Date & Time: Thursday, July 24, 2:00 p.m.- 4.30 p.m.
Spots: Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse (shopping & dining complex), Red Brick Warehouse Pier to get on Marine Rouge cruising boat, Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall (the Jack)
Visitors: 17 international students from Taiwan, China, Italia, Canada, USA, Mexico, Panama, 6 Japanese students, and 3 staff of Kanagawa University
Guides: 5 KSGG members
Language: primarily in English
Short-term exchange students took part in a guided tour of Yokohama Bay as part of the Japanese Language & Culture Program at the Kanagawa University. They gathered in front of the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse*1, They were given an overview of KSGG’s activities and today’s tour course. The group then split into two parties and boarded the Marine Rouge cruise boat docked at the nearby pier.
Shortly after the students took their seats in the cabin on the second floor, the boat set out for a cruise in the bay. Although no ships were moored at the Osanbashi International Passenger Terminal, they spotted the Nippon Maru luxury cruiser anchored at Shinko Pier. As the boat approached Yamashita Pier, a KSGG guide explained the history of the opening of Yokohama Port. The students then went out onto the deck, taking many pictures and enjoying the sea breeze.
The cruiser passed under the Rainbow Bridge. A student from Panama exclaimed that the bridge looked like Puente Centenario, the central bridge over the Panama Canal, and showed a photo of it on his cellphone. Then, an American student proudly showed off a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay.
The exchange students had been staying at the university for two to four weeks during their summer break to study Japanese. For them, the cruise was surely a pleasant escape to enjoy the bay and its waterfront areas.
After about an hour-long cruise, the visitors disembarked and walked to the Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall (nicknamed the Jack), one of the three symbolic towers of Yokohama*2. Along the way, they also spotted the other two towers—the King and the Queen—and some students compared their heights.
At the Jack, the students viewed the exhibits and learned about, for example, the lecture hall in the basement, a painting of the Kanrin-maru*3, and a stained-glass artwork depicting Goetsu-Doshu*4 on the second floor. A Japanese student from Kanagawa University, who had studied abroad in Taiwan and still remembered the kindness of the people there, said he volunteered to guide this tour as a way to return the favor. Despite the extremely hot weather, it was fortunate that the tour was completed as scheduled.
*1: The Yokohama Red Brick Warehouses were originally built as bonded storage facilities in the early 20th century. Today, they have been refurbished and house a shopping and dining complex, making them a major tourist attraction.
*2: The three Yokohama towers are the Prefectural Office (the King), the Customs Office (the Queen), and the Port Opening Memorial Hall (the Jack).
*3: The Kanrin-maru was a warship built in Holland that sailed from Edo (present-day Tokyo) to San Francisco for the first time with a Japanese crew about one and a half centuries ago.
*4: Goetsu-Doshu is an idiomatic phrase originating from Chinese history, meaning “bitter enemies in the same boat.
