Yokohama and My First Mt. Fuji Sighting

I've told you about my fear of not seeing everything possible while we're here in Japan... so last weekend I told George we were going to go out and see something. I did not want to spend a single weekend where we don't leave the base again! I couldn't stand it! So he told me to plan a day trip and we would take it the next day. So Friday night I spent the evening researching places we could spend our Saturday. I settled on Yokohama. It's a touristy town on the ocean. We caught the train and rode it to Yokohama. It only took about 1.5 hours. We changed trains three, maybe four times. Each time we use the trains it gets easier. I love that we are finally understanding how to do it! It makes exploring less daunting. :)

We got there and as we exited the train station we were approached and asked for money. This is something we hadn't encountered yet in Japan, as they are such a proud culture. This guy had a giant binder and asked us to sign a petition and money for the cause, something about a natural disaster in Northern Japan. We weren't going to sign anything because we didn't know exactly what it said, but gave him a few American dollars so he'd leave us alone.

We walked to the Landmark Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Japan. (And the tallest you can go to... I think.) We took the elevator up to the 69th floor. We could see everything. Summer is the rainy season in Japan and we have had awful rainy weather. But that Saturday was one of the clearest since we'd been there. We'd done a lap or two around the building, taking pictures of everything below us and then we saw a family pointing out the window and saying “Fuji-San!, Fuji-San!” I repeated this to them and they pointed, and said “clouds” I looked, hoping to see Mt. Fuji, but couldn't see it. “Fuji-San?” I repeated to them. “Hai, Fuji-San! Clouds!” Then all of a sudden, I saw it!!! It was SO big. It was sticking up above the clouds. I was SO excited!!! I've been told you could see it on a clear day and really since we've been in Japan we haven't had a clear day (and this is in 2 months) that you could see it from the base. George and I were so happy to have had our first “Fuji sighting”. Well... George has actually seen it, but never the top of it, only from the base of it, doing work.











After we finished looking from the top of the tower, we went back down the elevator where there was a 6 story mall. We walked around for a bit, and found a Gap and an Banana Republic. We didn't buy anything though because we didn't want to carry anything around with us! We had lunch in the food court there, at a cute little French restaurant. I had a cheesy green bean bread, and a chicken/mushroom mini sub, which kind of reminded me of a Quizno's torpedo. It was really good. George had a piece of bacon cheese bread. Also, very good. (Of course I took a bite).

We walked over to the giant Ferris Wheel next! We took a ride on it, and really enjoyed that (minus the point where George thought it would be funny to try to rock it). Then we took a ride on the roller coaster. We had to wait to sit up front, but it was worth it. Sometimes it's fun to put your hands up, scream and just take a ride on a roller coaster in the front row.

By then it was around 3:30pm and we couldn't decide what to do next. We were either going to walk to Chinatown and explore that area of Yokohama or take the train to the Kirin Beer factory. The last tour of the factory started at 4:30. We decided we could make it. We hopped back on the train but by the time we were to the next stop where we would change trains it was already 4:15pm and it was still a 15 minute walk from the train station to the factory. We decided to just head home. We were hot, sweaty and tired. We also knew that we could come back to Yokohama sometime soon and check out the beer factory and Chinatown. We took the train home, walked back to the base then decided to go to the mall for dinner and ice cream. As we were driving across the base, I turned and looked out the window and there it was... Mt. Fuji. In all her glory. Just beautiful. I'm sure in a few months I'll look at it and not be impressed at all, but for now, I like it. :) George and I “jinxed” each other and yelled, there it is! He saw it at the exact same time. What a pretty day.

We made it to the mall here near the base (which neither of us had been to yet). It has an L.L. Bean, Gap, H&M, and a few other American stores. It also has a KFC and a Coldstone! We got ice cream and tipped them, and they sang us the Flintstones theme song. Overall, it was a wonderful day!!!