Summary of Japan Trip (Nov 2009)

Here’s a summary linking up all the posts related to our 18-day Japan trip in November 2009.

The posts with asterisks was updated with some videos after it was first published. Do go see!

Japan Trip: Day 17, part 5 (30 Nov 2009)

Final post on Yokohama!

After visiting Bluff No. 111,  we walked towards Yamashita Park. Although it was just early evening, the sun had long set and it was as dark as night! (Downside of visiting in late autumn~) Therefore, we couldn’t really see anything and we were simply walking along the Rinkosen promenade towards Minato Mirai.

It was a cold night too!

At the Yamashita Wharf is the Hikawa Maru ship which now serves as a museum.

And looking across the waters, the skyline is marked by the 3 Queen towers, the huge Cosmo World ferris wheel and the Intercontinental Hotel that is shaped like a sail on a yacht. We could also see the Red Brick Warehouses, which is basically a small shopping mall.

Hmm, I would like to come back here in the day to walk along the promenade again and to see what the park offers!

Japan Trip: Day 17, part 4 (30 Nov 2009)

We walked for about 10mins and reached the Harbor View Park, where the British House and Bluff No. 111 are located.

The British House was constructed in 1937 and it used to serve as the residence of the British Consul General. There was an event and we couldn’t visit the whole house… ended up with only some pictures of the kitchen And a car was in the way of our shot from the outside!

Japan Trip: Day 17, part 3 (30 Nov 2009)

A 15min walk brought us to Motomachi Park, which is adjacent to the Yokohama Foreigner’s Cemetery. Eh no, we didn’t visit the cemetery as it’s not really our kind of thing. Would you?

Here, we have Berrick Hall, Ehrismann Residence and Bluff No. 234.

Berrick Hall is a Spanish style building with a triple arch entrance. It was designed by American architect, J.H. Morgan and constructed in 1930. For 10 years before WWII, it was the residence of an English businessman, B.R. Berrick. He later donated it to the Society of Mary. St. Joseph College and it was used as a dormitory until 2000. The following year, Yokohama City purchased it and opened it to the public – yay!

Large house, right?! Unfortunately, it was closed to visitors for an event so no photos of the interior! Would have loved to walk around the house…

Japan Trip: Day 17, part 2 (30 Nov 2009)

We reached the Yamate area and found ourselves in the Yamate Italian Garden. The garden is well-maintained and as it is on higher ground, we could look out over the surroundings. The cloudy sky makes the view gloomy though.

The Bluff No. 18 and Diplomat’s House are located here.

This marked the start of us visiting the various houses~~ At each house, we had to take off our shoes and put on the house slippers – that was a tad troublesome, haha!

Since this was late November, many houses were beautifully decorated with a Christmas theme and we also walked into some folks who were busy decorating or adding finishing touches.

While researching for this post, I realized that there is a yearly event, World’s Christmas, where the residences are decorated with Christmas ornaments of different countries. I wonder how different the houses are from the usual non-Christmas season.