Glass and Steel

The Yokohama Grand Inter-Continental Hotel is one of my favorite landmarks in the waterfront area of Yokohama. I'll probably never be able to stay in this hotel, but at least we can take pictures of it from outside!

The Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu is a little bit older and more affordable. Depending on the room, you get a wonderful view of the entire bay. By the same token, depending on the room, your "wonderful" view might be blocked by Yokohama Grand Inter-Continental Hotel.

With all the fireworks we had tonight, a full moon was also shining down upon us! A night of nights for sure!

Around the area, they have pieces of old equipment, pumps, etc., that were used when this area used to be an industrial dockyard. It's fun to see what countries these items came from and love to imagine how they were able to offload such huge and heavy items of the ships back in the days without hi-tech cranes!

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Nippon Maru

After getting something to snack on and something cold to drink, headed back to the train station on the way home. Tonight, the Japanese sail training ship, Nippon Maru, was on full display and lit up tonight.

Not only did the water reflect the surrounding skyscrapers, hotels, and the ship itself, but also the rainbow of colors coming from the Ferris wheel nearby.

The ship was built in 1930 and retired in 1984. Now, volunteers work to provide visitors to the ship educational programs about sea life on sailing vessel. There is a museum nearby that is also a big attraction for tourists and students.

The ship is moored in what remains of the original dockyards there were here in Minato Mirai before the city of Yokohama converted the dockyards into a waterfront park. 

My favorite picture of all. I like the old ship, the modern skyscrapers, and the colorful Ferris wheel in this shot.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fireworks Food

During and after the fireworks show, many small stalls were located nearby selling all kinds of western-style and Japanese-style snacks ranging from hot dogs to squid-on-a-stick.

Other stands sold beer, snow cones, and just anything you could think of to help one cool off in the hot, humid weather. I wonder how the folks living in the nearby condos feel about having a front-seat view to the fireworks and a front-seat view to the garbage left strewn all over the place the following morning? 

Yakitori is still one of my favorite foods since coming to Japan. It's still a bit pricey, so I only enjoy it on special occasions. 

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Moon Sail

Landmark Tower on the right and and Queen's Square office/shopping complex on the left (the three-tiered building). I love going to Queen's Square for Starbucks and Krispy Kreme! 

The Ferris wheel alternates with different colors and different times of night. My guess is with the red, they are maybe trying to emulate the fireworks display we just enjoyed. 

One of the more iconic hotels in Yokohama. The upper structure of the hotel is like the shape of a sail. Aesthetics meets functional design.

We were lucky to catch a full moon tonight. A nice way to top off a night of fireworks!

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Happy Birthday 2012

For the first time in many years, I actually took a day off on my birthday and went to see some fireworks.

This fireworks display is sponsored every year by the Kanagawa Shinbun newspaper publisher. 

Actual fireworks are shot of barges anchored in Tokyo Bay in the Port of Yokohama off the coast of Minato Mirai 21, Yokohama.

I wanted to take more pictures,  but had a hard time trying to use the camera in the dark. 

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Kugenuma - Mt. Fuji

Went to the beach this afternoon after work. Was glad to see the beaches were still somewhat clean.

An added bonus was to be able to catch a clear view of Mt. Fuji. The grainy shot is a result of taking these shots with an iPhone 4S. Not the best camera for landscape shots. 

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Sankeien Gardens - Shrine Pagoda

The founder of this garden was also able to salvage some old shrines that were planned for demolition. I am glad that he saved these structures for future generations, and attempted to retain the original details and parts of the structure as much as possible.

We are fortunate now to have fully grown trees surrounding these structures, which now gives them the appearance of having always been here. This may have been what the structures looked like in their original settings. 

I can't resist taking shots of moss covered rocks. I can never get enough.

On the far end of the garden at the top of a small hill is a pagoda. This pagoda has a mixture of both Buddhist motifs and other design features found in Shinto shrines as well. 

Love how the Japanese have incorporated different parts of other traditions and cultures and melded them into something new and different that can now be truly called Japanese. 

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.