Neighborhood Amblings

Other than a few Facebook posts about living atop a steep hill and being close to Nogeyama Park/Zoo, I don't know if I've said much about where I'm living.  First off, how many of you are even quite sure where Yokohama is?  Near Tokyo, right?  Yeah, that's about as much attention as I paid it, too, before moving here.  What I didn't realize is that Yokohama is Japan's second largest city, population-wise.  Yep, three million and nearly 700 thousand...and one, counting my recent addition.  Or that it had such a strong connection with Western history (I did know about it having Japan's largest Chinatown, which gives it a strong connection to the East) - this is the vicinity where Commodore Perry arrived with his Black Ships that forced Japan to open to the West.  Or that one key difference between Tokyo-ites and Yokohamans is that people in Tokyo are considered to all basically be "from somewhere else" (ie, they/their parents migrated to the city) whereas Yokohamans have a reputation for actually being "from here" (ie, their connection with the land here goes back generations).

These are just a few things I've learned in recent weeks, and it seems that there is more and more waiting for me to discover.  And then I realized that other than the 2 kilometers between my apartment and school, I haven't seen anything! 

Well, that could be due to the fact that I'm averaging about 15 hours per day with my nose in a book either in class, at the library or at home studying.  But I really need to do better about getting out and about!  So I decided to initiate a series of posts about Yokohama to appear periodically as I do go out and discover places.  Hopefully this will not only share a bit more of this seaside city with you, but actually get me to prioritize exploring my new surroundings!

So to start we're not going to go far.  But here's the river at the foot of the hill.  I just go down the endless staircases to Hinode-cho (Sunrise Town) Station, cross the road, and here's what I find:

Looks like a nice place for an afternoon stroll, doesn't it?  And those trees leaning out over the river are cherries - should be gorgeous in the spring.  I come down here periodically because the itsy-bitsy neighborhood post office (where I have my bank account) faces the river here.  And, although you can't really see it (since I'm standing on it), there's a pedestrian/bicycle path along the river which is so much nicer and quieter than walking along the main street.  I need to take the time to walk further and see where it goes!