Beautifully situated right on the bay, designed to look like a ship's sail.
Yokohama was the first Japanese city to open it's port to foreigners in 1853. The city continues to carry on the tradition of being very welcoming to foreigners. There are many expat businesses here. So far I've seen 2 Irish bars, an English pub, and a Greek bar. Being a hub for commercial business, many people speak decent English.
Our first morning we decided to just go ahead and have breakfast at the hotel buffet. It was good, but it was also 3200yen per person ($25.70). Not a viable option for everyday. So my mission was to find a grocery store, and buy some breakfast supplies. Sounds simple, but not exactly as easy as it sounds. First step was finding a supermarket on Google maps. Very difficult when your map is in Japanese and you can't translate it. Problem 2: our room has a very tiny fridge that is home to the mini bar. Not much room to put much of anything. Problem 3: there is no available toaster or microwave. I figured, I'll buy some fruit, yogurt, and maybe bread, breakfast done! I followed my GPS, walked about 2 miles into Yokohama, and was at a very strange, multi-level shopping complex. Problem 4: I know this is an automatic door, but why isn't it opening! I'm standing right under the sensor. Open! I stood there staring at the door trying to figure out how to open it. I pushed, I pulled, I waved. No luck. An annoyed looking man came up to me, pushed a button on the door handle, and voila! The doors parted ways. Good to know that the button said "Hit button" not "Push" or "Pull" like I assumed. Lesson learned. Once inside the stores all kind of ran into each other, without doors demarcating what is what. Google told me there was a grocery store in this building and I was determined to find it, so my plan of attack was to start at the top and work my way down until I found food. I found no food, but I did find a 100 yen store (a dollar store).
Normal looking jerky snacks, some beer nuts, and then some weird preserved fish fillet thing.
Everything is adorable. Including your kitchen sponge!
How fantastic is this egg timer?
This dog treats are ribbon thin, and the size of half your finger.
Dried tiny fish dog and cat treats? Not sure if Penny would go for this. Actually, I know Penny would eat just about anything, so she'd probably be into these.
Centipede, snake, and slug repellent.
The most adorable page marker sticky notes that I've ever seen!
Not condoms!
For helping you sort through paper!
Snacks? Toys? Nope, erasers!
Panda stickers!
Dried fish people snacks!
Flavored salts and maybe sugar?
Fuzzy toilet seat and toilet paper holder. Cuz that seems sanitary and necessary...
After walking around the building for about an hour I found the grocery store! In the basement. Through a kitchen. So shady!
Watermelon was not a breakfast option because we have no knives to cut it. But even if we did, that's a $12.70 melon!
I wish we did this in the US. You buy your shampoo, conditioner, or body wash once for a higher price. Then when you need more you purchase a refill bag for a cheaper price! Cuts down on waste.
The deodorant section. Except that none of it is antiperspirant deodorant. It's all deodorant sprays and deo-waters. Smells nice, but does nothing to solve the problem.
This might be antiperspirant, not sure. But it's also decently expensive for a tiny product. It's $5.15 for a deodorant the size of an EOS lip balm.
Fat shaming at its finest. PS: I'm an absolute giant here.
Cash monies! (About $45)
After all that searching for food, I got hungry! Here's what I've learned so far, if you want something authentically Japanese, it's not going to be that expensive. If you want anything remotely foreign, be prepared to pay big bucks. I'm trying to avoid spending a lot of money, so I planned on getting my lunch at a convenience store. Convenience stores here serve full meals that are healthy and cheap. You pick out what you want in the fridge, then pay, and they'll heat your meal for you in a microwave behind the counter. Many also have hot foods prepared and ready to go.
Thick yakisoba noodles, with carrots, cabbage, and bean sprouts. Not sure what the hashbrown looking thing is. It was crunchy on the outside, but had a soft almost mashed potato like thing on the inside that wasn't potato. This cost 690 yen, or $5.50. As a comparison, I looked at a menu with an American burger, looked like a cheap McDonalds patty that was 1700 yen, or about 14 dollars.
I'm going to try and pick up a different Japanese snack every day. This is what I found for today.
For anyone thinking, why is she wasting her time blogging on her vacation, I have a good answer! I have to wake up around 6 when E gets ready for work. Most of the shops around here do not open until 11. Also, TV sucks because it's in Japanese. So I have about 4 hours to occupy myself before I can go out and explore. Hope you enjoy these blog posts as much as I did collecting the stories for you!
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