Yokohama City

Today's adventure was into the city. Yoko lives in a "suburb" of Yokohama. This morning we took a bus from her house to the train station and took the train to meet her friend Rie. The three of us then took a boat (Sea Bass, which here sounds like SeaBus) across Yokohama Bay. We walked through the waterfront park and then in a few blocks to Chinatown, where we ate lunch in what I thought was an upscale restaurant. We had a private room and excellent service. We ate a pan-fried noodle (think of a small block of ramen noodles soften and then browned) salad with delicious sesame seed dressing. Then sauted mushrooms and vegetables. Finally a course of rice cakes covered in a seafood and vegetables in oyster sauce. One Litchi ball (a funny Chinese fruit) to top it off. That was our big, expensive meal of the day. I drank cold Jasmine tea and Rie & Yoko drank Litchi juice over ice. We bought desserts in a Chinese sweet shop (I'm nibbling on one now). Then we strolled down Motomachi, a famous shopping street,　by many international stores - some I recognized, like the Gap, Brooks Brothers, and Ty (the beanie baby store)- back to the train station and home. For me today was about learning to use the money and public transportation. And I only saw 6 "foreigners" in Yokohama (Rie and I counted) so I'm not sure Yoko was right about what she told me yesterday (see below). When we got home, we walked the dog across the neighborhood to Shotaro's school. He and I tossed a tennis ball in a park for a while and then in the yard when we got home until dark. It was fun for me to remember that I have some skill throwing and catching a ball. Very relaxing. Yoko made a great noodle dish for dinner, then I napped on the couch, took a bath and am ready to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow my body will be on Japanese time. I walked 13,500 steps today, about 6.5 miles.