toyota. I cannot get over how much industry is here and the sheer size of the factories, Canada could definitely learn a few things from the Japanese.
I’m heading up to Yokohama for two days my hotel is along the harbour I am not entirely sure I what I’m going to do but they say it’s a very nice city with lots to do.

Shinkansen Museum

Osaka and a few observations.

One week in Japan and I’ve seen a lot, and this week is going to be even busier before I head north to Sapporo and Ashoro to see Hannah and Mitch.
I arrived yesterday in Osaka on the Shinkansen and then the metro line to my hotel, a very nice hotel I got a room on the 29th floor on the executive level thinking I was going to have a big luxurious room I was sadly mistaken. The room was nice but man oh man are they small and compact.
Next to the hotel was the Japan Science Museum I checked it out it was really good with a lot of displays about Japan’s industrial base and it wasn’t very busy about the only place I’ve been to that wasn’t busting with people. I then headed to the Namba district a big market and entertainment area, being a Sunday it was really busy, Black Friday is a big thing here too and everyone hanging out and checking  out things.
Osaka has a Main Street about 5 miles long that is decorated with Christmas lights on all the trees it was quite impressive.
So after a week in Japan here are a few of my observations;

• Vending machines are everywhere, from street fronts , back alleys, parking lots, train stations and they most  drinks from pop  to hot coffee in a can which is really good
• Clean no litter or graffiti cars and trucks are all clean too.
• Japanese people take great pride in there footwear, everybody’s shoes are polished or new.
• Sunglasses while in Hiroshima and Osaka it was a beautiful sunny days and the only people that wear sunglasses are the tourists for the most part.
• The transit system is amazing and encompasses most of big cities I have only got lost a couple of times, the subway stations are huge.
• Restaurants and coffee shops are everywhere with every food type you want, grandpa Heck would be happy KFC is abundant and even open for breakfast.
• North american type Breakfast foods are pretty limited lots of pastries and snacks but you won’t see  bacon and eggs except at a Macdonald’s.
• The thermostats in most of my  Hotel rooms are in Japanese and you need a engineering degree to figure it out. Last night it must of been 28 degrees in my room.

So far it’s been a great trip today I get into Nagoya and will tour the train/Shinkansen museum and tomorrow I have a reservation for a tour of the Toyota assembly plant and museum near Nagoya.

My room view in Osaka

Hiroshima

Nov/24/19
I arrived in Hiroshima yesterday morning from Fukuoka about a two hour train ride.
I dropped of my suitcase at my cube and then headed to the Hiroshima memorial park and museum.
It is a very somber place and the museum is very large it took about 3 hours and is very graphic as the A Bomb killed about 140,000 people mostly civilians. There were many people visible shaken from this museum lot of people weeping,  as you see the pictures of the killed and badly burnt victims of this bomb. I came away with a thoughts that theses kind of weapons are very indiscriminate and all people suffer from this type of destruction.  One thing that I felt impacted by was at the site I was having an ice cream cone at was virtually at ground zero next to the only bridge that a was not destroyed. I could not have imagined what was this place was like on that day on Aug 6 1945.
Hiroshima is very geared to a lot of tourism and industry, with a huge entertainment district lots of restaurants and shopping. I spent my night at a Cube hotel which is basically a room about the size if a sheet of plywood maybe a bit bigger with a common area with showers. It was ok but I’m glad I’m staying at hotels for the rest of my trip.

Today I head to Osaka and will be checking out the sites there.

Sumo so much fun

I arrived in Fukuoka on Thursday afternoon , this is the largest city on Japan’s South Island it’s a city of about 1.6 million and  is a harbour city that is actually closer to Seol South Korea than it is to Tokyo. It’s is not Tokyo busy but a lot more laid back. The reason for my stop here was to see the grand final sumo tournament. This is the final tournament of the year and is a big deal, no different than the Stanley cup playoffs, TV trucks and media were out and the sumo groupies age 60 plus waited outside the Kokusai centre to see their sumo hero’s. The tournament runs about 10 days and wraps up on Sunday. So the importance of theses matches effects the rankings of the wrestlers and a champion is declared on Sunday. The tournament starts at about 9:00 am with the amateur divisions and works it way to the senior division that wraps up at about 6:00pm. Lots of vendors selling souvenirs and food trucks and food displays, you can have a bento box and  a beverage while you watch.

I arrived at about 11:30 and the venue was very quiet  as the amateurs are really high on the sumo radar here, put over the afternoon the crowds arrived and the place was packed. I sat next to guy who was a sumo fan from Japan he spoke no English and me knowing limited Japanese I bought him a beer and using the Google translator-Ap, we had a halting conversation about sumo and our lives in different countries. beer is usually a great icebreaker and we both had a good time.

After the match I headed out a local Ramen shop for famous Fukuoka Ramen and freshly made Gyoza's it didn’t disappoint. It seems that the train station area is where everything is happening at, at Hakata station in Fukuoka the station is huge, 9 stories tall and hundred of shops and restaurants. They had a big Christmas event on out side and the lights and entertainment and vendors was really cool.
I.m heading to Hiroshima today and will visit some museums and see the sights around there.

 A BUSY DAY BUT A GOOD DAY Nov 21/19

I am writing this blog this morning while sitting on the Shinkansen at Tokyo station as I head south to Fukuoka. This trip will take about 5 hours if you want to see all about the Shinkansen just go to You Tube to see some videos all about it.

Yesterday was a day of the senses after getting a good sleep I got on the Metro and headed south on the Ginza line to the Tsujiki outer market I have never experienced such a culinary variety. This market is home of the famous fish auction where the fisherman sell there catch. I was unable to to see that as it takes place at about 4:00am, but I was able to see all of the vendors selling their purchases along with a million other things. Of course I tried fresh cooked oysters, squid cakes, an omelette with with some type of fish and I tried whale( Katie now disowns her father as she is writing a report about how bad eating whale is), it was ok a bit oily but was well cooked and seasoned with Soya. I spent a couple of hours there. 

I then headed to on the Toizai line to Akihabara the electronic/anime district was looking at getting a new recondition iPhone of which there were plenty and good to use in Canada. I might pick one up later in the trip. The Japanese have retail figured out with every possible space is used for selling of goods or food, the back alleys have a lot of little restaurants which only seat 10 to 20 people. 

Back onto the Ginza line back to Shibuya another super busy district which is as busy a place I have ever been in. It’s famous for the Shibuya scramble again check you tube as there is also a live cam of the intersection.

A new high rise recently opened this month called Shibuya sky it has an observation deck and it was a clear but cool day, most definitely worth the admission.

Back to the hotel for a beer at a local family Resturant where the sumo was being televised I layer some of my best Japanese on the lady running the place and she laughed and told the other staff what I said and they all laughed but all was good as I got my beers and paid the bill all in Japanese.

After my beers I headed over to the Tokyo dome where I was told there was a huge Xmas light display. It was actually a big amusement park and shopping district. At the time there was a concert about to start for a group call Big East and the place was very busy but was see how crazy the music.Once you get the metro figured out it’s very easy to get around. Tomorrow  is Sumo day it should be another interesting day. Weather has been perfect about 18 and sunny. 

A top Shibuya Sky I forgot my selfie stick

Day one in Tokyo

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I got off to an early start after my arrival into Tokyo last night. Tokyo is a combination of massiveness but in an orderly fashion. The first impression I had was how neat everything is not a piece of garbage any where. I bought a bottle of water and I had hard time even find a recycle bin to use. Everything is very orderly and being in downtown you get the business vibe everywhere. Everyone in a suit and tie or women in a dress only the tourists were wearing jeans.
My hotel is about a 20 minute walk to the Imperial Palace and got on a tour of only a small part of the grounds, it took about an hour and gave a history lesson of Royal family and the history of the grounds they occupy in downtown Tokyo. The stone walls are about 600 years old and the oldest building was about 500/years old.
After my tour I hopped On an experienced the Tokyo transit system that is composed of about 15 different train lines that crisscross all of Tokyo. I had a bit of confusion and saw a few parts of Tokyo that I was planning to see, but it all worked out.
I visited china town and the Tokyo tower both very busy with lots to see and eat. So many restaurants here within a 5 minutes walk from my hotel there would be at least 20-30 restaurants. All are busy and cover a wide range of tastes. Tonight I’m going out for dinner and then to the retail/shopping district about 20 minutes from my hotel. Lots to see and do.

Day 1 November 17/19

A quick trip to Vancouver this morning and a wait of a few hours, before my 9 hour flight to Narita which is about an hour from Tokyo. A good time to brush up on my Blogging skills like adding photos and videos etc.. Once  I arrive I will have one of my bags forwarded to Hannah and Mitch from Narita then pick up my rail pass and portable wi-fi then head into Tokyo. I arrive at about 5:00 pm Monday afternoon. I’m expecting to see Tokyo rush hour which is from 4:00 until 8:00.

My view of my plane from the lounge at YVR

My blogging skills are limited but I hope to keep it interesting from my perspective of things. To those teachers keep your grammar or spelling comments to yourselves..lol....but I would like to hear your comments of what your seeing from me.
Stay tuned for more details that will be more interesting than sitting at an airport.

Preamble to the Journey

Follow me on my 3 week journey in Japan. I hope to share  some of my experiences as I make my way across Japan to see Hannah and Mitch. The first two weeks I will be travelling through central and southern Japan before making my way to Ashoro in the north island of Hokkaido.

A little info before I go, I’ll be starting from Tokyo then travelling south to Fukuoka taking in some events and see the local culture and history. I start making my way north with stops at various cities before I make it Ashoro where Hannah and Mitch will be hosting me for a week. I will be travelling just over 5,000 kms in japan, mostly by train.

My blog will be my view of things as I travel across this amazing country of 127 million people, that fits in about 60% of the size of Alberta.