Yokohama 横浜: Day 3 ♡

 Started off the day with the best breakfast/meal of the trip, a Japanese breakfast! ♡

The restaurant was Oshima at Pan Pacific Yokohama Bay.
By the way, this is a picture of the table beside us that had already finished their meal ^^

 The breakfast set had so many dishes: fish, scallop, tamagoyaki, tofu, soup, rice, tsukemono...

It even had one of my favorites, mentaiko!!
I love mentaiko! And every time I'm in Japan I'll buy mentaiko onigiri from conbinis^^
There's just something about mentaiko that makes it so tasty, especially with rice!
Needless to day, breakfast was delectable and extremely filling, it was more like a brunch to us!

After breakfast we checked out, left our luggage at the hotel and headed to Motomachi 元町, a shopping street. It's located very near Chinatown, you get off at the same train station.

Motomachi is a lovely cobblestone street that closes entry to traffic from 11am on weekends. We reached slightly before 11am, when they were just about the close off access for cars! The street is lined with pretty plants and flowers, which is always a plus point as greenery adds scenery. You will also be spoilt for choice by the many patisseries selling delectable cakes and pastries!

Adorable dogs and children are a common sight, as people flock here during the weekends to leisurely stroll  along the street. This cutie was somewhat reluctant to be pulled along by its owner and kept running here and there!

Halloween-themed chocolates at Godiva! 

Pretty cutlery...and very expensive! 

Colorful and cute umbrellas with animal heads as the handles! 

Cute dog with a pink shirt, resting on a bench^^ 

 ♡ Beautiful buddy resting outside a store

Spotted at a drugstore: limited edition pink Hello Kitty packaged D.U.P eyelash glue!! I thought last year's limited-edition pink packaging was cute, but this year it's not only pink, but Hello Kitty as well! I didn't get it though, I still have lots of tubes to use up...

Stopped for a short tea break, 1st montblanc of the day.

Montblanc is one of my favorite patisseries! ♡

This was kind of a scam, we wanted to just order cakes, but then the lady said we had to get drinks too, as it's part of a set (there wasn't a proper menu, you select cakes from the display). And the drinks cost more than the cake! But oh well, tea breaks are always nice!

 Two collies in a pram....I don't know why.

Yokohama Doll Museum ♡
Take caution when coming at night, the dolls behind the glass will scare you!
There was a doll near the entrance that was eerily lifelike, like a child.
Even my camera's face/smile detector detected it.

Marine Tower, a popular symbol of Yokohama. 

Built as a lighthouse in 1961, it is now a popular venue for holding weddings! They even have a special web-page regarding holding weddings there. Illuminated at night, the tower has restaurants, cafes and bars, and is popular spot for night dates.

Couldn't leave Yokohama without visiting Donki! 

Halloween Haribo

There were tons of Halloween-related goodies outside Donki. And all around Yokohama like candy stores, supermarkets and even in malls like Akarenga and Colette Mare. Wish Singapore could have that too!

Headed back to the hotel to dump stuff in our luggage, and on the way back saw some university students performing in Queen's Square (mall linked to Minatomirai station). Students from the flamenco club of one of Yokohama's universities! 

There's an area in Queen's Square called Minatomirai 109, which has a bunch of 109 brands like Cecil McBee, Esperanza, Dazzlin, Glad News...etc.

After that we headed over to Cosmo World, a small theme-park located by the bay. Here you can find rides, take purikura, play UFO catcher machines and Gashapon capsule toy dispensers. The arcade area had UFO catcher machines...which we didn't try^^

The main point of going to the arcade was to take purikura! 

There were also rides like this spinning thing which I would have loved to try, I love exciting/thrilling rides! 

And the main reason we went: to ride the Cosmo Clock 21, the world's largest clock, that's also a Ferris wheel! Standing at 112.5m, it has 60 passenger cars and takes 15 minutes to complete one rotation. After looking at it everyday since we got to Yokohama (our hotel rooms had views facing the bay and the Ferris wheel!), we just had to ride it.  

 At the wheel goes round, you can enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view of the Minatomirai area! 

  

Another mall in the area, World Porters. 

And Akarenga again ♡

Yokohama Oktoberfest, which was held right outside Akarenga!
Admission to the premises is 200yen, food and drinks are separate costs. 

Held annually at the Redbrick Warehouse, the event recreates the authentic Oktoberfest atmosphere of the Munich festivals.

There was a large selection of locally brewed Japanese beers and authentic German beers specially flown in.

And there was also the variety of German food like wurst and sauerkraut, and not forgetting the entertaining live band; the event was so much fun! I loooove sauerkraut, it's just so delicious!

Kanpai! 

Headed into Akarenga for more food cos the queues at Oktoberfest were crazy long and crammed. 

This is Kiyoken 崎陽軒, they make famous Yokohama shuumai/siew mai.

This is how Japanese shuumai looks like...very different from Singapore/Hong Kong siew mai! 

But it's sooo tasty! The skin is thin and the meat is juicy...

Now I will buy Kiyoken shuumai whenever I go to Japan!

Also got a special autumn bentou set. The kanji in the middle is "aki", the word for autumn. 

Montblanc #2 of the day, from Bashamichi Ice. This one is ice-cream!

It's soft serve vanilla ice-cream in the center, covered by chestnut cream on the outside ♡

Pan Pacific at night. 

Colorful lights of the amusement park rides reflected in the water ♡ 

Montblanc #3 of the day, along with green tea float! 

Last meal of the day before heading to Haneda airport :(

One of the purikura we took ♡

Yokohama 横浜: Day 2 ♡

A long day filled with a lot of walking, sights and shopping! Wanted to go to Yamashita Park early in the morning at like 6am, but the weather looked kind of gloomy so scrapped that idea and went back to lounge in the hotel's super comfy beds^^

 First stop for the day was the Kirin Beer Village Tour! ♡

There are no admission fees and you get to try up to 3 glasses of beer at the end! Reservations are required, and I made mine the week before. The tours are 70 minutes long and conducted entirely in Japanese, though they give foreigners brochures in English. 

The tour shows and explains the process of how Kirin makes their beer, their factory line, the types of beer they make and their sustainability efforts. Every minute, 2,000 cans of beer are packaged!

At the end of the tour, the tour guide demonstrates how to serve a perfect head. 

 Then everyone gets snacks and up to 3 free glasses of beer! 

If you don't want beer you can also choose from Kirin's non-alcoholic drinks like tea and juice.
FYI their milk tea is delicious!

 Some souvenirs at the souvenir store, sausage and mustard-flavored giant Pretz!
Apparently it "brings out the tastiness of beer"...

Beer cookies, with about 3~4% beer in the cookies. 

Between two layers of cookie is white chocolate, it's kind of similar to Shiroi Koibito! 

Mini beer! Each one is about 135ml!

After that was off to Iseyama Koutai Jinguu 伊勢山皇大神宮, a shrine.
Built in 1870, Iseyama Koutai Jinguu is a shrine enshrining the Shinto sun goddess.  

I love visiting shrines in Japan, when I went to Kansai in July I visited 8^^

Omikuji, paper fortunes! ♡

200yen each, based on a system of honor. 

There is no one manning the box, but there's a slot for coins to the side.

I got kichi (good luck) ♡
It unravels to a rather long sheet describing your luck in various sectors of life.

There are different types of "luck" you can draw, most places have 7 types. In order of luckiness:

Daikichi - 大吉 - Excellent luck

Kichi - 吉 - Good luck

Chuukichi - 中吉 - Moderate luck 

Shokichi - 小吉 - Small luck

Suekichi - 末吉 - Future luck

Kyou - 凶 - Bad luck

Daikyou - 大凶 - Very bad luck

If you get bad luck don't despair, you can tie the paper to branches in hopes that the bad luck will go away.

Had kitsune udon for lunch, I looove udon! ♡ Especially the smooth chewy kind.

Fun with the mirrors in the restrooms at Colette Mare, a mall in Sakuragicho 桜木町. 

 They have little cubicles, "powder rooms", specifically for women to touch up make up! ♡

Met a friend and headed over to Chinatown 中華街 in the afternoon. Yokohama's Chinatown is the largest in Japan. It's famous for its food, as the streets are filled with a plethora of stands selling snacks, noodles, buns and a wide array of (Japanized) Chinese dishes. It also features a temple, Kanteibyo 関帝廟, and theme park, Daisekai 大世界. 

Chinatown is also a good place to shop for cheap souvenirs, like this cute panda store! ♡

Tons of adorable panda-themed goodies to buy, and they're not that expensive!

Walked over to Yamashita Park 山下公園, it was sooo breezy! You could really feel the wind pushing you backwards as you walk towards the harbor^^ The park spans 750m along the harbor from Chinatown to Nihon-odori, and is very pleasant to walk along. Apparently, the dim lights at night also make it a popular dating spot. 

At the side of the park near Chinatown, you can find the Hikawamaru 氷川丸, a former passenger ship that has been permanently moored by the park and converted into a museum. Inside, you can see the cabins as they were since the 1930s.

Walked along the harbor to World Porters, a mall; then to Akarenga, another mall; then to yet another mall, Colette Mare and had a tea break (tired feet from walking about 5km since Chinatown!). Then walked back to Akarenga for dinner...though halfway there we got lazy and took a cab. It was only about 1km but cost 700yen!!! 

Some Halloween-themed candles at Colette Mare!

 Beautiful night view from Kokusai-bashi 国際橋. ♡

The annual Yokohama Oktoberfest kicked off that night, we were there at...830pm but it closed at 9pm^^ So we headed inside the Akarenga Redbrick Warehouse for dinner. Lots of pretty things to buy at Akarenga!

Mojito! (♥´౪`♥) 

The restaurant was roomy and a great place for a casual meal. The tables are spaced far enough from each other that you don't feel cramped, and the ceilings are high. ごちそう様でした！