We were soon heading for the Tokyo Metropolitan Highway and a drive that would take to the world’s largest city (10m+ population?) passing over the Yokohama Bay Bridge and the Tokyo Rainbow Bridge before crossing northern Tokyo Bay.
Again I was struck by the built up nature of this huge urban area with bridges, underpasses, over passes and huge factories – Subaru, Kawasaki (Motorcycles), Ricoh (Cameras) and the huge docks dedicated to the export of thousands of cars. Some manufacturers e.g. Honda (See photo) with their own dedicated ships but the prize goes to Nissan who have their own port!!
The Metropolitan Highway must have the fastest electronic toll gates in the world – the gates zipping open at the last fraction of a second, the driver not lifting his foot form the accelerator. A bit of a heart-stopper for those in the front sits.
On the way out of the docks at Yokohama I spotted the Hikawa Marau, a famous cruise ship known as the ‘Queen of the Pacific’ that had regularly made the 13-day voyage to and form Seattle in the USA carrying such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin. A fellow table companion visited this now floating museum that he said was of great insight into early cruising in the 20th Century. A visit to his ship is a must for a future visit since sadly no time again to explore after the excursion today.
I hope you can see the impressive Yokohama Bay Bridge through the haze!
No comments:
Post a Comment