today i'm taking the train to the two cities immediately south of tokyo,
kawasaki and yokohama, industrial cities
normally ignored by the tourist guides - surely there must be something to see there!
believe it or not i'm actually here to find an oasis of peace and tranquility
well here we are kawasaki daishi
the daishi temple here in kawasaki is unusual not only in japan but also in the whole of the far
east by being devoted to vajrayana buddhism which is more commonly associated with tibet and india
it's very famous for its festivals here and given by the amount of food stalls
dotted around the temple there must be one going on now
i was very privileged to be able to make the nine o'clock prayer session
with all the monks in attendance there was fire chanting - and the drumming
that's still ringing in my ears what a way to start the day
and as you often find within the temple grounds a small shinto shrine
flanked here by the kitsune, the sacred foxes. those little red figures are called daruma and
you see them often around temples. i believe they're representing the founder of zen buddhism
bodhidharma. the tradition has it that you make a wish when you paint one of the eyes in and then
when that wish comes true you paint the other eye in. i've got to try one of these dumplings.
that's delicious. lovely warm dough infused with matcha tea
and this lovely smooth bean paste inside, just a ticket for a really cold morning
in case you're wondering whether kawasaki has a motorbike museum - it doesn't - in fact the
city has nothing to do with the company that was named after its founder. it looks a little bit
like the shibuya crossing in tokyo, not quite as famous though. okay let's go to yokohama
on the train you can see clearly that between tokyo and yokohama
it's one continuous built-up urban area which is probably why yokohama
gets overlooked. it's not a suburb of tokyo, in fact by population it's japan's second city
this is the new minato mirai district it's all modern
office buildings and wide boulevards let's find something more down to earth
i was in the subway and heard the sound of drums so followed them naturally and ended up here
it's like a steampunk version of the buddhist ceremony than i was at earlier
by complete chance i've stumbled across the bank art gallery which is great news because
the yokohama museum of art is currently closed as they're changing the exhibition,
anyway this is called machines with a heart again.
ball bearings playing music, you saw it here first well. that's japan for you, you never know
what's around the next corner. this is yokohama's ultra modern and spotlessly clean metro system.
so this is the motomachi district, it's a really great place to wander full of
boutiques and trendy cafes. time for coffee i think
when japan finally opened for business in the late 19th century
yokohama was the gateway, this was where foreign merchants and governments were allowed to live
and build their houses which is why now in this area of yamate
you could think that you were in europe, this for example is the yamate catholic church
this cemetery high over the city centre is unique in japan
it's called the foreign general's cemetery, it has over four thousand graves. when yokohama opened
its port this patch of land was designated as the cemetery for all foreigners living in Japan.
they have quite a strange relationship with rivers in the whole of the tokyo and yokohama region,
i mean i know that there's a shortage of space but
do you really have to build a motorway over every river!
yokohama has the largest chinatown in japan in fact it's one of the largest in the whole world
outside the mother country, the number of restaurants here per square meter is crazy
it was always gonna be chinese for lunch today
probably the most colorful temple in all of Japan,
in fact i think i've stepped into beijing by mistake. i was very kindly given a little
impromptu tour in English, it's a taoist temple centered on the goddess mizu and
currently they're making preparations for a great big party for chinese new year.
from a distance i thought why is everybody photographing a white chain,
not a white chain, more like a living chain, more like contemporary art
this is yokohama's promenade, you get a great view of the harbour
and it's a lovely place for a stroll even on a freezing cold January afternoon,
although if it wasn't january you wouldn't be able to do
this.
the locals refer to these warehouses as the red bricks of yokohama. they may not look anything
special to us but at the time they were built here in japan they were absolutely revolutionary.
nowadays they're given over to leisure. that's the landmark tower, japan's second tallest
building and on one of those really elusive clear days you can see mount fuji from the observatory
wow this is one hell of a car showroom
I never thought Nissan was cool,
but i think i'm changing my mind. who'd have thought that a 1937 datsun could look so cute!
you know the lonely planet guide to tokyo doesn't even list yokohama as a suggestion
for a day trip. come on lonely planet, i think this city deserves a lot more respect!