So on the next morning we got ready to move to Yokohama. It was very exciting, in that terribly boring sense. There was a lot to be done. We took a taxi to the train station and then manhandled our luggage through the stations and whatnot. I think I mentioned earlier that Hutch and Nathan were temporarily lost to us when their taxi driver mistakenly too them to the wrong gate.

We hustled onto the big fast train that skipped about 15 stops between our departure and destination, and then we switched to the little train that would actually take us to the station near the hotel. We then had another taxi take us to our new hotel in Yokohama, the Yokohama Central Inn.

Apparently, our hotel was on a mall, in the traditional, mostly-outside sense. There are so many little shops, and in Japan, it's pretty much a rule of thumb that they all have everything ever ever ever. I have no idea how people decide where to go when they want something. It's crazy and scary.

After lunch on the mall, we went to a Yokohama baseball game. Now this whole baseball thing... still terribly boring. The Yokohama team lost. The first inning was terrible. The pitcher walked hitters four times. The other team got three hits and six runs. It got more even after that one inning, but they were never able to recover. I got some nice sun and had fun reading some of my book. This was way back at Stranger in a Strange Land (which I have now left far behind in my reading-age).

After the game, we lost Pate and Hutch in the crowd. It wasn't really a big deal, because we really weren't far from the hotel, so we weren't really worried they would get lost. After about 20 minutes of looking and waiting, we called the hotel and they had just headed there, so all was well.

We ate on the mall again. I swear that stupid place changes every time I walk down it. I had such a hard time getting any sense of bearing at all. I don't remember what we ate, but I don't think it was anything spectacular. It was probably some sort of katsudon.

Anyway, we went to sleep really early that night, because we had to get up super-early the next morning.

Short, I know, but I think I may give up and cut way back on length so that I actually finish these in a reasonable amount of time.

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So the next day, we had to get up to leave by 6:30. Much earlier than I would have liked. Anyway, we got up and headed to the fish market. This was very different from the fish market we got to see in Shimane. We were watching them cart in huge, huge, frozen tunas. I think the biggest one I saw was about 127 kg. That's about 280 pounds, for the metric-impaired ^_^. But yeah, they were auctioning off these giant tuna.

While it was kind of interesting to watch, we were they for way, WAY too long. I lost interest a full hour before we left, and I'm pretty sure I lasted longer than mot of the others. I know that a few of them were bored in 30 minutes, and I would have been okay leaving then. But no.

On the way back, we stopped for a really nice curry lunch. It was very good. I think it's some of the best curry we had here, and I've eaten a lot of curry. It was award-winning curry, and I can see way. I also (not there but in the area) bought some curry soda. That was a disgusting mistake, but I tried it, and I have the bottle as a souvenir. Crazy.

We stayed in the area of the curry place for a while and shopped on this back-alley-type strip. It was pretty scary. Some of the shops looked really nice and had nice things, and some of them looked really questionable and like if I went in I wouldn't come back out alive. I was pretty ready to leave.

On the way back, I actually finished Stranger in a Strange Land. I think I've already mentioned how much I loved it. Definitely going on my list of favorite books. I'm glad I brought it with me. After we got back, I put it back in my suitcase and fished out the other book I brought, the Time-Traveller's Wife. It's about a guy who has a genetic disorder where he inadvertently time travels.

I napped for a little while, but we didn't do anything else of note that day. We wandered around the mall area here again, and I probably ate somewhere along the way.

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On our third day in Yokohama (including the day we arrived), we got up for breakfast at Gasto, which has a western-style breakfast menu. Oh my goodness my eggs over easy were so delicious and I hadn't realized how much I missed them and that they would be so tasty when I had them. There was much rejoicing.

Then I went back to the room and finished getting dressed in my suit for a formal visit to the main campus of Kanto Gakuin University. It wasn't nearly so intimidating as our visit to Shimane University. We had a nifty bento lunch with some of the Study Abroad people and the University president and a few students. It was pretty relaxed, actually.

We had a brief 'tour' of the campus, but none of the students giving us tours actually attended on this campus (KGU has three campuses separated by majors: this was the economics/business campus, our students were all from the Liberal Arts campus (being English and/or Linguistics majors), and then there's also a law campus).

Most important part of the tour? There was little shop-area that had murasaki-imo (purple sweet potato) ice cream. I think it's my new favorite flavor. It was so tasty and made me happy on the inside.

After that, we came back to the hotel. This mall was so confusing and I swear the shops changed every time I walked down it.

Tyler and I had another sushi-train dinner. It was more expensive than the one in Shimane, but at least it was better than the one in Tokyo. I was pleased. I ate a lot of shrimp and wasabi, that's for sure.

Anyway, that's enough for now. I'm going to have to try to reconstruct the next day's events from the pictures and the itinerary after we get back, because I forgot to write it down that night, and so I don't know what we did.

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So there you have it... three days all rolled into one!

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