Your Japanese word of the week is...

"yasumi" which means a "rest" or "break". But it can also means the same thing over a longer period of time, like a "holiday". In my case, technically, it lasts til January 8th.

So what does one do with holidays in Tokyo?? Everything, of course heh.......

I know quite a few people going home for the holidays so I've been running around seeing them before they leave. There's also been these year end parties (bonenkai) that I've been going to as well. But, so far, the furthest I've gone is to Yokohama on Monday.

Technically I did come here last year but this time, aside from Chinatown, I did different things. First off, I actually went up that "tallest building in Tokyo", the Landmark tower. I have to admit though, I found it rather uninteresting. Aside from an elevator that does 750m/min (45km/h), the view out just didn't seem that good.

I find high views of Tokyo to be clogged with buildings and while buildings can be interesting, it's almost over-saturated with them so it's hard to pick out anything interesting to see. Added to that the fact that it's hard to find a day with enough clarity (weather-wise or pollution-wise) to see really very far (like Mt. Fuji) and the Landmark tower's 69th floor quickly became a brief walk-around.

The tower also has a Museum of Industrial Science on the first floor but, as this is Japan, it's closed on Mondays.... I would've rather gone to that.......

After that, we (I went with Carl and Amy, the current Shiramizu Interns) made out way to Chinatown. And just like last year, there it was in all its overly-Chinese glory. One thing I didn't notice last time is that if you go in through the main entrance, the very first building you hit is a Starbucks........ some things just never change heh......

Chinatown is also something that never changes...... like I said last year, Yokohama's Chinatown is as much as visual attraction as anything else, so it's adorned with lots of stuff that people associate with China. Dragons, temples burning incense, a giant mural of Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, it's all there.

As is this. A Hello Kitty dressed as a panda posing like a maneki neko (those white cats with raise paws that supposedly bring luck to their owners).

Despite that, it's fun to just walk around and have a bit of food from the street vendors and whatnot, especially if you live in the area. We don't, but we had a rather good lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then went on our merry way.

We made out way out of Chinatown and decided to head towards Yokohama Foreign General Cemetary, which started in 1854 when Commodore Perry returned to Japan a year after he arrived in his famous black ships. On his return, a sailor died during negotiations and Commodore Perry request a piece of Japanese land to bury the sailor at. And thus began the foreign cemetary wherein now rest many famous and historical foreigners, as well as many who died in the Pacific theatre of WWII.

From there, it's a walk downhill to the sea-side Harbour View Park. While this would normally be great with a view across the inlet to Tokyo, by this time it was getting a bit dim and extraordinarily windy. We left the park and headed for Yamashita park which is quite literally across the street and runs for a large city block parallel to the shore. Nothing to do there either though heh......

We decided then to call it a night and headed for the train.

That would be Carl and Amy on the right, walking under a very neatly trimmed tree-cum-awning...

In the meantime, I hope every has a safe and fun Christmas and New Year's!

Or, as the Japanese say, "Me-rii Ku-ri-su-ma-su" and "Yoi otoshi o"!