TacoCat’s Travels #132 (Japan 6.0): Snooping around Yokohama's pretty lights! ✨

Hey Hive!

So if you missed the last couple of posts, we're currently on another journey to Japan after we finished our final semester of college back in January 2019! And it was coincidentally around Valentines' Day too! We initially talked about wanting to visit South Korea but a Delta Airlines deal kinda changed our plans so.. to Tokyo once again!

But this time we were staying somewhat outside Tokyo in an area called Omorimachi. And last week, we ended our day of gaming and snacking with us visiting and chilling with adorable puppers in a Mameshiba cafe in Akihabara!

It was a really unique experience and while it can be a little controversial, I'm still glad I tried it out!

17 February 2019. Sunday.

After all that walking around from the previous day we wanted to just chill, but in a different area! And since we only briefly explored Yokohama (specifically the Chinatown) the last time, we decided to head back and see more of what Yokohama has to offer, in an area called Minato Mirai!

From where we were staying it was easier to take a bus to Yokohama so we hopped on the bus and about half an hour later, we arrived in the bustling city of Yokohama!

And it was definitely bustling! There was even a huge Ferris Wheel in the middle, and what a crowd!

We went down to check it out and the first thing we noticed was a lot of huge poodles! I think these are standard poodles from what I discovered but I'm not too sure. They did look huge though!

There was a whole gang of poodles here and they had the miniature ones too! They looked so cute!!

There was even a carnival where the Ferris Wheel was and there were other rides like a lower roller coaster and a swingy thing that I don't know the name of.

There was street performer here too and man what a crowd!

We saw these cute puppers walk pass too! They looked so cute in their little sweaters omg 😍

We were getting hungry and I was in the mood for some katsu and we found this pretty expensive place but I was so hungry so we gave it a try.

And while it looks nice, it was really pricey so we only shared one set. And I'd say it wasn't that worth it, so we didn't bother with another set. I mean it was good, but not worth what we paid. I don't remember exactly how much it was but definitely more than what we were willing to pay.

There was a really fancy mall called Landmark Plaza! I think from all the shiny marble you can already tell it's fancy.

I felt so out of place walking through here but we just took a quick lookaround to see what they had here. And there were only fancy luxury stores here so we promptly left after that.

It was dark by the time we left the mall at around 6pm and there were so many pretty lights!

There was also another mall called Queen's Square there but we didn't bother going in this time since it was probably just full of more expensive stores that we'd never step foot in.

Man I'm such a sucker for Christmas lights but it just looks so pretty!

It was actually a little dark and hard to see when it was all blue though, but when the white lights came on it was better.

These lights definitely made the dead trees look a lot more lively though! But of course only at night.

I wonder how many bulbs there were but I was legit mesmerized!

And we actually managed to take a decent selfie with all the bright lights around!

It was actually quite a long pathway from the department stores but along the way we came across this official-looking building! After doing some research I found that this is the Yokohama Museum of Art!

The floor in front of it was lighting up though and it looked so cool! I'm not sure if it was supposed to be braille but the lights don't actually pop out from the ground so it could just be a design choice?

There was a little doggo gathering in the little field beside this though! And they were so cute! I just hope none of them pooped there.

Along the way of the Christmas lights we actually found this other museum called Orbi Yokohama!

I read that this was opened in August 2013 and is actually a collaboration between BBC Earth and Sega! Orbi Yokohama promises a ‘supercharged nature experience’ that fuses the BBC's nature footage with high-tech, reality-bending attractions seen at Sega's Joypolis arcade in Odaiba! (Source: Timeout)

I guess it's supposed to be an indoor zoo but we didn't know if there were real animals or just robotics in there. From what I read online though, there are actual small animals there you can interact with like hedgehogs, bunnies, geckos to snakes, birds, owls, cats and more. But I think they might've been closed at the time sadly.

There was a nice cafe and outdoor sky garden nearby though so we went to take a look!

And there were even more lights here too!

And even fruits in the bushes! I'm not sure what kind of fruits there were but there were quite a few types of oranges.

But after that we wanted to get a snack so we decided to try Shake Shack back on the street level.

Back then we didn't have Shake Shack in Singapore yet so this was the first time we saw Shake Shack in person and I'd only heard about it from the US Youtubers I followed.

So we decided to try it out for the first time!

Their burgers were kinda pricey though, and since we didn't know if it was good, we decided to try their fries and milkshake! And since they had a special seasonal sakura milkshake we ordered that!

I was so happy with my new cute beanie that we found at Cotton On the other day while shopping around since it was less than 200 yen!

The milkshake itself was really thick and sweet, way too sweet for me actually. Maybe the other flavours would be better.

After that we headed to another mall in Minato Mirai called Tokyu Square! And they had a very pretty heart display made of roses for Valentines Day!

This mall definitely looked more like our style, especially since they had a Snoopy Town store! They even had a huge Snoopy balloon outside the store!

For those who didn't know, I'm a huge Snoopy fan! So much so that we always make it a point to take a look every time we see Snoopy stuff around and we even visited a Snoopy museum!

So of course we gotta check out the Snoopy store! There were all sorts of merch like stationery:

And soo many plushies!

These plushies were soo soft I just loved hugging them!

Even utensils and mugs and stuff too!

And of course, lots of keychains! I loved this Stained Glass window light up top though:

They had them for the whole Snoopy gang iirc!

There were also lots and lots of clothes, bags etc.

There was just so much stuff! I bet every Snoopy fan would go nuts being in here!

There were also these funky souvenir machines where you can imprint a coin into a Snoopy token or something like that:

They even had luxurious stuff behind this glass cabinet:

Also apparently Snoopy was in the Persona series?? Whaaaat!

Even the shop itself was decorated nicely! Like this door:

And this huge statue:

Here he is from a better angle!

There was even a small sitting area with a tiny TV for kids to play in I guess?

I don't think we bought anything though, since everything was of course very expensive. As much as I love Snoopy, most of these things I already owned so I didn't really see the point of getting extras. But it was still cool to see all this cool Snoopy merch!

And I think this was the first time we saw a Snoopy Town store? But I might be mistaken.

There were even special tiles along the floor outside the store just like the Hollywood Walk of Fame or something!

But I think that's gonna be all for today! Tune in next week where we visit another special place in Yokohama!

Here's a teaser:

Thanks so much for reading!

To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!

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Check out my previous post in this series!

TacoCat’s Travels #131 (Japan 6.0): Chillin' with Cute Puppers! 🐶

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