Monday 17th March

We made sure we did not linger too long over dinner last night as we wanted to get the best (highest) point on the upper deck for the suspension bridge, but we needn’t have bothered, not many people (i.e. dozens not hundreds) turned up to watch. We slowed right up to make sure we hit the tide at its lowest point and then literally inched our way towards the centre point of the bridge using the bow thrusters to position ourselves just right. Left a bit, right a bit, stop, wait, inch forward. We were not going to do it, no way on this mans earth were we going to get under that bridge. There were shouts of stop and wait, women were squealing and running for cover. Tiny bit by tiny bit we crawled forward stopping starting waiting for that vital low tide point. Everyone’s neck was aching and right up to the point of hitting the bridge we all knew we were not going to make it. As the mast head met the first girder, it slipped under it with barely space for a fag paper. Huge shouts of “No Way!” The second girder came and the same gasps whoa! Well, of all the bridges in all the world that was the tightest fit I have ever seen and it seemed as if the ship itself had been holding its breath, because as we finally cleared the second girder, vibration beneath our feet told us the engines were picking up speed and sure enough we began to move forward at a renewed pace for the short period between the Bridge and our berth at the new Yokohama International Passenger Terminal.

The skyline was a sea of lights, one of the best we have seen easily competing with New York. Set in the centre of this mass of illumination was the jewel in the crown, the Ferris wheel, a brilliant kaleidoscope of colour changing from rotating spokes, to Catherine wheel effects, to expanding Circles of light and yet this centre piece of night time display was all but invisible in daylight. After taking all this in, we made our way down to our cabin as the temperature was becoming (as they say in this part of the world) a bit nippy. We had hardly got into our cabin before we heard some huge cheers and when we went out onto the balcony and looked down, it seemed like the whole of Yokohama had come out and packed themselves on to the roof of the terminal to welcome us. Large numbers of them with light sabres and wands, those that didn’t, had torches or mobile phone lights and they were all waving them like their lives depended on it. Cheers went up with each rope that crossed to the quayside. We were amazed that anyone would come out at midnight let alone the crowds that had turned up here. Everywhere we looked there was someone shouting Hello! Welcome! Or Konichiwa. We finally had to go or we would have been there all night.

Up first thing the following morning, we looked out again and yes you’ve guessed it the roof of the terminal was still awash with people. The same or new ones we knew not, but the level of interest had diminished not a jot. The International Passenger Terminal is a very deceptive undulating building which seems to be construct entirely of wooden planking reminiscent of ships decks. Entrances were well disguised as they sloped and curved around the structure. A lot of the roof was turfed and many people were sitting there with their children playing around them. On the port side of the ship was the main part of the city where modern buildings were nestling in amongst some of the older buildings like the old brick warehouses that have now been converted into shops restaurants and offices. The modern buildings were sympathetically designed unlike other large cities. The Intercontinental Grand Hotel was shaped like a huge liner and the shape of the Landmark tower like a huge square traffic cone, this by the way is Japan’s tallest building. The city is very compact and attractive with lots of green areas, a lot of these on the roofs of some of the single story buildings around the port.

We waited until the tours departed before we disembarked, most of these were going to Tokyo with one going to Mount Fuji neither of which we fancied and from the reports from the people on their return it seemed like we made a sensible decision. We left the ship directly into the terminal which was huge and very cleverly designed. Traffic entering at the far end of the Warf disappeared below the building into cavernous car parking areas and above these were that halls for arriving and departing passengers. We walked off the Warf straight into the city towards the stadium where there were landscaped gardens, the weather was perfect for walking, warm bright spring sunshine and cool air temperature. The waters in the gardens were populated by Koi Carp and large terrapins sunning themselves on rocks set in the pools, one of the nicest things about these gardens were the groups of tiny tots being led around by their carers. Each carer held the hand of a tot on each side and each tot held the hand of another tot, behind each carer were three individual pairs of tots holding each other’s hands, no crying, no problems and their age? They looked to be about eighteen months to two years old, they were all wearing identical coloured baseball caps, some groups in pink caps some in yellow etc. It would never be allowed in the UK but it was a delight to see.

We moved on into China Town and wandered around this immaculate area for about an hour, before ending up on the edge of the bay in the Yamashita Park, this is a two kilometre immaculately landscaped area with fountains and tree shaded paths which led us back towards the Passenger Terminal. As we passed it, crowds were still pouring into the area, the ship has certainly attracted a huge amount of attention. We followed the walk over some green hillocks which turned out to be the roofs of the buildings below and all along this area were people taking photographs and dozens painting pictures. We walked through into the central district and everywhere they had converted the old infrastructure into new. Old railway lines used in the old docks were now landscaped footpaths. Old docks had been filled in as part of land reclamation and were now pedestrian precincts, as space is at such a premium here you can’t help but wonder how they have prevented development on much of this land and used it as a public amenity. By now we had completed a circuit of what is quite a compact city and forced our way through the crowds pouring on (and off) the quay.

You begin to have some slight understanding of what people in the media eye go through as all passengers were being photographed by the crowds and when Carol was out on the balcony people were shouting up to her to get her to wave for photo’s. We went up to the Lido having a late lunch/early tea and looked down at the mêlée below where they were preparing for the celebrations for our departure. On an oblong of black matting a group of about ten Japanese were consulting notes and laying green gaffe tape out to precise measurements. We watched as they started to lay out little white tubes it took about two hours to complete and it turned out to be a message to us “Bon Voyage” and underneath “Yokohama” we thought that’s an awful lot of effort for those three words, until they started to light hundreds of candles, one in each tube. The effect was fantastic (photos on the way internet permitting). By now you would think that things would be quietening down, not a bit crowds were still pouring on we wondered if the roof would stand the strain. I went down to try and upload photo’s using the WiFi in the terminal, and as usual had to ask a Japanese girl on the WiFi stand for help. She and a friend of hers took me down to the far end of the hall where they said it was quieter! I wasn’t sure what they meant until I realised that they were talking about WiFi traffic. Then using a card they bought with them they asked for my phone, pressed a myriad of buttons, giggled, bowed, gave me the phone back saying “you OK” now. I still don’t know if I managed to get any back, but it was a delightful diversion.

Before I went back on board I wandered up to the roof to mingle with the crowds to see what it looked like from their perspective, Carol was not on the balcony or I would have shouted up in a suitable accent “Cawol Smile” but she wasn’t. We had to sail bang on time to get under the bridge again. So after dinner we went up on deck to watch our departure. The crowd was in high spirits and there were lot of shouts between them and the ship. Carol went down to watch from the balcony (it was cold), but I wanted film of hitting the bridge (if we did). We pulled away with the usual blasts from the ships horns loud cheers from the shore and as we pivoted to head for the bridge I clambered up to the position I was in when we came in. This time we reached the bridge quite quickly and we went for it at a faster pace than when we came in (captains confidence?) but again it looked very tight. This time there were crowds on the bridge and a lot of shouting between people on the ship and people on the bridge. We again slipped under with barely an inch to spare confirmed by the shouts from the people watching from the bridge who were also convinced we were going to hit with the very top of the mast, but we didn’t and so we slipped away down through the deserted industrial part of the city and out to another day at sea, prior to Kobe.