Yokohama and a Japanese McDonald's

We are making the most of our weekends here at the Bangerter home. Of course we want to see all we can of this amazing country while we are here, but I can't help but feel that part of the reason is also that sticking around our house is pretty dismal these days. We don't have our main shipment yet, which means we are sleeping on borrowed beds, sitting on borrowed couches, and eating (or not eating, if you are June) at a borrowed table.

This past weekend, we visited Yokohama. It is located on Tokyo Bay, to the south of Tokyo, and is the capital of the prefecture in which we live - Kanagawa. As usual, our day started with a train ride. Luke made an interesting discovery this week - the reason we haven't been able to figure out how to silence the camera shutter sound on our phones is because it is ILLEGAL to do so here. It's not cool to live in a place where weird, cool things are always around but you feel like you are bothering everyone with your clicking sounds. Not to mention those indiscreet pictures of other people that we all take but probably shouldn't. Hence the law, I guess. Anyways, I still do it, I just try to cover the speaker with my fingers and wait until a loud moment.

Ivy and Junie looking at the lights in the tunnel.

The RomanceCar - more expensive, but you get your own reserved seat and you get to look out the window disdainfully at the normal train passengers. Maybe one day we will try this. 

A super aggressive anti-tuberculosis ad. 

Many bathrooms have these handy baby holders.

This one even had a wee little potty that Ivy was tickled to be able to use.

Lots of transfers and not a few bags of fruit snacks later, we got to Queen's Square.

It was a beautiful day - warm and sunny. The massive Ferris wheel loomed over the bay like a lawsuit waiting to happen. 

We had a little time to kill before the park opened, so we decided to try this McDonald's place we keep seeing everywhere. In Japan, it is called "Ma-ku-da-na-ru-do." It had some of the classic favorites, like a Big Mac..

...and this abomination which I obviously ordered, basically a Big Mac with more meat discs.

Some fries with "Hachimitsu Mustard Sauce" which I did not order but they look really good to me right now. 

Luke ordered Happy Meals for the girls. June's came with these mini pancakes with nifty little butter and syrup pouches that you squeeze right on like a calorie-laden zit.

Honestly thought it was mayonnaise at first and wouldn't have been surprised. 

The sign outside the food court. 

Onward to the park! It was sort of like an amusement park for kids - Ivy and June had a great time. 

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Luke took the girls into this strange cold house thing. It was like a little fun house/museum but it was literally freezing inside. Luke said the girls wanted to leave the minute they walked in, but we paid like $5 for each ticket, so they were going to like it. 

Like prisoners trekking across Siberia. 

Next I took June on this little ride, which she liked. 

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Then Ivy and I did this little cycle monorail thing that was so much fun - you could see the bay and bicycle as fast or slow as you wanted. 

Next we did this weird photo booth there your face is automatically airbrushed, make up is applied, and your eyes are made to look like little black light bulbs. I laughed so hard I cried. 

I can't decide if I like William with the doll face in the first picture or Luke with the lipstick here. It's all so wonderful. 

On to the Wonder Amuse Zone! 

This thing is massive, about 400 feet tall. It never stops rotating, albeit slowly, but it's still a bit of a trick to get oneself and one's three small children and husband on and off of it. The entire rotation takes about 15 minutes and affords some incredible views of the bay. 

It was a fun day, but our comrades were all out of steam. Ivy cried the entire way to the train station because she didn't want to leave. June cried until Luke carried her in the ergo because she's like that. William slept on. 

What a champ. 

Overall, it was a great day. I feel like I need at least one more day in my weekend to recover from our outings. We should be getting our shipment tomorrow, which I'm thrilled about. After I get things somewhat put together, I'll post about our lovely housing and the slightly less thrilling adventure of living on post.