Tokyo and Yokohama During the 3/11 Disaster

I visited Tokyo and Yokohama from the March 23 to March 27, 2011 when my mother came to visit me in Japan during the spring of 2011. This is a continuation of our trip that started in Osaka on March 10, 2011, one day before the biggest disaster to hit Japan in recent memory occurred. After visiting the Kansai region, we went to Okinawa and then flew back to Fukuoka, stopping at Nagasaki for a day before spending a couple of days in Hiroshima. Afterwards we took a night bus (never again) to Tokyo on March 23, 2011.

At this time, it was my first time back in Tokyo after I had left in 2006 when I was as an exchange student at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Because the Tokyo area was moderately affected by the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster (the 3/11 disaster), many foreigners living in Tokyo at the time were hysterically leaving for home via their embassies or for "safer" areas like the Kansai area or even places like Hong Kong because paranoia over radiation concerns. Instead because we had already booked and planned everything, we decided that it was safe to visit and it was indeed safe during our time there. In addition, there were less crowds!

The only odd thing that happened was that due to all the nuclear reactors being in shutdown mode as a precautionary measure, there were fears of a power shortage so in order to conserve energy, the train operators decided not to turn on any of the lights inside the trains during the overground sections. It felt weird to be riding the JR Yamanote Line in the dark with only sunlight coming through the windows.

The Nakamise-dori in front of the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

Yokohama Walks 2011: Nissan Gallery and Global Headquarters

On Sept. 23, 2011, I walked from Yokohama station to the Motomachi area of Yokohama because I wanted to see what kinds of interesting things I could bump into. Previously, whenever I went to Yokohama, I had always gotten off at Sakuragicho station and had no impression of how the rest of the waterfront area looked like.

My walking route. Once again thanks to Google Maps on my iPhone I did not get lost. I actually walked straight back to Yokohama station from the Motomachi area at the end of the day because I didn't feel like paying the rip-off fare on the Minato-Mirai line. (I did not show the return walking route on this map)


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Lunar New Year 2006 in Yokohama Chinatown

(Updated: May 24, 2013 with high resolution photos and better descriptions)

Today (January 30, 2006) was the first day of the new year on the lunar calendar. Because of this the Chinatown in Yokohama had a parade and celebrations. I went with fellow exchange student Ning, from Hong Kong and her Japanese friend whose name I can’t remember now. At Chinatown, we saw many of our foreign exchange classmates there as well. There were so much people that at one point you were just moving with the crowds. Also on this day there were lots of restaurants offering all you can eat, tabehoudai 食べ放題, for around 2000 yen.

The parade was organized by the Yokohama Chinese School (I saw the banners as they passed by) and only consisted of their dragon/lion dance teams. As a result, the parade was pretty short. At least here they don’t try to make it into some kind of “multicultural” event unlike in Vancouver where you have police, native Indians, Indians, firefighters etc.

Nissan Oppama Assembly Plant and US Navy Yokosuka Base Visit

(Updated: June 14, 2013 with high resolution photos and updated descriptions)

Today me and John originally planned to visit the Nissan Oppama car assembly plant because it was a public holiday, the Emperor's Birthday on December 23. I had phoned a couple of days in advance and was surprised that I didn’t have to book in 2 weeks advance like the Toyota plant in Nagoya. They even sent me detailed instructions on how to get there.

Going to Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum in Yokohama

(Updated: June 8, 2013 with high resolution photos and new descriptions)

Yesterday Teresa, Lucy, John and Ian and I went to Yokohama to see the Ramen Museum. The Ramen Museum has famous ramen shops from all over Japan located under one roof each serving the local style ramen. The admission price was 300 yen, I checked out the website of the Ramen Museum in before I came and I got the Hakata, Kyushu style ramen from a shop whose main store is base in Fukuoka in Kyushu “ふくちゃん” Fuku-chan with Japanized Char-siu (yes it has the same name as that *other* BBQ pork but tastes totally different) and “Wonton”. I choose this because I liked 日清出前―丁九州豬骨麵 (Tonkotsu Flavor) and I wanted to try the real thing. It was pretty good but I still prefer real Wonton Noodles better, the Wonton Noodles in my opinion tastes better than the Ramen Noodles (I am talking about the actual noodles here, not the entire thing).

I also like the theme setting of the museum which was based on 1950s Japan, it has so much atmosphere, unlike the grey sterile neighbourhoods of today’s Tokyo. There was also a make your own “Cup Noodle” event there, for 300 yen, you can see the manufacturing process of a “Cup Noodle” and can even select your own ingredients to put in the cup. I got a ceramic cup of the with “Cup Noodle” packaging which cost 1029 yen, kind of expensive, but you only go to this place once.

The exterior of the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum.