Size Matters (Day 2 Part 1 in Japan)

On, Tuesday, May 16^th, in the Land of the Rising Sun, dawn broke at 4:30 am. Earle and I had already been awake a half an hour and were stumbling about bleary eyed when the early morning rays pierced our hotel window in Yokohama.

The reasons for our poor sleep? Adjustment to a new time zone, yes. Overtired from traveling, yes. But it also had to do with the size of our room. Our bed was so small (how small was it?) that I could not get up and go to the bathroom without hitting Earle’s feet. Which is to say 1. They hung off the bed. 2. There was no clearance between his dangling feet and the wall. In fact, the corner of our bed touched the wall. There was so little floor space that we each kicked assorted suitcases in the night. It was small.

Views of Our Yokohama hotel room

And to say something was small, is not a derogatory remark. It is more about economy of space. Japan is roughly the size of California and their population is 127 million to our 318 million. So stewardship of space is essential.

Many things were small in Japan. No space was wasted. The Japanese people themselves tend to be smaller than Americans. (Though how Japanese women pull off short AND willowy, I don’t know, but they do it beautifully.) Automobiles in Japan looked like Hot Wheels. Parking spaces were comparably sized down and natives must have some magic origami style bending capability to get in and out of their parked cars. (I’m also sure they did it gracefully.)

Adorable Tiny Vehicle

 

Another tiny vehicle

Back to our morning, we were revived by hot showers in a tub that while small in length and width, was knee high to accommodate the Japanese appreciation of a good soak. (Appreciation of a good soak? Another high mark on my score card.)

When our party reconvened for breakfast out, we discovered one thing that was larger in Japan – slices of bread! We had toast that put Texas Toast to shame. Also, Nat ordered “potato salad elegance” which equated to a big honking plate of delicious French fries with some tasty seasoning salt. We ate these with our pinkies extended to be elegant.

Nat and Lilly at breakfast - enjoying "potato salad elegance" 

Next stop was to see Zack’s apartment for ourselves.  The elevator there was too small for the five of us and we set off the weight alarm. (Or perhaps it is better said that we were too big for it.) I thought Skyping with Zack had prepared me for the apartment’s modest size but in American realtor lingo, it was a real cream puff.  Here is a photo of the five of us in the apartment. That is the entire breadth. I’ve included a pic of his kitchen (no counter), washer (no dryer, Japanese, for the most part, hang their clothes to dry) and the bathroom. The grand tour also included the balcony which included a clever fire escape that dropped a ladder to the apartment balcony below. The entire apartment would have fit in our master bedroom and bathroom. Still, it was efficient and well-located in a great neighborhood.

Zack's Apartment Building

All 5 of us in Zack's Apartment

Zack's kitchen and foyer

Small, but deep tub

Bathroom and Washing Machine

Fire escape hatch

View from Zack's balcony

Zack had planned what he called “a gentle walking day” to acclimatize us to the time change and get us in the habit of walking. (I’ll say here that Earle and I each wear fitbits which both indicated we’d racked up almost 9 miles by bedtime. Hello, Aleve!) We took a beautiful walk through displays that constituted Yokohoma’s  Garden Necklace which was their National Urban Greenery Fair. Each district hosted a small representative garden and we saw numerous displays that were in their prime, including a rose garden and a baseball themed display at Yokohama Stadium. I was captivated by the mascot! I was also delighted to see a pug and his owner stopping to smell the roses. 

Adorable, right?

Lilly, amid Lillies

Pug! 

Our walk lead us out to the Osanbashi Yokohama International Passenger Terminal. It was modern, spacious and offered beautiful views of the city. Unfortunately, no ships were docked that day, but here’s a link to an ariel view so you can get an idea of what it was all about as well as a few pics I took.

Osanbashi Yokohama International Passenger Terminal

My feet and knees were pretty tired by then so we found a place to rest in the cool interior. Soda machines offered refreshing options – I had something peachy, while Nat made an unfortunate selection that included suspended gelatin-like bits.  And then, I experienced my new passion: gachapon machines! These are like gumball machines that offer one of a selection of toys for 200 or 300 yen  apiece ($2 or $3) The toys available were the cutest things imaginable. I was hooked! Here’s what Wikipedia says about the name: "Gashapon" is a Japanese onomatopoeia composed of two sounds: "gasha" (or "gacha") for the sound of a crank on a toy vending machine, and "pon" for the sound of the toy capsule dropping into the receptacle. Pretty clever, like most everything else in Japan.

The tricky part was deciding which to choose and I settled on “Café de ham” which consisted of tiny toy sets of a hamster creating mischief in a diner. Here’s a shot of the capsule I randomly got and what was inside: tiny toy hamster, plate and little sandwich. You can nestle the hamster in the sandwich. You will likely either think this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard of or the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Of course, for me, it was the later.

Enough for now.  I’m going off  to ruminate on the appeal of tiny toys. More soon. Sayonara!