With the Maedas, our tour guides for Yokohama. (Hioroko & Doc) Who cut off my head?Our mothers visited us in Japan from late October thru early November. For about 10 days we were on the go, going to Kamakura (2hrs. south), Kasama (2hrs. northeast), Nikko (1.5hrs. north), Tokyo (30min. south), Yokohama (1.5hrs. south) and of course our town of Omiya.
The trip began with a lovely ride from the airport to Omiya station by train (rode on 3 different trains, about 2hrs). Luckily the airlines misplaced Eleanor's bag so we had one less suitcase to carry. They brought it to our house 2 days later. Upon arriving at Omiya station Mr. Takechi (our Japanese dad) met us in his van and delivered us to our apartment.
After lugging the bags into our humble home, we had the moms out for a walking tour of the neighborhood. As dusk was setting in, we strolled around our meandering streets for only about 30 minutes. They were impressed with the gardens in our neighborhood. I was going to abandon them about 100 meters from the apartment to see if they could find their way back, but decided not to since they were not yet fluent at Japanese. When we arrived back to the homestead Mrs. Takechi was waiting for us with yakitori (chicken skewers) and german bread (bread made by germans). She is such a sweetheart!
Due to having to leave early the next morning for Kamakura, we retired about 9:30. Suffering from jet-lag, they did not sleep so soundly and were up at an ungodly hour, making enough noise to wake Elvis, so we were up at 5:30 too, (thinking gee isn't this great to be up before the sunrise). Taking turns in our airplane size bathroom, we then grabbed our bags and called a cab to Omiya Station. From Omiya we headed to Tokyo Station where we would change trains. It was a very relaxing train ride, not so many people were on, so we could sit and enjoy the views. We arrived in KAMAKURAaround 11:00AM. The Mitsuhashi family would meet us there to give us a tour of their city.
With the Maedas, our tour guides for Yokohama. (Hioroko & Doc) Who cut off my head?
Nance and her mom at the wonderful Chinese restaurant in Yokohama. (Thanks again Hiroko & Doc)
Exiting the boat near the Landmark Tower in Yokohama. The boat went from Yamashita Park to the Landmark Tower. We had a great view of the Yokohama Bay Bridge as a backdrop.
Visiting one of the Chinese temples in Yokohama.