[25.08.2009]

Today we went back to Yokohama so I could experience it in a better mood, but there were a few more things to do instead of just wandering around. First up we wanted to find a cafe that was featured in Morning Days 2 and try the same thing Ai, Risa and Reina ate. That cafe was…

CATS CAFE!!!

Cats Cafe is not in central Yokohama so we had to take the subway to get there. The annoying thing about this is the Japanese like to hide some of their train / subway stations inside of other buildings. There’s something like 3 subway lines in Yokohama, and the one we wanted (Yokohama Line) is in the basement of a department store. We didn’t know this until zorrander asked a station worker, and then it took us about 20 minutes to navigate our way through the department store food hall and down to the subway. Seriously strange shit, but we got there in the end. A short subway ride later and we got off at a station called Center Kita.

lots of places seem to have ferris wheels…

Not only is the area around Center Kita station a nice place, it’s also the home of Northport Mall which contains Cats Cafe ^^

sexy looking mall

seat of win!

Luckily we managed to sit in the exact same place where Ai, Risa and Reina sat, thanks to the cafe being quiet. We already knew we were going to have the ‘Unbelievable’ parfait before we had got there, but took time to deliberate over the menu before we ordered. When we did eventually order the waiter asked us if we wanted to take part in a challenge to eat the whole thing in 20 minutes, we declined lol. About 25 minutes later our parfait came out and even though we knew it was huge we weren’t quite prepared for it… The thing was freaking massive and when we initially looked at it we knew that the two of us would not be able to eat it all. I even went and ‘relieved’ myself part way through in the hope that it would help, and the waiter came round and cheered ‘GANBARE’ to us but no, my stomach couldn’t take much more. I actually think that my stomach decided enough was enough because it was all sweet, as 30 minutes after leaving the place I was hungry again <_< If I had ordered a savoury meal to accompany it I might have managed to eat a bit more. One thing is for sure, next time I’m in Japan I want to get a group of people together and go back to Cats Cafe. I NEED to finish an ‘Unbelievable’ parfait.

before

after…FAIL!

Upon leaving Cat Cafe and Center Kita, we made our way to the bay area of Yokohama which is called Minato Mirai 21 (I always think of Renai Revolution 21), and made our way along the moving walk ways to the tallest building in Japan – Landmark Tower. We would be visiting the observation deck in Landmark Tower on the way back, but first we had another goal in our sights – ENEO’s La Machine.

ENEO’s La Machine is the large robotic spider that Risa and Aika were able to operate on a recent visit, and Risa also got to see it in action on the Yokohama ShowQ programme, and being the huge Risa fan I am, this was a must to see. It cost us a fair bit of mulah to get into the event, but that ticket lets you go around all the Y150 events in the Yokohama Bay area, although all we wanted to see was the spider lol. We had no knowledge of what times the show took place, but we got to the area and only had to wait about 40 minutes for it to start. We managed to take some pictures of the machine, and also managed to stand in the front row when the show actually started. Awesome.

It sprayed out some water during the performance which was really nice as it was so damn hot, but thankfully it didn’t spray out enough to get us soaking wet like Disneyland. After the performance they did a lottery so kids could sit in the front seat and have their photos taken with some of the drivers. At this moment in time I really wished I was a kid again as I wanted to have my photo taken with them T_T

Not long after the performance finished we ate some nosh (frankfurter and fries), left the event and made our way to Yokohama’s Chinatown for some more Morning Days 2 food. Yokohama’s Chinatown is the largest in Japan but it didn’t seem that big. It was quite nice visiting a place like this, but because we’re outsiders I found that it didn’t look much different to areas in Tokyo, other than the abundance of Dragon and Panda effigies >_<

In Chinatown we were looking for a particular shop that sold…ja~ jan~

pork buns decorated like pigs…

…along with chocolate buns decorated like Panda’s (which Reina buys in Morning Days 2). We had actually found this shop the day before, where we both enjoyed two buns each – I ate both pork and chocolate, zorrander just ate chocolate. This time I was the only one who bought a bun and went for pork again because I found the chocolate one bland. Risa hadn’t given this particular item five stars, or recommended it anywhere, but I have to say that this is the only item she’s had (and I’ve tried in Japan) which I found delicious! She finally got a thumbs up for something from me d(^_^)b

zorrander took photos of the actual buns the day before

On the walk back to Minato Mirai 21 it started to rain, so after standing under the entrance to some business for a while we hurriedly made our way to the large goods hall set up for the Y150 events, and purchased some souvenirs whilst taking shelter. I only wanted the Tanemaru headband that Risa wore during the Y150 event but because it was raining I also bought a Tanemaru umbrella. Sucky thing was about 10 minutes after leaving the goods hall it stopped raining, and didn’t rain again for the rest of our holiday…FAIL!

We stopped at the amusement park in the middle of the area (you know…the one between the first building and the next building XD) with the intention of going on the roller coaster called Vanish, which was featured in a Zekkyou CM on Hello! Morning. Unfortunately that particular roller coaster was shut when we got there, and after umm-ing and ahh-ing for some time about going on the large ferris wheel, we decided to leave the park and not ride anything. Luckily the park is a ‘pay per ride’ place, and we didn’t spend any money ^^ We made our way back to Landmark Tower and rode the worlds fastest elevator to the observation deck. From the observation deck the views of Yokohama Bay, Yokohama and even Tokyo are quite something, and was much better then Tokyo Tower (visited Tokyo Tower before) and the Sunshine 60 Building. Well worth a visit if you’re ever in Yokohama. That was the last thing we did on our second day in Yokohama, it was getting late so we made our way back to the train station and back to Tokyo.

In Tokyo we met up with gordokaba and his Japanese friend in Kamedo for Yakiniku. This proved to be a comedic meal as gordokaba’s friend told us that if we left lots of meat we’d have to pay for it. At this point we had about half a plate of beef left, and no-body could stomach any more so we decided to disintegrate the stuff so we didn’t have to pay. zorrander turned the barbecue heat up to full power, we chucked all the meat on and it went up in flames lolololol. I turned the heat back down but it had no effect whatsoever, so one of the waiters ran over with a plate full of ice cubes. After checking the heat and looking confused because it was on the lowest setting, he then tried to dampen the flames with ice cubes whilst I was sniggering like Mutley. How the three guys managed to keep a straight face I do not know, but I found it highly amusing, as did two little kids that were sat two tables away. Thank god we didn’t pull that stunt when a group of guys were sat at the table opposite us >_< Needless to say, the meat was inedible by the time the flames died down, and we didn’t have to pay any extra for it. I continued to occasionally laugh about this all the way back to Ikebukuro. Simple things please simple minds ehh ^^

End of day 05

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Just want to say – Yokohama is a really beautiful city and contains architecture from many different parts of the world, probably because it was the first port to open up to foreign visitors after Japan shut their doors to the outside (what the Y150 events are all about). The whole atmosphere is very different to Tokyo and if it wasn’t for the fact that Tokyo is more convenient for transport and shops, I’d probably stay in Yokohama next time I visit Japan. If you do ever come to Japan, make sure to visit this place, it’s well worth it.