bushy

My OH and I moved to Yokohama in April and, although we both like it here and he's happy in his job I'm finding it hard to find things to to do...apart from shopping which is a major pastime here:-)
Is there anyone on here that lives there and would fancy meeting up for a coffee sometime?

expatasia

Don't live near but welcome to the Kanto area anyway! How is the dog coping, did you get a Kindle shipped over?

At Aoyama Book Center in Omotesando (Tokyo) they are having a sale of English books til May 5.

bushy

Hi Expatasia

We decided not to bring Rocket over in the end which was a good job as we were only here for 4 days in March then had to leave rather suddenly because of the earthquake! We would have had to leave him here which would have been awful. My daughter moved back home so she's spoiling him rotten there:-)

Didn't go for a Kindle, just had lots of my books shipped over by the moving company and there's a bookstore in Collett Mare near me that sells some English ones too for when I finish mine.

I'm enjoying living here but looking forward to going back home in June for a few weeks to catch up with friends and make sure my kids aren't wrecking the house

expatasia

Exquisite timing! Why on earth did you leave though, quakes & aftershockers are par for the course here? I heard there is liquefaction in some parts of Yokohama, any signs of it you've seen?

Urayasu in Chiba was the first place I lived in Japan, this is what is in evidence there now:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/zoom/20110325-OYT9I00528.htm

bushy

Well, we had our son with us then and he was stressing out in a big way so my hubby's company booked him a flight home. The YCAT wasn't operating so we took the train with another couple, she was flying home with their young son and he was staying as were we. During the journey we saw on the news about the nuclear power plant having major problems so we freaked out a bit and all caught the same flight back! It was the worst Qantas flight I've ever been on, the plane was so old and the service was terrible...we found out later that they'd charged $5000 for a seat which would normally have cost about $1000
About a week later all of the company's employees and their families were sent back to Oz so we would have had to leave then anyway.
Haven't felt any aftershocks for ages now although I wasn't too worried about them...my friends and family were a bit horrified when we came back but it's where we live and work now

bushy

Forgot to say..no we haven't seen any damage here although I know some of the older buildings were. Not heard about any liquifraction either.

expatasia

Yeah, British Airways pulled the same trick - a friend was quoted 450,000yen per one-way ticket when she thought about evacuating in a hurry to Heathrow.

I was a tad concerned at one point when the UK announced that stable iodine tablets were available to subjects of her majesty in Hanzomon near the embassy but after emailing their emergency earthquake address and getting absolutely no reply I realised my fears were unfounded. Have you been in touch with the embassy at all? Did you get any pressure from people back home to GET OUT OF TOKYO as the Sun succinctly put it?

bushy

No, we didn't hear anything about iodine tablets until we got back home. I wouldn't say we we under pressure to get home but everyone was pleased when we did
Some people were surprised we came back but my OH would have had to come back anyway for his work and I didn't want to stay in Oz without him. Maybe if I'd got young kids I'd think twice but there's just the two of us and we have a lovely apartment overlooking the city and have had some great weekends so far, I would've been sad to have missed it.
Now I know my way around where we live we're going to go further afield this weekend and head into Roppongi....want to see if I can get some kokeshi dolls for a friend who's coming to visit us next week.

DigitalGhost

If you're still there the next time I'm over when I'll give you a shout. My OH's friend and her husband also work in a bar in Yokohama, he is a glaswegian chef and serves some UK pub-style food so that might be one to check out if you're missing the tastes of home.

nipon1

+++

Hi there,

I live with my wife and daughter in Yokohama area - Shinohara-Higashi/Kouhoku way (about 15 mins from Yokohama main station).

If you or your hubby want to meet up in evening or at weekends then
let me know

Cheers
Mark