ShinYokohama Raumen Museum
To avoid rush hour on this trip we actually splurged a little and took a Shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin-Yokohama station. From the station it’s about a 10 minute walk to the museum. The Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum is a great place to sample ramen from different areas of Japan. In each restaurant you have the option of ordering a regular size bowl of ramen or a sample size bowl, which we ended up doing so we could eat as many different kinds of ramen as possible; as you can see from the pictures below.
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The museum is basically several well known ramen restaurants setup within a replica of 1958 Tokyo, when apparently instant ramen was introduced to Japan.
In addition to the main ramen theme there is actually a floor dedicated to slot car racing and models. I might be missing something, but I don’t see the connection with ramen so I’ll have to assume it’s there because the creator(s) of the museum are also fans of slot cars as much as they are of ramen. :-)
In the restaurant theme area there are 9 restaurants from different regions of Japan.
| Ryusyanhai | 龍上海 | Yamagata City, Yamagata Pref. | Miso |
| Ganja | 頑者 | Kawagoe, Saitama Pref. | Tonkotsu Shoyu |
| Menno-bou-toride | 麺の坊砦 | Shibuya, Tokyo | Tonkotsu |
| Taniguchi-syokudo | 谷口食堂 | Susaki, Kochi Pref. | Shoyu |
| Kamome-syokudo | かもめ食堂 | Kesennuma, Miyagi Pref. | Shio |
| Komurasaki | こむらさき | Kumamoto, Kumamoto Pref. | Tonkotsu |
| Sumire | すみれ | Sapporo, Hokkaido | Miso |
| Shinasoba-ya | 支那そばや | Yokohama, Kanagawa Pref. | Shoyu |
| Nidaime-genkotsu-ya | 二代目げんこつ屋 | Tokyo, Tokyo | Shio |
Photos
Flickr Photos
Access
| 5 - 10 min walk from SHIN-YOKOHAMA STATION |
| Tokaido Shinkansen |
| Yokohama Line |
| Yokohama Municipal Subway Blue Line |
Google Maps
Edo Wonderland Nikko
Note to self, never plan a car trip out of Tokyo a day after a 10 hour flight. A trip that normally would take a little less than 3 hours ended up being a 5 hour drive one way; victim of Tokyo area traffic. I highly recommend any trip out of anywhere in Japan to always take the train!
After several rounds of caffeine intake I was able to take and bring my family home safely to and from Edo Wonderland Nikko. I personally am not a fan of theme parks and originally I was going to spare myself from paying the 4500 yen entrance fee by dropping my family off while I re-familiarize myself with the Nikko area. However, after paying the 700 yen parking fee, I bit the bullet and went ahead and joined my family. The reason I wanted to avoid going was because I imagined Edo Wonderland to be a cute and playful theme park making comedic references to the Edo era. Yes, they have a dog mascot with a samurai hairdo however other than that it actually was a respectful replica and reenactment of Edo culture and life. It was a great experience. My family and I really enjoyed it, especially my 6 year old who got to participate in a short Kendo class. If you plan on visiting Nikko for more than a day, I would recommend a half day at Edo Wonderland; after of course you’ve visited the other more well known sites, such as Toshogu Temple, etc.
Photos
Flickr Photos
Video
“The Oiran Parade is an elegant procession of courtesans strolling down the wide avenue. Wearing broad knotted sashes and elaborately devised hairstyles, the Oiran courtesans proceed slowly along accompanied by the sound of their wooden geta clogs. The procession is accompanied by young servants and attendants. The Oiran Parade is held on the main street.”
Access
| By Car: |
| Approximately 2 hours 30 minutes from Tokyo. From the Utsunomiya Interchange on the Tohoku Expressway, take Nikko-Utsunomiya tollway to Imaichi Interchange. Then take Route 121 toward Kinugawa-onsen (15 minutes). |
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| By Train: |
| From Tokyo Station or Ueno Station: JR Nikko Line take express train to To-hoku shinkankansen Utsunomiya Station(about 60min). Take JR Nikko train to Nikko Station(40min), then free shuttle bus (30min) |
| From Asakusa Station: Take the Tobu Kinugawa Line to Kinugawa-onsen Station, then a local bus (approx. 15min / ¥400) or taxi (approx. 10min / about ¥1600). |
| From JR Shinjuku, Ikebukuro or Omiya station: Take the "Kinugawa" or "Spacia-Kinugawa" to Kinugawa-onsen Station, then a local bus (approx. 15 mi n / ¥400) or taxi (approx. 10 min /about ¥1600). |
| From Haneda Airport: Take the Keihin Express Line to Asakusa Station. From Asakusa Station: Take the Tobu Kinugawa Line to Kinugawa-onsen Station, then a local bus (approx. 15min / ¥400) or taxi (approx. 10min / about ¥1600). |
| From Narita Airport: Take the Keihin Express Line to Asakusa Station. From Asakusa Station: Take the Tobu Kinugawa Line to Kinugawa-onsen Station, then a local bus (approx. 15min / ¥400) or taxi (approx. 10min / about ¥1600). |
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| Free Shuttle Bus: |
| 5 Round Trips a day between Edo Wonderland Nikko / Edomura NIKKO and JR Nikko station. |
Google Maps
Escape from Takamatsu Castle!
The visit to Japan started out like any other of my explorations for the U.S. National Shipbuilding Research Program. I had visited The Land of the Rising Sun a decade before, but at long last all of our kids had flown the nest, so my wife was able to tag along; it was her first visit overseas. Rhoda didn’t speak Japanese, and there wasn’t much English spoken in Japan during the 1970s, even in Tokyo. Nonetheless Rhoda was confidence personified and ventured on her own into the city of Takamatsu on the island of Shikoku when I had to go to a meeting in Kawasaki’s Sakaide shipyard about twenty kilometers away.
When I returned to the hotel at about 3:30 p.m., Rhoda enthusiastically advised that she had discovered a castle site in a beautiful park that was within walking distance. My interest in all aspects of the Japanese culture could not have been keener as a consequence of my earlier visits to Japan starting in 1963. Thus we were off like a shot. I was particularly alert for features that we could incorporate in our garden at home.
The sixteenth-century Takamatsu Castle had been destroyed, but its moat, walls and classic Japanese-style turrets remained so as to enclose a beautifully landscaped park consisting of about 20 acres with then-modern five- or six-story business-buildings surrounding. One outstanding feature was a huge tori, that is, a Japanese-style lantern, at least twelve feet high that was carved out of stone.
Every turn in a path disclosed something else that was equally awesome. Our attention was so concentrated that we paid no heed to a few ultra-polite announcements in Japanese that were transmitted via the park’s PA system. Then as dusk was upon us, we suddenly discovered what the announcements must have advised, “the park will close in thirty minutes …in fifteen minutes …in five minutes!”
We were locked inside and no one else was in sight!
The solid-wood gate, at least nine-feet high, was secured with a chain and the padlock was on the inside. Of course the caretaker was probably in the utility area we had noticed earlier, but it was in the corner of the park diagonally away from where we were. Surely, the non-lighted gardens would soon be completely dark. And what then… what if there was no one there?
Thus, we climbed to the top of the dike and from there tried to get the attention of office workers who were busily engaged in their brightly lighted offices. A few saw us, waved back ever so politely, and returned to their work. When we descended off of the dike and just then found a gardener’s ladder that seemed to be barely sufficient to get us to the top of the gate. Furthermore, it had a distinct bottom that, being wider, provided stability. The ladder had been hewn from split cedar and assembled only with pegs; thus it was rather heavy. Fortunately, it was the first time during our visit that Rhoda wore slacks. That seemed to be an omen for us to go for it, that is, attempt an escape from Takamatsu Castle!
And so Rhoda got astride the top of the gate holding on for dear life and in full view, if any had looked her way, of hundreds of commuters bound for home no more than fifty-feet away across the bridge that spanned the moat. I got on top of the gate just a few feet from and facing my wife. Then we both shouted repeatedly, “dozo (please)!” Like commuters elsewhere, those few who looked up smiled at the crazy gaijins (foreigners) and proceeded. My plan had been to pass the ladder over to a Samaritan who would rotate it upright and place it in position beneath Rhoda.
Like necessity is the mother of invention, strength that I didn’t know I had manifested itself and I hung on with my right leg, reached down and in a balancing act that rivaled what one sees in a circus, kept the ladder vertical while, with veins standing out on my neck and arms, moved it to the outside and lowered it. Then while hanging on with my left leg I reached down and with one hand, inch by inch, I moved each leg of the ladder‟s wide end away from the gate. When the ladder was barely sloped I quickly climbed down and shifted it so that my wife could also escape from Takamatsu Castle.
Then Rhoda asked, “What are you going to do with the ladder?”
Since I felt like Superman after that episode, I said, “Watch!” I placed the top of the ladder on the upper edge of the gate, and with a mighty heave got its center of gravity on the inside; we heard it crash and splinter apart.
A few days later, Rhoda and I told our son, who then lived in Tokyo, about our great escape from Takamatsu Castle. Richard replied, “When you were on top of the gate you should have shouted, “Help!‟ Everyone in Japan knows what “help” means.”