I was up pretty early the next morning and was surprised to find the old people hanging out in the living room at 6am chattering away. As I drank my coffee and read, I realized how much I appreciate having a quiet start to the day when most backpackers sleep in. I also noticed how horribly loud they were in their speech. I was already pretty certain that the man was not native Japanese. He spoke at an American volume and the woman matched him. There was nowhere else in the hostel to sit, and I could hear them clearly from down the hall.
My Grutto Pass included quite a few sites in Yokohama, most of which were in a 3 km radius. I mapped out a route and after checking out and leaving my luggage, headed out for my final day of museum hopping. There was quite a bit of redundancy among the museums, all of which covered Yokohama’s history as a port city and the story of Commodore Perry demanding the opening of Japan to some degree. The Archives of History focused solely on said story and was located in the old British Consulate.
The next museum on a neighboring block was more like a combination of three different museums: Yokohama Urban History, Museum of EurAsian Cultures, and a special exhibit currently covering Chinese dresses. I’m really not sure how to do the “accounting” on this museum as it listed separate prices for each floor as if they were distinct museums. I headed over to the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History next. This was a good sized museum and I opted to only tour the permanent exhibit, which covered everything from prehistory to current times.
I decided to have a good lunch at a recommended restaurant that happened to be just a block away (almost as if I had mapped everything out expertly). I had gyu-nabe, which is Yokohama’s version of sukiyaki (thinly sliced beef hotpot), though I’m really not sure what makes it different than regular sukiyaki. It was a good meal in an elegant restaurant with tatami floors and kimono-clad waitresses.
The next item on the itinerary was the Yokohama Port Museum and Nippon Maru, another combination museum. The Port Museum was fairly similar to but better than the one in Kobe. The Nippon Maru was a sailing vessel (with a diesel engine) that was in operation from the 1930 to the 1980s. I could have sworn this was one of the ships that showed up in Nagasaki for the Sailing Festival, except for the fact that it appears to be out of operation. There was quite good signage in the ship explaining lots of things and a series of animal related signs for ship slang.
The path to the Yokohama Museum of Art was along a central mall with attached shopping malls and department stores. The area gave off a real classy vibe, and I was utterly stunned to see a Shake Shack. The prices on the menu were even more shocking. The art museum specialized in contemporary art, only stretching as far back as 20th century with some Salvador Dali and Roy Lichtenstein pieces. It was nice to ditch my backpack in a free locker for half an hour.
I was feeling thirsty and craving a milk shake, but I decided to go for McDonald’s as a budget alternative to Shake Shack. I got a berry milkshake, which did not last very long. I finished it before I even got to the dock where a duckboat was driving up to land. That was it for the museums in the immediate vicinity, but I rambled over some promenades, along the harbor, through shopping malls, and around public parks. If I had more days in Yokohama, I would have visited the Cup of Noodle Museum and may have paid for admission to another old ship (a passenger cruise ship), but I was starting to get tired. All told, I think Yokohama is worth a good three days.
I passed through Chinatown to return to the hostel to grab my stuff. It was only 5 pm, when my bus was scheduled to depart at 10:55. I had a lot of time to kill, but didn’t want to hang around the hostel. Especially, as I had barely walked in when that old guy showed up again as if he was my personal specter. The owner (?) also came out of his office to — I guess — see me off, so even if I wanted to be a bum and charge my phone for a bit, it was too awkward not to leave.
I popped into the grocery store at the train station to grab a drink before getting on the train, which took a whole 7 minutes to reach Yokohama station. I looked into returning my Pasmo card to get that 500 yen deposit back, but that didn’t work out. I dragged all my stuff with me into the Sogo Department store and went up to the 6th floor to see their Museum of Art, which was also covered by the Grutto Pass. It was an exhibit on the art of wallpaper, which I guess is kind of interesting, if a bit like selecting fabric swatches for a new house. I think everything was from a single London-based manufacturer and all very Jane Austin-ish. If I was doing this trip a month later, the exhibit would have been about demons and ghosts. I think I was the only member of my gender to be visiting the museum, but hey, it was free and a way to kill time.
After finishing at the museum, I took a slow stroll through the enclosed underground Restaurant Alley, weighing my choices. I ended up getting Sanmamen, a Chinese noodle dish which is also native to Yokohama. It’s basically ramen with vegetables in it. Very inventive.
I went to a Starbucks to hang out until it was time for my bus. I didn’t realize that you could get a discounted refill on drip coffee. That’s a real game changer for the amount of caffeine I need to get through a day. I also didn’t realize there were power outlets hidden in the table frame until it was almost time to leave.
| Gyunabe | 1400 |
| Berry Milkshake (McD) | 200 |
| Orangina | 91 |
| Sanmamen (noodles) | 700 |
| Bus ticket | 4800 |
| Starbucks (coffee + scone) | 637 |
| Water | 98 |
| Coffee refill | 162 |
| Total: | 8088 JPY (558 RMB) (USD 80.71) |
Running Total: 36121.6 RMB (USD 5224.64)
Daily Average: 314.1 RMB (USD 45.43)
The Sago Museum was expensive, but the others ranged from cheap to reasonable. It was nice to check off another 6 museums on my ninth day of the Grutto Pass. Between the pass and museum day, I saved 23,980 yen. The 2,200 yen to buy the pass was well spent! I visited 42 out of the 95 locations. Mischief managed.