Oh wow, where do I even begin? Getting to see one of my dearest friends, Kyoko, and her charming husband, Makoto-san, in person again was a beautiful highlight of the trip! (Kyoko and I chat most every week via Skype. I last got to see them in person 5 years ago on my first trip to Japan.)
We met at the Gundam Factory with hugs and exuberant greetings.
They treated us to tickets to the facility. It will only be around through the end of the month, so it was very special to see. (If you’re not familiar with the Gundam anime and manga, here is an article about it. It’s famous around the world.)
First, we did a little shopping while waiting for the life-sized Gundam to do a theatrical performance. I was surprised how much the giant robot moved! It walked, knelt, and pointed. Every movement was smooth. This pose is it at the end of the performance.
We also went through the area where you could learn about they built the gigantic robot. Nine different companies worked together to make this Gundam model and its supporting structure. (No wonder Japan is known for its robotics!) This life-sized model won 2 Guinness records in 2020 for largest humanoid robot and largest mobile Gundam.
Then Kyoko and Makoto-san took us to several malls including Yokohama Hammerhead mall (where we picked up walnut and caramel treats at Kurumicco), Queens Square and Mark Is. I can’t remember all the shops we stopped at - but Uniqlo, the Ghibli store, a stationery store were among them. Wonderful malls with an open structure to quite a few stores. We got to chat and catch up with each other along the way.
The next stop was Landmark Tower, another big treat for us.
We rode the elevator to the top (69 floors). It was a very smooth elevator. I only knew how fast we were going by the digital readout on the wall and my ears popping. The view at the top was incredible.
We could see across the bay to Chiba (a good hour away), all the way to Tokyo, and had outlined hints through the clouds of Mt. Fuji. We spotted Tokyo Skytree and Tokyo Tower. Don’t the cars look like little toys?
Makoto-san shared that this area of Yokohama is new within the last 20 years. So much built in such a brief span, and more construction happening all the time.
Dinner was another incredible treat at a restaurant where we ate at a sunken kotatsu style table and sat on cushions. We had to take off our shoes to go into the area. We had peach and yuzu drinks, various flavors of yakitori (grilled chicken) on bamboo skewers, pickled veggies, miso soup, fried chicken, a rice dish with seafood and veggies (sorry I can’t remember the name), and finally sesame ice cream. (Mike gave me a tiny taste of his ice cream - I wish I could have milk products!) I think it took us 2 hours to eat the vast variety of tasty food.
Here was the view from the restaurant at after the sunset.
It was such a pleasant visit, and they even guided us to the taxi stand and helped us keep our purchases dry. (Silly Americans that we were, we didn’t have umbrellas.)
Our friends also gave us a delightful selection of snacks to welcome us. I can’t wait to share the snacks with family and friends back home. (They found yuzu peel! I’ve been hunting for it this the whole trip!)
Thank you, thank you, Sis and Makoto-san for such a wonderful day!