Yokohama - Sankeien, China Town, Sea Side + Some Outfits and Food

Yokohama is less than hour away from Iidabashi by JR trains, so we decided to explore a bit of Japan beyond Tokyo. Since our first stop was going to be the Sankeien garden, we got off at the Negishi station and walked back a bit - which let us discover one of the best Daiso shops we've been to, and which also resulted in us having to carry tons of things for the rest of the day. While we walked, I spotted a very pretty paper bag on a pile of paper trash that was apparently going to be recycled. My infatuated gaze was followed by Juliette's "Well, I'd go for it", and so I did and rescued the poor bag from the trash pile (in my defense, paper trash tends to be really clean). Little did I know the bag was going to be rained upon hours later anyway, and that it will eventually become one of the things left behind at Haneda.

When we arrived at the gates of Sankeien, Jacob summarized our feelings: "OMG, Vita, you didn't tell us it was going to be THIS beautiful!"

There was a building near this pagoda where there was prohibited entry. We wondered why, and when we noticed a sign saying "hornets' lair", we decided to retreat very swiftly. I bet you've heard how nasty Japanese hornets are, and we certainly had no intention of testing Japanese health care system or worse, funeral services.

When we reached this little orchard by a small stream, my roommate looked around, pondered for some time and exclaimed: "Well, it's pretty, but my grandparents' garden is bigger." She insists she's not a rich heiress though.

Right, carrying parasols is infectious. My lovely roomie (second from left) is wearing her 365 Yen, Don Don dress.

Girls only. ^____^

Lake full of carnivorous turtles and koi. I swear they would eat you if they could.

This turtle tried to climb up in oder to pray on our toes, but thankfully, Jacob and Juliette had some bread crumbs, so we were saved.

This stray cat was really friendly, it hopped on the lap of the first woman who sat on the bench.

Tea house! I became really obsessed about having tea in Japanese gardens. If I have my own house one day, it is going to have a Japanese-style garden and I'll go drink tea and nibble on cute sweets there every day.

After leaving Sankeien, we went to the nearest bus stop to go to China Town.

China Town - in Czech Republic, we have a fairly high number of Chinese expats, but no China Town. And I didn't go to the one in London when I was there, so I was really excited. It was more touristy than I thought, and they mostly had souvenir shops, restaurants and grocery stores. I hoped for a cosmetics store, but there was none. I have to say, Louise tested plenty of people and tons of them didn't speak Chinese. =D

We got 2 big menus for lunch and shared everything - the owners and cooks were extremely nice and welcoming, maybe also because they actually were Chinese and they chatted with Louise a lot.

Absolutely need to learn to make this spicy tofu!

And this soup too.

We tried this one - uuuuh >.<

The harbour:

Some outfits:

Conbini dinner:

Lots of discounted food and my favorite milk tea:

Yours truly

Vita