Today we ventured out about normal time, which was late. We managed to get a local service rather than an express train so it took forever to get to Yokohama. Got to Kannai station no problem and found the stadium, there was a game on so it was very busy. Found the edge of China town, should have taken my first hunch but walked round a bit and through China town which was very busy. Oddly I came across the old ‘English Tavern’ first, before the hotel. The original Union Jack flag was there in the sign, but sadly the sign by the lift door had the name of a realtor on it. We did take the trip up to the 4th floor but all appeared to be empty. Sad, but was nice to see the remains of the old place, many many memories there.

Soon found the hotel, this now looks like it’s been turned into apartments or something, the sign is still there but the reception looks dark and empty.

We caught the bus down to Hon-Moko. Soon found the old Mycal building, went up to the 4th floor, it’s all a mere shell of its former self. What once was a bustling arcade with the Crystal Maze, Laser Quest and ‘Horror Maze’ is now a kiddies birthday party thing. Where the Maze once stood is now a bouncy castle. The whole building has certainly downsized in content if not physical size. What used to be quite a high end food court on the ground floor is now just a tacky market, the big posh restaurants have moved out, together with the expensive clothing and furniture shops. In thirteen years it’s gone from Fendi to Primark. I looked for the old Subway sandwich bar, I found the building, it’s now an office. The old ‘Dunkin Doughnuts’ place is empty. We ate at McDonalds which seems to be the only new thing there.

It appears that the economic downturn has hit Yokohama hard, most of the places I knew of just don’t exist anymore.

We found a Japanese Tesco express and also a giant Pokemon centre, so did a little bit of shopping. Then sensibly got the express train home.

I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Yokohama, I have a lot of good memories and had some fun times. Time moves on for everybody and everything, so it’s a fond farewell I say to Yokohama for probably the last ever time. If I close my eyes I can still see everybody in the ‘English Tavern’, so I’ll say Campie! to you all and finally one last sayonara.