As our flight to Tokyo was departing early in the morning, we decided to spend the night in the Novatel at the Auckland airport. This made for stress free departure.
The flight to Tokyo took almost eleven hours and seemed to pass reasonably quickly. I am not a fan of long haul flights so was not really looking forward to it. We did experience a lot of turbulence for most of the flight and I found myself grabbing for my husband's arm for reassurance. Our three year old grandson coped really well and just took it in his stride.
On arrival in Tokyo we were greeted with heavy rain. We were going to travel to Yokohama by train but as it was going to be a two hour trip and our grandson was getting pretty tired by this time we opted to go by Limousine bus which took about thirty minutes less than the train.
First Night in Japan
Our hotel, The Washington Hotel Sakuragicho, was fairly standard, and was clean and tidy. The rooms were modest and very small by New Zealand hotel standards and there was no wardrobe to hang our clothes, only pegs on the wall. However, the view from our window over the harbour was to die for. In the evening when everything was lit up it was an absolute picture of twinkling, colourful lights.
Family Time
Having a family reunion in such a lovely city was really special. Twelve of us dining out, shopping or sightseeing made for quite an exciting experience. We all really needed to have pagers on as we were constantly losing someone in our party.
Walking around Yokohama we were really impressed with how well laid the city is. The cherry blossom trees that lined the street would certainly be stunning when in full bloom, (it was a shame we missed this spectacle by a month). The gardens and hedges along the streets were neatly pruned and not a scrap of litter could be seen.
The Japanese people were so polite and nothing was too much bother. Tipping is not common practise but Taxi drivers went out of their way to be accommodating, helping with all our bags.
While my family went up in the Ferris Wheel (I am not keen on heights) I just sat and people watched. I just loved looking at the fashions; some of the ladies did wear extremely high heeled shoes and did tend to look a bit uncomfortable.
However, women in particular were beautifully groomed and the men generally seemed to be dressed in business suits.
The only real problem we have encountered is with the language. Trying to order food or drink and being understood has been a challenge but we coped and we always got service with a smile.
Before we left home we photocopied the address of our hotel in Japanese to show taxi drivers, which turned out to be a Godsend. Definitely a tip for those visiting a non-English speaking country.
Our five days in Yokohama went by all too quickly. Today is our last day and it is going to be hard saying goodbye to family who we have not seen for two years. Hopefully it won't be another two years before we are all together again. Our son teaches in Japan and he and his family are moving to Bangkok in July to take up a teaching position there, so that will probably be the place for the next family reunion. Our family from Australia made the trip over to Yokohama as well. This has been a very special time and something we will always remember.
Next stop is Rome tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it, but not the long haul flight!
Ciao for now.
By Kay Rayner
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