March 22nd: Kurihama's Godzilla
Before we started off on our little journey to see Godzilla, we had lunch near our local train station. Subway!
As always, this American chain was a bit different. The sandwich I ate was shrimp and avocado. My side was potatoes (french fries) that I could of gotten cheese, BBQ, or basil flavoured!
They have other sandwiches like herb dog (it's a hotdog on a sub), cajun chicken and variations of familiar subs. But you will not find the classic meatball or spicy Italian.
After lunch we went to Kurihama. Kurihama is famous for the landing ground of U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry and his "Black Ships". He forced Japan to make a treaty with the United States that opened up the country after it's period of isolation from the outside world.
But also in Kurihama is Kurihama Flower World or Kurihama Hana-no-Kuni, famous for it's 1 million blooming poppies... but it's still winter so there wasn't many flowers blooming... but then again, the park entrance fee was free because of this! :D
But we weren't there for flowers! We were there for Godzilla!
Godzilla (or Gojira as the Japanese call him) awakened and mutated as a result of the testing of the hydrogen bomb. He surfaced somewhere around Yokosuka (where we live!)... and ended up as a slide in Kurihama not so far away, ha ha.
This Godzilla was pretty much a slide in a playground at the top of the hill in Flower World. But he is a pretty popular for Japanese and Gaijin tourists alike.
On the way back to the train station we came across a small but pretty shrine in the middle of the city. The pictures are of the shrine, wishes written on wood charms and paper fortunes tied to the tree.
This Shrine was located across a huge Super Walmart type store. Always interesting to see these contrasts in Japan.
Waiting at the train Station in Kurihama to get to Yokohama. I didn't take any pictures in Yokohama because we just did some normal shopping. Boring stuff.
But we did stop at a British Pub located underground in the middle of the city for dinner!
There looked like there was a Gaijin running the place so the decor and food was pretty authentic along with the imported beer in bottles and on draft.
I had fish and chips on a Japanese English newspaper. Terry had Sheppard's Pie and Eric had Guinness Steak Pie. Yummy.