Malaysians discover 'old Japan' in Shimoda

The cool ‘pizza bus’ at Anchukuro. — DR NANDITA RAY

We had left the hustle and bustle of Yokohama where, as in most of modern Japan, it is lit up like a pinball machine and where schoolgirls in precariously short skirts and boys sporting brilliantly coloured hairstyles jostled with staid men in business suits armed with transparent umbrellas.

We were more than ready to experience the Japan of Shogun and The Last Samurai. And what better place to visit for a taste of Old World Japan than the city that had first opened Japan’s doors to the world one-and-a-half centuries ago. Shimoda lies at the tip of the Izu Peninsula on the island of Honshu. It was here that the first American naval ships were welcomed by the Shogunate. Led by Commodore Matthew Perry (not the actor), the Black Ships sailed into the Shimoda Harbour in 1854.