Ramen Around the World in One City

Day 12- China Town

Another day, another pork bun. I was still recovering from my slight cold, but the saltiness of the bun certainly helped me out. Who cares about a stuffy nose when you can just stuff your face with dough and meat?

We decided to split up, so Tom and I went off on our own.  I was excited to visit China Town, especially since it was the biggest one in all of Japan.  Before we even entered the town, we could see beautiful traditional Chinese arches and lanterns.  Red, blue, and gold accents were woven throughout the area.  Ornate pagodas and temples were spread out through the area.  Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoyed walking through the various shops.  Pretty much all the stores were tourist traps, but I still enjoyed ambling through the shelves looking at all the goodies to be purchased.  My favorite shop actually had no Chinese memorabilia; instead, there were pieces from Europe.  There were several sections all representing different countries from Europe, such as Portugal and France and Poland.  Beautiful pottery, silky fabrics, bright paintings, scented lotions, and vibrant bags were on display.  While I did not buy anything, many pieces caught my eye.

Pitstop in China

When walking around, I stumbled upon a bun vendor selling all different kinds of buns decorated to look like pandas.  I bought a vegetable pun that was green, a red bean bun that had blush, and a chocolate bun that was the traditional black and white.  The vegetable was a 4/10; it was quite salty and did not have much depth.  The green dough was a fun touch though.  The red bean was a solid 7.5/10.  The dough was soft and the filling was not overly sweet.  The chocolate bun was saved for last.  I gave it a 6/10.  It tasted almost like fake chocolate and was not as creamy as I would have liked.  Overall, I enjoyed trying the different buns.

Left to right: vegetable, red bean, and chocolate

The both of us then walked over to a small garden to determine where we were going next.  There was a Gundam store that held a life-size Gundam robot within, but neither of us were super interested in visiting.  We decided to just walk around the area and stop for a chai before continuing further.  The chai was excellent, by the way.

The Cup Noodle Museum was not too far from us, so we decided to stop by.  The first thing we did in the museum was make our own cup of noodles.  We got to decorate the outside of the cup however we wanted (I chose to create a montage of our time in Japan), and then we took it to a worker who filled it with noodles and toppings.  I chose a seafood style of noodle (seafood seasoning and dehydrated crab) even though I will likely never eat the noodles inside.  I am just not a huge fan of instant ramen.  The second part of the museum was the actual history behind the invention of Cup Noodles.  It all started with the end of the Second World War and the lack of available food.  Ramen was an easy (and cheap) meal to make, so the inventor decided to experiment with different ways to create instant ramen.  In the late 50’s he was finally successful, and the world now has instant ramen.  There was a super interesting video on the background of the inventor and all the creations he had after the first instant ramen, like when he decided to put the ramen in a disposable cup for easier consumption.  There was also a whole section dedicated to the various flavors that have created throughout the past decades.

Noo-dull moments here!

The last attraction Tom and I went to see was the Yokohama Landmark Tower Sky Garden.  We went right around sunset time, and the view was absolutely stunning.  I could just see Mt. Fuji in the distance.  The golden sun was sinking down behind all the buildings, and I was able to watch the city lights turn on.  We sat on a couch and simply enjoyed the view of the beautiful country we were fortunate enough to visit.

Feeling hungry, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant for dinner (fitting since we visited China Town earlier).  I ordered dan dan noodles (noodles in a spicy broth) which were actually really tasty.  The spice was not too overbearing and the noodles were soft.  I also ordered some soup dumplings.  They were delicious and the perfect way to end the long day.