Spring Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 2 - Ramen Museum & More

If you even remotely like Japanese ramen, this is a MUST VISIT!

Go to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum and eat ALL THE THINGS!

http://www.raumen.co.jp/english/

For a small entrance fee of about USD 3.00 you can go to all the different ramen shops and sample a ton of diferrent kinds of ramen! You even get same-day re-entry! Need to take a break from stuffing your face full of noodles? You can! Come back later to resume the face stuffing! 

While some people call this place a tourist trap, I call it a version of heaven. The whole restaurant area is made to look like 1950s Japan, there are store fronts and pathways that look like Japan did 60 years ago. Each one of the small restaurants has its own ramen it specializes in and all have various language menus near their food ticket vending machines. If you don't want to get a regular size bowl of ramen, you can get a small portion at each of the shops so you have room to sample them all! There is a requirement that each adult order at least one serving at each restaurant (it can be the small bowl version). There may be a line for some of the more popular restaurants but I don't remember waiting longer than about 15-20 minutes. Some tour buses do have this museum as a stop so it may be best to visit between meal times to avoid long lines. I'll let the video and photos speak for themselves, enjoy!

Fall Vacation Trip: Fukuoka Day 3

My third and final day in Fukuoka!

Ohori Park a great place to relax and enjoy the lake and see the local wildlife. There are paths for biking, jogging, and walking around the lake. Bridges on either end of the islands in the middle of the lake allow access to even more paths to explore. Fukuoka Castle and the Fukuoka Art Museum are located near the park and you can walk to both from the park grounds. If you'd like to enjoy time on the water, there are paddle boats available for rent.

After the park, I headed to a famous ramen restaurant called 一蘭 本社総本店 (Ichiran) for lunch. While there are tables for larger groups on the first floor, a lot of the dining is done at individual booths on the upper floors. You can also buy ramen kits to enjoy their ramen in the comfort of your own home. The restaurant itself is open 24 hours and prices are reasonable. Below are pictures of the ramen and a soft boiled egg - both were delicious!

That afternoon was spent strolling around the large shopping complex called Canal City, however I didn't take any pictures. There are many different shops and restaurants and in one of the stores there were a ton of the capsule toy machines (ガシャポン). Check out the capsule toy cats below!

Overall, the trip was really enjoable. Fukuoka is very convenient to get to from Korea and flights are normally reasonably priced. Low cost carriers such as Jin Air, Jeju Air, Eastar Jet, and T'way Air have daily flights. For hotels, check out agoda.com.

Thanks for reading! More to come soon!

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Fall Vacation Trip: Fukuoka Day 1

During the end of the September I took a quick trip over to Japan. It so happens that one of the cheapest places to fly internationally from Seoul is Fukuoka. Some of my former language school classmates are from the area and it was also a place I had never visited before. Searching the budget airlines from either Korea or Japan can usually land you a decently priced flight.

Landing in Fukuoka and getting into town is quite simple. There are buses, the subway system, and other ground transportation readily available. After taking the subway into town, it was a short walk until the hotel. The hotel is located nearest Tenjin station and that station is attached to a large underground shopping complex. Above ground, there are a number of other shops, restaurants, and department stores.

It was a pretty good place to call home base for the weekend.
Check out the hotel room tour of the Richmond Hotel Fukuoka Tenjin below:

After checking into the hotel it was time for dinner and what better way to kick off a trip in Japan than to enjoy some ramen and gyoza! Both were delicious!

After dinner was a stroll around the neighborhood

Also, I can't forget to mention this awesome mirror that didn't fog up in the hotel bathroom!

Stay tuned for Day 2 and 3 coming soon!
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Summer Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 3

Day 3 of my Tokyo trip! I decided to visit two quite popular areas of town: Asakusa and Akihabara.

First was Asakusa. There is a large market area near a Buddhist temple. Asakusa used to be a big entertainment district back in the day, however, now it's been surpassed by other areas of Tokyo. Asakusa also has a surprising amount of older homes and buildings.

Next came Akihabara, popular for its concentration of anime, manga, video games, and electronic goods. It's worth browsing the many different stores - cases and cases of anime/manga merchandise, cell phones, computer equipment, camera equipment, video games, collectibles, etc.

Just one more day left of my Tokyo trip! Stay Tuned!

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Summer Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 2

Day 2 of my trip started with a visit to Waseda University. After a simple breakfast from the convenience store, I later hopped on the subway to meet my friend for lunch near Waseda's campus. In the subway system I saw a vending machine with Coca-cola Orange...

We, again, dined at another one of my friend's favorite noodle shops.

More delicious ramen to eat

Handy device to mill and dispense sesame seeds!

 After lunch we walked in and around Waseda University's campus, below are some pictures:

After the visit to Waseda University I ventured off to Tokyo Skytree, a large observation & broadcasting tower connected to a shopping complex and restaurants. It is currently the tallest structure in Japan. I went up to the observation deck and took a lot of pictures and also did some shopping. Fun fact: Apparently at Tokyo Skytree there is a variety of the Tokyo Banana snack that is only sold on location at the Skytree.

I met my friend again for dinner and we dined on okonomiyaki.

Stay tuned for more, coming soon!

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