Day Trip to Yokohama

Jake was our leader as we took the 1-hour train ride to Yokohama. The main attraction today was the “Yokohama Oktoberfest”… an authentic reproduction of the original beer festival held each year in Munich, Germany. Here, one can taste over 200 different craft beers from Germany, enjoy authentic German live music and snack on various pub foods.

One unexpected delight of the day was the stroll from the train station through Chinatown to get to the beer hall on the waterfront. This Chinatown is absolutely fascinating with a grid work of streets lined with colorful food stalls and souvenir shops. There are multiple “paifang” or street entrance gates (highly decorated architectural archways) plus an impressive Buddhist temple in the center of the neighborhood. Along the way, we also strolled through the shady zen gardens of Yokohama Park, past the Yokohama Baseball stadium and finally the lovely flower gardens along the waterfront. One lasting impression is how clean everything is here in Japan… you never see garbage lying on the ground despite the fact that garbage cans are practically non-existent. You are expected to carry your garbage with you (!!!) until you do find a disposal bin (rare).

We arrived at the beer hall just in time to see several hundred other people in the main tent participating in a conga line dance to polka music. It was a brilliant introduction to the spirit of Oktoberfest. The day was hot and even hotter in the tent but our spirits were lifted by the enthusiasm of the crowd. We quickly found a shady table outside the tent and enjoyed 3-4 hours of story telling, laughter, drinking beer and even socializing with other locals at our table. Jake was in his glory as he found some of his all-time favorite beers.

After enough drinking (lol) it was time to head back to Tokyo. First we stepped into a nearby 7-Eleven store which reportedly has the world’s largest collection of craft beer. Just imagine… we were like kids in a candy shop and picked up a few cans to take back to the hotel. Then we walked back to the train station through Chinatown. It was dark by now and the lights were truly mesmerizing. We were all tired and sleepy. I actually nodded off on the train ride into Tokyo.