Yokohama 29th March 2007

Yesterday was our last day in Tokyo before we moved to Yokohama. I LOVE Yokohama! It is a beautiful city with nice wide streets and clean footpaths and great scenery. We went for a walk through Chinatown, cruised up towards the beach to check out the view and watched a really cool performance from a guy who could juggle with fire, perform magic card tricks and put out fire with his mouth! It was all very impressive.

After that, I went for a walk on my own and stumbled across a really cool, old and interesting building. It was open, so I looked inside and realised that it was a department store. Looking at it from the outside, you wouldn’t think it would be a department store as it looks more like a museum or an art gallery, but it had a lot of character. Later, I found out it was called the Akarenga.

I was walking through the building, wishing that I could find a jazz bar because I really felt like listening to some good quality jazz music. I was about to ask someone, when I stumbled across this sign. It said that there was a jazz bar on the next floor and that a jazz band was playing there that very instant! It was all so convenient and coincidental, that I just HAD to go in and have a look.

I was so glad that I did, because I walked into this really classy, up-market jazz bar with four extremely talented musicians on stage each playing their own instrument of expertise. There was a pianist, a saxophonist (who could also play the soprano trumpet), a cheloist (who could also play the bass guitar) and a drummer. I was mesmerised by their talent and I didn’t want the jamming session to end. It was the best jazz music I have ever heard in my life. I couldn’t believe how fast the pianist could move his fingers and not once did he make a single mistake. I couldn’t believe how confident and comfortable the drummer looked while he was playing the drums as he had such a luring presence on stage during his performance. Later, I found out that he was one of the best drummers in the whole of Japan! The saxophonist was just amazing the way he put his heart and soul into his music and the cheloist could play with such precision and excellence that he almost put me in a trance. It was brilliant.

The service was fantastic and the waiters were really friendly and accommodating and could speak English really well. I had the nicest cocktail that had a little cherry blossom inside it with honey and small flecks of gold. It was delicious! I felt really comfortable in the jazz club and it was a very bizarre and interesting night. It was like everything just fell into my lap without any effort whatsoever...the band, the service, the people, the atmosphere - it was all perfect! I love it when that happens!