April 7, 2023 Yokohama Day 1

April 07, 2023

We were in bed before 10 p.m. last night and slept about five hours then dozed a bit. We were wide awake by the 5:21 sunrise. The restaurant did not open for breakfast until 6 a.m., so we read the digital version of our home newspaper to learn about the effects of the Wednesday snowstorm. About 15 cm of snow fell, which was blown about by the strong winds, causing many rural schools to close the day of the storm and the next day.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s entry that there were lots of staff at the airport directing people to the Immigration and Customs area. There were also staff assisting people with the electronic scanners in Customs. The paper copy of our QR code for Customs could not be read by the machine, but the copy on our phones worked. I only recently gave in to technology and bought a cell phone. It is coming in handy, especially today using QR codes for English versions of menus. Larry inserted the Japanese SIM card in his older cell phone last night. It has data access for all of April to the Japanese network. He ordered it online and it took a few days to be delivered. We can use it with Google maps for our explorations here in the next few days.

We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, since there are not any other restaurants nearby. The buffet selection was plentiful with western and Japanese choices. Fresh croissants were added to the pastry section hourly. After breakfast, we took the shuttle bus back to the airport. Driving back to the airport on the shuttle bus, there are a few Sakura (cherry blossom) trees in bloom, but the season has passed in this part of Japan. We should see many trees in full bloom in ten days when we visit northern Japan. We found the kiosk to buy the limousine bus tickets for Yokohama YCAT, which stands for Yokohama City Air Terminal. It is located at the central train station and bus terminal for Yokohama. Tickets are only sold on the current day, so we could not buy the tickets yesterday. We also did not know which hourly bus we would be taking when we inquired yesterday.

The journey took about 90 minutes skirting the edge of Tokyo proper on a toll freeway. The signs at YCAT directed us to the taxi stand. The taxi ride to the hotel was less than five minutes, arriving just before 11 a.m., too early to check-in.

The doorman retrieved our luggage from the taxi trunk and took them inside. He was dressed in a long dark coat, black top hat, black face mask and wore white gloves. He arranged for the luggage to be stored until check-in and gave us a receipt. Check-in is at 3 p.m. Rain clouds were looming and our umbrellas were packed, so the doorman gave us each a hotel umbrella to use.

The fine drizzle had stopped and we didn’t use the umbrellas. We went to explore a nearby shopping centre. Google maps sent us right instead of left, but we figured out the correct direction and found a huge - 3 blocks long - shopping centre. The store that we saw first was 7-11, then a small supermarket. Inside them, we found Canadian Maple syrup and Leclerc Celebration maple cookies. In the 7-11 are ATMs where you can insert your debit card to get local currency – the Japanese yen. After a while our backpacks were getting heavy so we decided to stop for coffee. Nearby we saw Bubby’s restaurant with some bakery items in a display case. We realized that it was after noon and saw their lunch menu. We ordered a Tuna Melt for me and fish & fries for Larry plus tea. After lunch we spent another couple of hours slowly strolling through two of the five levels of Landmark Plaza and Queen’s Square before returning to the hotel to check-in. From the outside Queen’s Square courtyard we took a picture of the Yokohama Landmark Ferris Wheel with its Cosmo Clock. Built for the 1989 World's Fair, it was the biggest and tallest Ferris wheel in the world at the time. It is 112.5 meters high and 60 meters in diameter.

We checked in, for three nights, just after 3 having walked more than 10,500 steps today. Because we are loyalty club members we have a late checkout of 2 p.m. That works well since our cruise embarkation time in 3:20 p.m. Our 17^th floor room number is the same as our former house address. The luggage was already in the room when we arrived. Like the western style bathroom in the ANA Crowne Plaza hotel in Narita, this one also has a toilet with a heated seat and bidet features. But unlike the previous toilet, this one also automatically flushes. We have a good view which includes a different angle of the giant Ferris wheel and overlooks the cruise ship terminal just 500 meters away. Shortly after checking emails, the rain finally started and was quite heavy at times. It continued well into the night.

After having a substantial lunch, we skipped dinner and had dessert and coffee or tea in the hotel lounge bar. Our original selections were sold out so we selected a Mont Blanc cake and a plate of small strawberry flavoured desserts.