Having explored Yokohama sufficiently, we headed down to the rather large Chinatown, which is found closer to the middle of the city. When we arrived we had to walk through one of the four large gates to get into the town. I think we walked through the Goodwill gate, but it could have been one of the others.

Because it was Chinese new year, there were an awful lot of people milling around, waiting for the parade to start. We however had spent the day freezing by the sea, so we were not in the mood to stand around some more. Instead, we started doing what we do best; exploring and eating.

As you can see, the place was packed and everything was very pretty. I just wish Chinese New Year fell in June, when the sun basically never sets and it's warm and toasty all day long. Nevermind.

We decided to check out a few of the souveniour shops along the main street. I realise that this is a very touristy thing to do, but we were pressed for time and very rather hungry, so rather than search out the traditional shops we gave into quick advertising.

After that, we headed to what I think was the main shrine in Chinatown, and fought our way through the thousands of people trying to pray so we could have a look at the pretty decorations. Man, we really were tourists. I couldn't take any photos of the inside of the shrine (people might have got annoyed) but I managed to get some pretty good photos of just outside it, which gives a hint as to how many people were there. Notice the big Chinese parade dragon too. We didn't stay to see them perform but we did get to see them carrying the huge dragon suit through the street.

Eventually, 8pm rolled around and it was time to get some food. We had to wait for some time to get a table at one of the hundreds of large restaurants, but eventually we did. We were then basically assaulted with food. If you made a mountain out of all the food we consumed, mountain rescue dogs everywhere would come out of retirement.

Sadly, we took so long eating our meal that by the time we finished we were so exhausted, we just hopped on the train and headed home. When my mother comes to Tokyo in March, I intend to take her to Yokohama, so I will be able to write Yokohama Part 3 then.

In the mean time, the photos from the school speech contest have arrived! I'll write about it this weekend. (I hope).

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