Exploring Yokohama and Enoshima

We never planned on visiting Yokohama. When we scoured the internet for the perfect travel itinerary, it never came up. Somehow, we ended up with a 3 day gap in our plans that we had to fill last minute and that's when we noticed Yokohama. Staying in Tokyo the entire time was an option, but when we realised that Japan's second-largest city was just a short train ride away, we became curious.

It took only two trains and an hour to make it from Shinjuku station to our typical business hotel next to Yokohamas baseball stadium. The Daiwa Roynet hotel we stayed in was by no means fancy, but our room felt beautifully spacious after a cramped couple of days in a small Tokyo hotel. We couldn't check-in when we arrived, but the staff were happy to store our bags for a couple of hours while we went on the search for breakfast.

The first place we stopped at (a station side onigiri stall) was less than recommendable, so off we went on the search of a second better breakfast. We found Gooz, a local shop similar to a upmarket deli. They had a large range of savoury and sweet options to choose from, and as the place was bustling with locals it seemed like a sure bet. It swiftly became our go to shop during our Yokohama visit.

Although most people found a comfy spot to sit and consume their snacks right outside the deli's doors, we decided to take our selection with us and find a spot nearer to the waterfront. As we sat on a large concrete block enjoying our cakes, we noticed something slightly unique to Yokohama. Not only was there far more dogs around compared to the other cities we'd visited in Japan, most of them were dressed in rather eccentric outfits. We later found out that there was quite a few dog specific events on that weekend, that combined with Yokohama being considered a particularly dog friendly city explains the quantity of dogs... I don't think much could explain away the strange dog fashion choices going on however.

First on our days sightseeing agenda was the red brick warehouse, Yokohama's former customs inspection building. Although we mainly visited just to look at the iconic buildings, there was far more going on than we'd anticipated. The insides of the two warehouses have been converted into shops and dining spaces, and the outside space hosted an event we hadn't expected to see so far away from Europe - Oktoberfest. The sound of merry oompah bands and the lure of interesting beer almost caught Ben, but after a brief deliberation we were back on our way.

Heading south along the coastline and passing Yamashita Park, where they were setting up a weekend-long food and craft market called "World Festa," we arrived at the NYK Hikawa Maru—a luxury ocean liner now serving as a museum. There's something special about exploring beautifully preserved historic locations. Gleaming wood ; intricate wrought iron staircases, and stunning stained glass windows, details all thoughtfully designed and perfected. I find it difficult to imagine these places in actual use, perhaps because if they were, they would be well beyond my means, and I would only ever see them by working there. Paying ¥300 each seemed more than reasonable to explore this place.

The difference in ships is that alongside these areas designed to impress the upper classes exacting standards there are functional spaces they would have also used. In the HYK Hikawa Maru, plain white painted metal made up the majority of walls along the corridors and decks, not exactly pretty but far more sturdy for the long journeys the ship would have made. Then there's the living spaces and berths for those with lesser means - in this case the craftsmanship was still apparent there, and the spaces seemed perfectly functional just far more cramped and without adornment. My favourite place of any ship is always the working spaces, the engine rooms and inside the bridge. As our footsteps echoed along the walkways, it was even harder to imagine the cacophony of noise that would have filled the space. Although the ship is fairly small compared to modern ocean liners, it had an impressive history and made the run to Seattle across the pacific ocean over 200 times between 1930 and 1960. During1941 to 1953, the ships purpose changed and it was primarily used as a hospital ship during Japans involvement in World War II - making it's current condition even more impressive.

After we finished exploring the ship we headed over to the Yamate district. This area is where foreign diplomats and traders resided during the time they were restricted from moving freely throughout Japan. We unfortunately arrived too late to enter any of the museums here, last entry was at 3.30pm and the day had got away from us. We still enjoyed wandering around the area, admiring it's mismatch of different European architectural styles. Alongside the more modest houses was the British consular house with its impressive rose garden that we could explore. Nearby was the harbour view park observatory, which had beautiful views out over harbour and the rest of the city. As we walked back to our hotel, meandering along the quiet tree lined paths of Motomachi Park, we managed to glimpse the summit of mount fuji through a break in the canopy. The mountains snow covered tip seemed to float on a bed of clouds in the sky above the city, we stopped for a moment, wanting to fully take it in. When we traveled to Kawaguchiko just to see it, the mount fuji remained elusive and here it was where we least expected it. Feeling buoyed, we continued on.

Just a few streets away from our hotel was a vibrant bustling area that happened to be Japan's largest China town. There was plenty of sit down restaurants but most people visited for the vast array of Chinese street food on offer, and thats what we were interested in too. It was slightly overwhelming, the choices, the noise, the smells, the crowds - especially the crowds. It was easy to get swept along in the river of moving bodies so it took us a few passes to decide on what we wanted to try first.

Ben opted for the "Big fried chicken" (¥650), also known as Taiwanese Karaage. We had noticed numerous stalls offering this popular dish but one seemed a crowd favourite, so we joined the queue and waited. It wasn't long till our order was ready, Ben had chosen for the spicy version and was more than happy with his choice. The breaded and fried chicken was succulent, crispy and although it wasn't and large as some of the other "big fried chicken" we'd seen - in that it was smaller than a human head in diameter - Ben was more than happy with his purchase. From the same stall I went for the tempura fishcakes (¥580), which were unlike anything i'd tried before. Despite being spongy and oily in texture, I somehow couldn't stop myself from reaching for one after another. The taste was strange too, fishy and musty, and I know i'm not making them sound appetising but they were addictive.

Further into the sprawling lanes of chinatown we found a shop specialising in bao (¥500) and decided to try those next. Ben went for pork while I chose prawn, we both enjoyed them but they were far from the best we'd tried. Wanting one last savoury item each before moving onto desert, we wandered the streets scanning each stands giant menu, looking for something good. In the end soup dumplings (¥700) caught Ben's fancy, and (for a slight lack of options) a deep fried cheese stick (¥700) was the choice for me. While Ben enjoyed his dumplings and was tempted to order another round, my cheese stick was just fine. What I really wanted was some vegetarian dumplings but unfortunately only one stall had these on their menu and they had ran out early in the night. Despite there being a lot of prawn dumplings on offer, a quick enquiry with the stall runners confirmed that they all also contained pork - how annoying!

For desert there was two things we wanted to try, taiwanese doughnuts and a Portuguese nata tart. We found a promising doughnut shop called "Donuts Oh!", the donuts were made from a flavoured batter which is deep fried rather than from a dough, and covered which powdered sugar straight after they come out from the fryer. We went for the plain "milk" doughnut, and had we known they shop was closed the following evening when we planned to come back we would have brought way more than one. The nata tart was also good, we brought it just to see why there would be a Portuguese pastry sold in a chinatown in Japan, but I suspect it was purely because theres nothing not to like about flakey pastry and slightly sweet baked custard.

The next morning we were up fairly early, we had a train and a monorail to catch before we would make it to our intended destination of Enoshima. It was my first time on a monorail and I have to admit being dangled in a train carriage and slightly swayed around made me feel pretty nauseated. Luckily it was the shortest part of the journey and the feeling quickly abated as soon as my feet were firmly back on solid ground. From the monorail station it was just a quick 20 minute stroll to Enoshima, first along a road lined with restaurants and shops, then across the bridge that connects Enoshima to the mainland. The walk across the bridge was fairly peaceful, where the main thoroughfare of shops as the base of the island was insanely packed. Couples strolled hand-in-hand, groups milled, there was hardly space to get through the throng as we passed shop after shop selling large octopus crackers.

Once we'd battled our way through and passed the first outdoor escalator station the crowds quickly dispersed. As we trudged our way up the stairs that only seemed to get steeper it was clear to see why many would opt for the easier way to the top. At ¥360 per person the escalator was a bargain, but for us, sometimes half the fun is in the challenge. Arriving at the top, far more sweaty than we started, we headed first to the sea candle gardens for a rest before we tackled exploring the rest of the sights. The gardens were free to enter, and we wandered along quiet plant lined paths painted with dappled light before we found the perfect shady spot to sit for a while and soak in the peaceful atmosphere. Feeling refreshed we headed to the "Sea Candle", the lighthouse and observation tower that crowns Enoshimas summit. Although it was only ¥500 to enter and see the views from the top of the lighthouse the views were already amazing from where we were so we decided to give it a miss.

One of the main attractions that drew us to Enoshima was the Iwaya Caves, a series of sea formed caves that were repurposed into a Buddhist spiritual site. What we didn't realise when planning the trip was that they could only be accessed by following down a seemingly never ending series of steep stairs. Knowing that we would need to climb back up to the islands summit before we could leave, I was starting to regret not paying for the escalator on the other side. I was only halfway to the bottom when my thighs started to ache but by then we'd committed, ascending was a problem for the future. Eventually we reached the bottom and found ourselves in a long queue waiting for our turn to enter the caves. We stood along the bright red railing and hoped it wouldn't be too long - not only was there no shade to hide in to avoid the blistering midday heat, we'd also managed to find one of the few places in Japan that was unfortunately vending machine-less, so we couldn't grab a drink to cool down.

Just as we were starting to lose hope, the queue shuffled forwards and soon enough we could enter. The caves were better than we'd imagined. The first cave is the longest of the two, it rough rock walls are decorated with wooden and carved stone panels. The sparse lighting seemed designed to draw our eyes to different aspects of the cave, to make up for the patches of darkness we were handed a small candle, wrapped in a wax paper shield to carry through with us. Seeing the small lights bobbing along with peoples footsteps made the whole experience seem more magical. The second cave had a slightly more modern twist to it. Right at the caves end, before the path swung around a small rock wall and doubled back on itself sat a dragon. One by one those visiting would bow their heads and clap their hands, and in response the lighting around the dragon would flash like lightning and a roaring sound came from the dragon itself. All very cheesy but a fun way to keep the folklore of the area alive.

On the way back up the hill we stopped for lunch at one of the many restaurants conveniently placed half way up. We initially wasn't sure if the place was packed because it was good, or if it was packed because people we desperate to have a rest from the relentless stair climbing. The table we were shown to was traditional, so we kicked off our shoes before climbing up onto the small platform and settling onto the cushions provided. Not wanting anything too heavy I chose to eat the sashimi selection which arrived beautifully plated. The fish was delicate and tender, subtle in flavour but slightly underwhelming in quantity. Maybe I just had food envy for Bens tuna donburi bowl. His came with a huge amount of fish alongside rice, sides of pickled veggies and a bowl of miso soup - I tried to ask for my meal as a set and was told it wasn't possible. We washed down our meal with some beverages from a local brewer. Delicious.

Once we summited Enoshima for the final time, we set off to see the other popular sites around, particularly the lovers bell. As we made our way along a tree lined path, wandering away from the small queue of people wanting the perfect picture of them ringing the bell with their loved one, we heard a suspicious rustling in the nearby bushes. I saw a creature dart past and as it was the size of a rather fat cat, I instinctively crouched down and started making the "pspspspsps" noise to call it over. To my surprise, not only did it work but the animal wasn't a cat at all. In fact, I didn't know what it was. It was friendly enough and posed for some photos. I think perhaps people have fed it in the past as at one point it decided to try and take a bite out of Bens phone. After a tussle to relinquish the phone from the beasties clamped jaws, it promptly ran back into the wood and the encounter was swiftly over. We since found out it was a racoon dog, a canid native to Japan.

Leaving the island we grabbed some treats before making our way to a nearby beach to enjoy the sunset. In perfect conditions this sunset spot offers views of the sun setting behind Mount Fuji, as it was pretty hazy during our visit we weren't quite that lucky but we still enjoyed our time relaxing with the locals before making our way back to Yokohama.

With a couple of hours to kill the next morning before hopping on a series of trains that would take us to Nikko we went for one last wander about the city. We first popped into the customs museum, which frankly wasn't that great. We kind of got the gist of all the interactive displays inside but as this museum wasn't geared towards foreigners everything was (of course) in Japanese which made it a bit hard to decipher. The museum attendant however, was super welcoming, offering to show us around and gifted us with a keychain of their mascot when we left.

Nearby to the red brick warehouse and the hundreds of dressed up dogs attending the nearby dog festival, we came across another small museum - this one focusing on a Korean spy ship that was found in Japanese waters. The museum was great and as it was solely focused on the single spy ship they had, it was also pretty quick to visit. We were intending to visit the pot noodle museum, but as we walked up to it and saw the queue wrapped around the buildings side we came to the sudden realisation that we would rather continue our wanderings. Once we got tired of walking the cities streets, we headed back to the waterfront near the red brick warehouse found a shady spot to sit and contently watched the dressed up dogs walk by until it was time to grab our bags and move on to our next destination, Nikko.