The Japanese take on Chinatown...

Ok, I'm probably more Canadian than I am Chinese, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see it. The Chinatown I'm talking about is one of the areas in Yokohama, which is a city to the south of Tokyo, in the Kanagawa prefecture, about a 2 hour train ride from my house, and plays a relatively important role as a port. I went there this Boxing Day which, in Japan, is just a regular plain old Dec. 26th like any other.

I should say, first off, that I thought Yokohama was just another district that could be covered by walking. I have no idea why; I just thought that. And it's not. But luckily, there are a few train stations nearby to the areas I went to, so my obliviousness was saved yet again by the great train system here.

My first stop was the Minato Mirai 21 area pictured above and beside, which is essentially the Yokohama Bay area. The picture to the right is the Landmark Tower and the tallest building in Japan. It's just off the left edge of the picture above, which is looking towards the Cosmo Clock, a giant ferris wheel with a clock on it. When it was built in 1989, it was the largest ferris wheel in the world and the Cosmo Clock is part of an amusement park area.

A 15 min ride of the ferris wheel shows off a lot of what Yokohama offers but unfortunately, as is the case with a lot of elevated views of Japan, the view in-land tends to be a white haze but looking out towards the water is a rather nice view of all the things that happen around the bay area. I also went on the roller coaster but...... well, there are better ones I suppose haha.....

You'll have to forgive the reflection but there is glass there to....... y'know..... keep you from falling out......... that's pretty important.

After that, I went to the Yokohama Chinatown which is apparently one of the largest in the world. The most interesting thing this place, or any places like these, is that a lot of stereotypes get reinforced. I mean, it looks nothing like Chinatown in Vancouver which is rather pragmatic in its look (if it you can even call it a look).

As you can see in the picture here, this is how pretty much all the restaurants are decorated, with lots of red and gold and rather stereotypical "Chinese" features. I suppose a part of it is supposed to be visual attraction (coming here is supposed to be an "event") but I can't help but think that a lot of it is done just because that's what people think other people want to see Chinese buildings look like.

It's like stepping off the plane in Amsterdam and saying, "Well, where are all the windmills??". Of course they're there, but that's not the only thing there.

Aesthetics aside, it really is a bustling little area BUT it's not the same kind of business as Vancouver's Chinatown or even just street markets in Hong Kong. The produce selling, fish and meat dealing kind of Chinatown I always knew is absent save a few places on the edges of the Chinatown. Instead, it's almost all restaurants and people selling dim sum-like foods. I even had one of the better "cha siu bao"s I've had in a long time. The egg tart I had (named "custard tart") was not good, however.

And the popular restaurant offering seems to be all-you-can-eat dim sum....... for dinner. Around $20 or so at the current exchange rate, there's a huge offering of typical dim sum dishes which sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Aside from the food (and the Starbucks...... go figure), nothing else much happens. There's a temple-like building, lots of people selling panda-themed items, and fortune readers. It's driven nearly completely by tourism, noticable by the number of big gates you walk under even before you've actually entered the Chinatown.

But all in all, it was interesting to see. Yokohama seems like a happenin' place with lots of young people out and about. The Cosmo Clock was fun just because it's always nice to get high up and see the place. And the Chinatown was interesting, even if it was mostly my amazement at how they can afford such ornate buildings. I might go back some time because there are a few more sights that I missed so...... who knows =).

"Excuse me, how do I get to Vancouver from here?"