Calm Before The Storm.

Before I started to write this blog post, I decided to take a glance at the clock. As the hands have now passed the midnight hour, I realise that we have only a single week left in this beautiful country. We will be spending the entirety of this week in Tokyo, and have some major plans, involving not only sight seeing, but also visiting some friends we have made throughout this trip. This will probably be my last blog post before I touch down on U.K. soil as I know the internet in the hotel requires money to function, and that is something we do not have much off. Thinking about the last week fills me with a mix of emotions. Sadness, knowing that the journey is coming to an end. Happiness, knowing that I get to see friends and family again. And last, but not least, fulfillment, knowing that all in all this experience has changed my life, and changed me.

We left Osaka via an overnight bus, the journey was worse than all the travelling I have done to and in Japan combined. The seats were probably made of stone, and the huge front window of the bus let in so many street lights, it became impossible to get any sleep. We decided we did not really want to do much in Yokohama. This is our second time here and we wanted to save some money so that we could go out with a bang in Tokyo. The weather took a turn for the worst while we were here anyway forcing us to stay inside quite a bit, so it all worked out nicely.

I have to give a shout out to Hayley's dad, Dave McSwiney. He booked us a room in Yokohama for Hayley's 23rd birthday, and the Hotel was like heaven after the hellish bus ride. As soon as we checked in and our heads hit those pillows, sleep drowned us, and we re-energised like never before. I might even go as far to say that was the best damn nap ever.

We spent the first few days walking around China Town some more, which I don't think could ever get old or boring, and in general, just taking it easy. A few days in however we decided to head to Kirin Beer Village for a free tour of the brewery. It was pretty swell! I have never been to a brewery before, and although the tour was in Japanese, I pretty much caught the gist of how things worked (mainly because of the English leaflets and not my awful ability to decode Japanese). The end of the tour was my favourite part. We were given three free beer tokens to go and try as many kinds of the Kirin Beer that were on offer to taste, also you got a free bag of snacks. After trying some Stout beer, and two different kinds of lager it was safe to assume, I was quite drunk. I guess it was the combination of having to finish all my drinks within twenty minutes and that because the tour was at 1 o'clock, the only thing in my stomach was some chocolate flakes from breakfast. Great times.

Kirin Beer Village, Damn Tasty Free Beer
Source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3211.html

After the free tour we headed into the main area of Yokohama to meet a friend, Kaz. We had met Kaz by chance a couple of times in Fukuoka and upon finding out that he lived near Tokyo, arranged to meet up again for lunch. We tried, for the first time, Omarice. Basically, it is a huge amount of rice, wrapped in Omelette, and a sauce of choosing to go with it. I was not sure how egg and rice would go, I mean, sure egg friend rice is good, but that is only a minuscule amount of egg, this egg was huge, but it was really delicious, as is the majority of Japanese food, so I was glad I tried it. Also, Kaz paid for the meal, despite our best efforts to give our share of the bill, so thanks goes out to him, for his kindness and generosity.

Yesterday, we went to CosmoWorld. A theme park in Yokohama which was pretty cool. The first ride we went into however, was awful, it was a mirror world, where you had to find creatures and then answer questions, I dunno, it was just lame, it was not challenging or cool, it was just pretty stupid in my opinion, I guess maybe I didn't get it. The next ride however was awesome, it was a ride which had guns mounted onto the fronts of the carts and you just shot the hell out of everything and as you hit targets you get a score. I left the ride with a score of 20,500. Hayley's was 4,200. I needn't say more.

We then headed for dinner after CosmoWorld. A delicious steak and rice meal and walked about a few of the shops nearby, generally just taking in the night time lights of Yokohama and the illuminated ships floating on the nearby sea. It has been nice in Yokohama, although relaxing, I have enjoyed my time hear again. I feel ready to take on Tokyo for the second time. We barely scratched the surface last time, so this time, we are going to do it all.

Also on another note, before I came to Japan I kind of expected to experience some sort of earthquake whilst we were here. Throughout the whole journey we had not come across any, but since being in Yokohama we have been in two. Although the centers of the earthquakes have not been near and the magnitudes of them have shrunk down to a "2" by the time they have reached Yokohama I can say that they are not fun. They are horrible to experience and I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have felt like to be near the center of the 9.0　magnitude earthquake that struck in March.  That and the Tsunami caused over 16,000 deaths here, and I just wanted to say that my thoughts go out to all the people affected, and the families of the people affected in those horrific events.

Tokyo, hear we come.

Thanks for reading,
Arigatou, Sayonara.