Continuing on with the Australian Invasion (of one), the next day trip Lauren and I took was to Yokohama. Our main reason (my main reason?) for going there was the Ramen Museum, however no trip to Yokohama is complete without a visit to Chinatown. The Yokohama Chinatown is one of the largest in the world, and its a very bright and lively shopping and restaurant area, with a couple of shrines thrown in.
So we wandered around there for a while, and I stocked up on Chinese pork buns and egg noodles. Since we were going to the Ramen Museum later we didn’t have lunch at Chinatown, and we made our way along the bay side to the Minato Mirai area. There we took a ride on the ‘Cosmo Clock 21’ ferris wheel.
It really struck me how much the Minato Mirai district has changed since my first visit in about 2002. It’s a much more international tourist friendly place, and there are more things to do. From the ferris wheel we spotted a couple of things I want to try next time I’m in Yokohama, like the foot bath at the Manyo club, and putt-putt at Vivre. Both of which are on top of the buildings!
From Minato Mirai it was finally time to get our late lunch (or early dinner) at the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum. The Ramen Museum is one of my favourite places to go in Yokohama. Once you enter the Museum and walk downstairs into the basement, you enter a mock-up of what Japan was like in the early to mid Showa era (1925 and onwards).
At any one time, there are about nine different restaurants showcasing different varieties of Ramen from all over Japan. You can buy large or small bowls of ramen, and traditional Japanese sweets. We were only able to fit in two small bowls of ramen, so we had Tonkotsu ramen (broiled pork bone soup) from the Kumamoto shop ‘Komurasaki’
and Miso ramen from the Hokkaido shop ‘Eki’
Both were very delicious, but pretty heavy. I love trying different types of ramen, and tonkotsu still remains my favourite. Alas, living in Kanto, the regional flavor of ramen is soy sauce, so I don’t get to satisfy my craving very often.
And, after rolling ourselves home, that was our day in Yokohama!
Once again, Lauren made a video, and you can check out her YouTube channel here!