It’s hard to tell when yesterday ending and today started as I was on the plane for 13 hours. I will consider when they served “breakfast” to be the beginning of the day.
There was a choice of egg with chicken sausages (that’s worse than turkey) or waffles. I took the waffles and they were acceptable.
Arriving in Japan…
On the way to immigration and customs the Nintendo characters welcome you to Japan.
I used the Visit Japan website with the QR code to go through immigration. I got a nice landing sticker in my passport.
I didn’t need to wait long for my bag. I used the next QR code to go through customs, but the machine also needed my passport.
It was actually about 2:15 PM when I was ready to leave the airport. I did find an actual ATM (they hide them in a back hallway away from the very easy to find currency exchange tourist traps). I needed cash to load onto my ICOCA card to use public transportation. Somehow during my last visit I managed to have only 4 Yen left on it.
I bought myself a very expensive train ticket on the Narita Express (not to be confused with the Pickpocket Express in Roma, Italia) that was scheduled for 2:46 PM. There was one I missed by a few minutes, but it wouldn’t go all the way to Yokohama.
The train passed by a bunch of rice patties in Chiba near the airport before arriving into the urban sprawl. It was a relaxing ride, and there was free Wi-Fi (T-Mobile has been sending me angry messages about abusing the free international data).
Once I got to the Yokohama station I figured out how to load Yen onto my ICOCA card. The next challenge was finding the correct subway, Yokohama train station was much larger than I expected. I managed to find the right place and even get off at the correct stop and leave from the correct exit. On the way out there was some interesting art in the station, including what looked like part of a safe.
It was a fairly easy walk to the hotel from this stop. I did see interesting tiles on the ground while I was walking.
I arrived at the hotel APA Hotel & Resort Yokohama Bay – and it is quite fancy looking. I managed to check in, although the computer didn’t originally find my reservation when my passport was scanned.
〒231-0002 5-25-3 Kaigandori, Naka-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture
I got a nice, but small room on the 32nd floor overlooking the bay and the Ferris wheel. I took a few pictures before walking around outside. I paid slightly more for a room with the view.
I first headed to Osanbashi Pier where the ship will dock tomorrow to get some sunset photos. I used an app to determine that it was a good location to get the sunset behind Minato Mirai 21 and Cosmoworld (The Ferris Wheel).
On the way there I pass the red brick warehouses which was currently occupied by a German beer festival.
Almost to Osanbashi…. I can see it.
And I’ve arrived to Osanbashi Pier
It was a nice place to see the sunset, although it wasn’t too spectacular tonight.
A couple of night shots.
After taking a bunch of pictures and some video on Osanbashi pier I walked over Cosmoworld and over to the Nippon Maru sailing ship and museum.
I did see this cruising around by the Nippon Maru.
It was still a bit early, so I had thought about dropping off my tripod and camera to go for a walk to Chinatown, however once I was in the room I didn’t feel like leaving.
I tried to get some rest as the sun arrives early in the morning here – nearly 4 AM.
A few snapshots from the Princess app.
Today’s timeline:
