Fujisawa, Kamakura & Yokohama, Week 2

Fujisawa - Food & Drink

The working week finished on Friday with a few quiet drinks. Our first stop was 'Mokichi Craft Beer', a hip bar in the centre of Fujisawa, supplied by the local Shonan Brewery. I tried first their 'English style Real Ale', an amber ale that was surprisingly good and surprisingly accurate. Then I had a large glass of the 'Schwartz', an imperial stout that was also lovely.

However we moved on fairly quickly, we were paying about ¥700 per beer (£5). We moved on to a spot where we had some more drinks and sampled some Yakatori - Japanese skewered meat. Among the selections available were Chicken cartilage, Beef artery and several types of octopus/squid. The options were interesting and entertaining, but safe to say the more common options like chicken thigh or anything heavily deep fried still turned out to be the most tasty.

We also sampled an interesting liquid speciality, 'Hoppy' beer (that's the brand), which comes in at 2%, served with ice and mixed with Sake. That, combined with a few more Asahi, and some generously donated cartoned Sake from the dorm manager when we got home, meant that Saturday got off to a slow start.

Kamakura

Saturday, unfortunately did not offer the same high weather standards that I experienced last week, but after a light bite in Fujisawa, I decided to nip to Kamakura on the old electric line.

Kamakura is famous as the former de facto capital of Japan during the Kamakura Period which ran from 1185–1333. It is the home several Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples, and is the home of the of the 'Big Buddha'. Sadly due to lack of preparation and being in a rush, I failed to prepare properly so I ended up at the central Shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, and not where the Buddha was.

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū was set in lovely scenery though, the first sight at the entrance torii is three bridges, the central one fenced off. This was traditionally reserved for the shogun who's seat would have been in Kamakura. 

The shrine was situated amongst some grand landscaping, including a grand straight path. I was lucky enough to witness a traditional Japanese wedding, which was held in the open in the oratory at the foot of the main shrine. 

These shinto shrines have some magnificent wooden architecture, and fantastic history (this one was the scene of the murder of Shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo in 1219). 

I'm still not sure what I'm doing when I'm going to them though, the locals often wash, line up, bow and clap at the doors of the shrine (no one ever goes in). I'm going to be coming back to Kamakura when i've got a full day, and maybe i'll arrange a tour or something at one of the many religious destinations in this small city.

Yokohama

Sunday begins with a trip to Yokohama, Yokohama is Japan's second biggest city, but is only about 30km from Tokyo itself, and therefore forms a major part of the massive 38 million population Greater Tokyo Area. A walk into Yokohama from a short bit out (we got off at the wrong stop) is an interesting look at urban life in Japan.

This isn't some harrowing story about the haves vs the have-nots, as it would be more vividly in other cities, but rather just the contrast between the bumble and disorder of the traditional streets vs the towering, clinical business district in the distance.

The primary reason for the disorder of the traditional streets is something I think is pretty deeply embedded in Japanese culture - the transient nature in which they treat their natural and built environment. There is a famous shrine in Japan, the Ise Jingu that is quite famous because it gets rebuilt every 20 years on an adjacent plot. The story is similar with domestic homes, the Japanese people don't buy themselves a house, they build one. So instead of the sweeping identical stone-built boulevards of places like Paris, Bath, even Glasgow; you get a calamitous collection of different buildings. And you can always count on a building site in every neighbourhood, where brand new homes are poured from concrete, made to order in weeks.

As we get closer to the centre, we come to Yokohama Bay, and we introduce ourselves to the industrial bay, bridges, and Minato Mirai 21 the CBD constructed in the 1980's.

Minato Mirai 21 is a 1980's CBD in the same mould as Canary Wharf or La Defense, but i'm here as a guest so now is not the time for a critical rant, let's just enjoy some photography of the buildings and the coastal park, which was being mightily enjoyed by the locals and their children.

Sushi

It was here in Yokohama that I have had my first proper sushi experience, complete with conveyor belts and live chef viewing.

It was a really interesting experience being able to sample such a wide range of different fish, both raw and cooked. The raw fish really does taste good, extra tender and fresh. Safe to say I sampled a wide variety.

From left to right, top to bottom:

Octopus, Squid, Mackerel; Something Fried; Shrimp, Some cooked fish with cheese, Raw Tuna, I think this was tuna too.

As with the Yakatori, there were some unfamiliar options, Octopus, Squid and tiny shrimp, eyes legs and all. The fish though, the tuna and especially the mackerel were exceptionally tasty and this is the difference between Boots packaged £3 sushi packs and proper Japanese sushi that I was looking for.

Minato Mirai 21 and The Art Gallery

Once we were full, it was back out into the CBD for a gentle stroll, The Ferris Wheel and the Yokohama Landmark tower are the two major sights that really put you in Yokohama and not some other worldwide post-modern business district.

We also stopped in the Yokohama Museum, where as well as modern art;

There was a fantastic section showing the history of Yokohama through art, which included this historical painting by P. B. W. Heine showing the American landing at Yokohama in March 8th, 1854.

A brief stop in Tokyo

Another busy weekend comes to a close with a brief dash Through central Tokyo;

The famous Shibuya crossing, the one on every film ever, was our train station, but we weren't here for sightseeing, in fact, we went quickly through to the sports area, to join a planned 5-a-side football session.

Little did I know, our planned venue was right in the shadow of Kenzo Tange's world-famous 1964 Yoyogi National Gymnasium, an architectural destination I was planning to visit at some point anyway.

Safe to say, Tokyo is something else, a giant sprawl of sight after sight, I'm going to have to make several stops here in the coming months.

This morning Japan was hit with a 6.9 magnitude Earthquake, I was woken at 6am in the morning to find my room gently rocking. However, it was apparently only a 3 magnitude in my area, and luckily, the tsunami threat subsided. It was my first experience of an earthquake, and the steel-framed building seemed well within it's means, thankfully I am still around, although the Japanese people didn't seem too phased in the morning.