You can be my Yokohama

I took a quick jaunt to Yokohama last weekend to visit with Kotaro Watanabe, who just came back from three weeks travelling in Taiwan. It was pretty chill, not doing much but eating, talking about music, film and work. (Up until last December, Kotaro was a producer of Japanese Adult B-movies)

Ryoko, me and Kotaro

On the Sunday, Ryoko Watai came from Chiba, to hangout with us and see the sights of Yokohama, including Landmark Tower – a rather unimpressive office building, which has an observation tower on its 69th floor and Asia’s fastest elevator, clocking at 750km/h. And although I don’t care too much for tourist attractions, heights or speed, I unenthusiastically went up the tower. The 360º view of the city of Yokohama and its harbour was a pleasant surprise, accentuated by the clear weather conditions.

A view of Yokohama Harbour from Landmark Tower

We also went to Yokohama’s world-renowned Chinatown. Now, I’ve been to the Chinatowns in Toronto, San Francisco, New York City, Montreal, Manila, Sydney and Vancouver, and let me tell you the uniqueness of Yokohama’s Chinatown lies in the fact that it is impeccably clean. I’m not talking clean in the way people try to describe Winnipeg or Perth. No, no, no…people actually sit on the curb to eat their ¥90 steamed buns, without a scrap of garbage, rotting fruit, or dead animal lingering at their feet. In the air lofts only the aroma of roasting chestnuts, barbecuing duck and steaming dumplings, as opposed to burning rubbish, decaying produce and rancid fish carcasses which I’ve come to equate to Chinatown. I know that it’s the middle of winter, but I get the feeling, summer in Yokohama Chinatown is still a pretty agreeable experience, nasal wise, compared to, say, the corner of Spadina and Dundas on an August afternoon.

The cleanest Chinatown ever!

Unfortunately, I don’t read as much as I want (or should), and the Doods always inspires me to read by including reading material in his care packages to me. Along with my Hockey Night in Canada trivia game and Maple Leafs’ toque in my Xmas package, the Doods sent me a novel called Lamb; Or the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. This book follows the story of Jesus (Joshua), as retold by Josh’s best friend Levi (Biff). It’s a hilarious recount of the parts “omitted” by the gospels or Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, taking the piss out of religion and its rituals. I recommend it, especially to anyone who has any knowledge of Christian-Judeo teachings. If you dug Monty Python's Life of Brian, I think you'll dig this novel.