Yokohama

A day trip to Yokohama included a visit to the Ramen Museum, Chinatown and a bit of wandering around Yokohama Port. Yokohama was a straight shot from Shinagawa, so getting there via train was a piece of cake.

I had looked up the Ramen Museum before deciding to go, but the concept of what exactly went on there wasn’t too clear until I actually got there. I understood that in the basement there would be a replica of various ramen shops, but I thought it’d be more museumesque, rather than like a restaurant. Aayway, on the first floor there is some history and photos and displays of various ramen making tools and such. Simple stuff, but it’s put together well I think. There’s also a souvenir shop, tho I decided not to get anything from there.

On the bottom floor, there is a series of 9 restaurants, each representing a different area of japan. The whole floor is laid out as if it was some old town that you were walking through, the atmosphere was pretty cool. Basically what you did here was visit each one of the ramen shops where you could either get a sample of ramen, served in this mini bowl; or you could go in, sit down and eat a large bowl, selected from a wide range of ramen that one might have found served in that particular area of Japan that the ramen shop is supposed to represent. Was cool, though I managed to burn my tongue a bit. Nice variety tho, and all of it was tasty.

Next stop was to Chinatown, Japan’s largest. I’ve never been to a Chinatown or other, themed(?), area of a town like that, and so it was pretty interesting. The roads were filled with shopping, and food and other entertainment, oh and people; lot’s of people packed the streets. And the place was pretty huge, it stretched far and wide so it took a while to walk through it all.

From Chinatown I headed to the “futuristic” port. The walk took me through Yamashita Park which was pretty calm, but with a lot of people lounging and walking around. There were a few performances going on in the park, like a juggler who had gathered a large crowd. Lots of large buildings, a ferris wheel, boats and stuff could be seen on the way to the “Sky Garden”. It reminded me of the inner harbor in Baltimore a little bit, only bigger and more up to date. Well, I’ve not much to compare it to really.

Enjoyed my visit to Yokohama and there’s some stuff I missed while there, so I’d definitely make another trip if I had more time.

Photos are up on Facebook.