It’s cold here! And I mean that in a relative way. When I arrived, it was t-shirt weather. Yesterday, I worked up more than a good sweat walking around town. Today, on the other hand, is jacket weather. At the moment, it is a breezy 67 degrees – definitely not what this Hawaii native is used to.
Moving onto other things . . .
The trip so far has been a whirlwind! I’ve walked all over Tokyo and large parts of Yokohama so far. My back is sore, my legs hurt, but thanks to my Puma Clydes, my feet are in great shape. Note to those thinking about heading to Japan: bring comfortable shoes because you will be walking all over the place.
Here’s my friend and host, Ko, trying to instruct me on how to use the subway. Ko is a pro basketball player for the Tokyo Apace and was giving me a quick lesson on the trains right before he left for practice and I got lost . . .
That was on Thursday, just as I was planning on heading to Ginza, where I eventually bought tickets to see a Kabuki play called “Hiragana Seisuiki – Sakaro” after an hour wait. It was well worth it as you can see from the theater’s exterior . . .
After that, I explored Shinjuku, where I met up with Ko and we took in a dinner at a noodle cafe. Mmmm . . . I almost had to be rolled home . . .
On Friday, I rolled out of bed ready to explore Yokohama. On the way to the subway station, I was met by this smiling face. You may have seen him in a few films . . .
The first stop in Yokohama was the Japanese Overseas Migration Museum. Lots of interesting stuff over there and a place that Japanese Americans should make a quick stop at. Admission is free and it’s nice to be in the location where most Hawaii-bound emigrants departed from . . .
Then I got lost on the subway – 30 minutes in the wrong direction towards the countryside – although it wasn’t my fault. I was given wrong information by one of the subway workers, I swear. It may have been a blessing in disguise anyway since my body was aching. But, finally, I made it to Horiyoshi III’s tattoo musuem. Horiyoshi III is widely considered to be the greatest Japanese tattoo artist in the world – more on that in the next issue of the Hawaii Herald – and the floor under his hole-in-the-wall studio is dedicated to tattoos and odd knick knacks from around the world.
I had to rush back to Tokyo though because Ko and I had tickets to a Japan Basketball League game between the Hitatchi Sunrockers and the Toyota Alvark. Charles O’Bannon, a former star at UCLA and a player for Toyota, got us tickets to the game, so we decided to relax in the top row. Here’s the view from our seats.
That’s all for now, folks. Today is another busy day, but be sure to check back here for more on my trip!
