06
07/09
07:23
Early coffee at Yokohama
Just sent Dave off at YCAT. Having a quiet coffee at starbucks right opposite yodobashi. Coffee and people watching.
04
07/09
04:16
Every ramen eater’s worst nightmare
This is the worst! 最低だ! Every ramen eater’s worst nightname is having his/her spoon slip into the soup. Appetite just flies out the window when treated to this sorrowful sight.
21
06/09
23:55
Black Ship Burger
Recently had this really good Kurofune Burger at Hard Rock Cafe. The black buns in the “Kurofune” are a reference to the coal-powered American vessels of old that brought Commodore Perry to Japan. He landed at Yokosuka and negotiated a trade treaty with Japan, thus ending over 200 years of isolation. I haven’t been there yet, but am looking forward to visiting it soon.
If not for the warships stationed at the American base there, then at least for the sukajan-s I might be able to get there.
12
04/09
11:00
Yoshimura-ya Ramen (吉村家ラーメン)
This is where it all began. The very first iekei (家系) ramen. The head of the “house ramen” clan. The chinese characters for iekei are 家 “house” and 系 “affiliated”. Yoshimura-ya (吉村家) was the very first shop that started using the suffix “house”.
08
02/09
19:22
Visiting old houses in Yamate (山手)
Let me take you for a walk around Yamate (山手) and show you some of the older European-style houses in Yokohama.
While Roppongi might be the foreigner’s town in Tokyo, Yamate is famous in Yokohama for being the foreigners’ neighborhood. Historically, this was the designated area where the European traders were allowed to stay in the years leading to the Meiji Restoration; the Yamate Bluff area. Chinatown is just a stone’s throw away.