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!

Spring Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 1

Once again I made a visit to Tokyo, Japan this past Spring! This was in part to see one of my Japanese friends who was in Japan at the time (he current is a resident elsewhere) and also just to enjoy another visit and eat a ton of great food!

After a crazy episode trying to sort out a hotel reservation error (I never found out who's fault it was, the hotel or the booking website), in the end I was able to get a proper room at the original rate I had booked. A month before I had booked a non-smoking room at a very affordable rate on the east side of town but a few days before I was about to depart the hotel had emailed and said they did not have my room type! A month advanced notice and just two days before my room type had disappeared? This was quite curious to me. I ended up having to book another hotel in another area of town for more than $100 more than my original reservation. After a back-and-forth with the booking website for weeks after the trip, I was finally refunded the difference. ANYWAY, the hotel I eventually ended up at was in a great location and was decent, however the room seemed on the small side even for Japanese hotel room standards.

After checking into the hotel room, I met up with my friend for dinner and an adventure in the Golden Gai area of Shinjuku. Our dinner was at a nice conveyor belt sushi restaurant where I tried an animal I had never eaten before...by accident. Check out a few pictures below!

Tuna Tuna Tuna!

..."Whale"...

Next was a stroll around the Golden Gai area and finding a small bar to enjoy a drink.

This area is known for its narrow streets and many small bars, restaurants, and clubs. It is said to look like old Tokyo during the middle 20th century. The place we went didn't charge foreigners a cover but I think they charged my Japanese friend >.< We didn't stick around too long as the place could only seat about 5-6 people and the other patrons were smoking quite a bit so we headed out early to get some fresh air and take a stroll.

That was about it for day 1! Stay tuned for more to come very soon!

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Fall Vacation Trip: Fukuoka Day 2

Just a short train ride from Fukuoka is Dazaifu, home to the Kyushu National Museum and a number of different temples and shrines. The main walk out of the train station towards Dazaifu Tenman-gū has many different shops selling souvenirs and places selling umegae mochi.

Platform and train at Dazaifu Station

Starbucks has a very interesting design

Store selling the local mochi

Totoro :)

There were tons of tourists at the shrine that day. The grounds are heavily wooded and there are plenty of paths to explore the shrine and surrounding areas. 

After walking around the shrine, I took a lunch break before heading to the Kyushu National Museum. Lunch was at a small restaurant near the train station. A cold noodle appetizer was served before the meal of donburi and udon. It all tasted great! The menu had pictures from what I remember. Unfortunately, I can't read much Japanese but judging from the large amount of tourists, I'm sure many restaurants and cafes in the area have either pictures on their menu or menus in languages other than Japanese.

After lunch I headed to the Kyushu National Museum. Photography was prohibited in the Kyushu National Museum but the building's architecture is still cool. The main lobby houses the ticket window, a gift shop, and an area where you can experience different Asian cultures through an interactive exhibit. General admission is JPY 430 with discounts for college students and groups. Lockers are available onsite as well.

Located near the water is Fukuoka Tower, a great spot to check out views of the city. Admission is JPY 800 and there are discounts for groups, children, and students. The exterior lighting of the tower changes depending on the time of year. It seems most people either take a bus or take the subway and then walk the rest of the way. You can also take a taxi or drive to the tower.

I did walk along the beach near the tower but the pictures I took weren't very good unfortunately.

Dinner was at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant called 玄海丸 天神店! It's located near Tenjin Station and was reasonably priced. I ate a ton!

Tuna is my favorite!

The stack of plates

Stay tuned for my final post about Fukuoka soon! ~

Summer Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 4

We have come to the end of my Tokyo trip. After checking out of my hotel and storing my bag, I met up with a friend from university that I hadn't seen in forever. We decided to go to a conveyor belt sushi place for lunch in Shibuya. I have pictures and a Google Map below!

View from my hotel room, last day in Tokyo

Touch screen ordering system. You could order 3 items at a time and order as many times as you'd like. The menu was offered in English as well!

The different colors of the plates meant different prices.

Here is the approximate location of the sushi restaurant pictured above: We walked back to Shibuya crossing after lunch and had a coffee at the big Starbucks that faces the intersection. Unfortunately we couldn't hang out for long as I had a plane to catch. After parting ways, I grabbed my bag from my hotel and took the bus to Haneda airport.

At the airport I saw this airplane in an R2-D2 paint job!

I hope you enjoyed my series of posts about Tokyo! I'll be covering a few other topics before returning to Japan travel blog posts. Stay tuned!

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Summer Vacation Trip: Tokyo Day 1

This past June I had the opportunity to visit Tokyo! It also so happened that a few of my friends were going to be in town at the same time. This was also my first time flying on a Boeing 787! The windows were larger than usual as advertised, I didn't play too much with the dimming function though as it was kind of cloudy during take off.

Cloudy Day

In-flight meal - unexpected as the flight was really short

After arriving, taking the bus to my hotel, and meeting up with my friend, we headed to lunch at a Tsukemen restaurant. It was packed as it was right around lunch time and a lot of office workers and tourists were out and about. In short, it was delicious!

Delicious!

The famous Shibuya Crossing and Hachiko statue! This is probably one of the most photographed intersections but I wanted to snap my own photos as well! Many people hang out at the Starbucks facing the intersection to take pictures when the traffic lights change and all the people cross the street. The Hachiko statue is a common meeting place right outside Shibuya station and there were a ton of people taking pictures with it when I was there.

Shibuya Crossing

Shibuya Crossing

Hachiko Statue - it was election time so I think that is a campaign ribbon

After a brief stop at the Tokyo Sumo Museum we headed to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. The Edo-Tokyo Museum has some amazingly detailed dioramas and exhibit displays. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Dinner was sushi! I got a whole plate of different types of tuna from your normal, everyday tuna to some really delicious, fatty tuna!

Look at all that delicious TUNA

TUNA TUNA TUNA

The hotel I stayed at was the Tokyu Stay Shibuya. It is about a 10 minute walk away from Shibuya station. I think the location was fine as it is located near a grocery store and side streets with a few restaurants. It is also far enough away from Shibuya station to feel separated from the main hustle and bustle of the area. Below is a video tour of my hotel room as well as a map of the location. It is meant as an extended stay style of accommodation so there is a small kitchenette and washing machine in the room.

Stay tuned for more coming up soon!
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