November 24 - 26, 2008

Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum:
Okay, hands down, this is the coolest place we've been to. Or, it might possibly be my favourite place since ramen is my favouritest food in the whole world!! To think, they have an entire living museum dedicated to this beautiful, beautiful soup ;) I know, I'm getting a bit melodramatic....

I am not alone here....There are approximately 200,000 ramen shops in Japan and there are regional differences in the style of the dish across the country. There are 4 components to ramen: noodles (curly, not curly, soft, firm, long), sauce (salt, soy sauce, miso), broth (pork based or fish based), and toppings.

We even prepared for this trip by watching Tampopo again--a great film about a woman who endeavours to have the best ramen shop in her town.....We were at the museum on a holiday Monday, so it was super busy. The line-ups were quite enjoyable and provided us with time to read up on the next shop. Oh, there are 8 noodle shops from all over Japan in the museum--they were selected because of their popularity and distinct combination of ingredients. And, each of them offered mini bowls of ramen, to better enable us to try as many kinds as possible. We planned to have lunch and dinner there, which turned out to be a wise plan.

Our first bowl was from a shop based in Sapporo, and it was delicious....it actually kind of ruined it for the rest of our culinary adventures because this one was near perfection! Our second bowl was not that great, and then we walked around Shin Yokohama to burn it off and get ready for dinner....We stopped off for a coffee and then hung out in Kirin City for the rest of the afternoon (it was pouring out and we could only stand it for so long).....

Our third stop was a shop based out of Hakata in Kyushu. This was, by far, my favourite ramen of the day. Quoting from my critiques that day (I know, I'm a geek about this), "Rich broth, yet simple. Only pork and spring onions on top of straight, thin, firm noodles. The least oily broth--super drinkable." I will dream of this soup in the days to come, I know it. Unfortunately, we didn't stop there. We tried one more, and it was not that great. We were able to figure out why we didn't like 2 out of the 4 bowls we tried--and it all comes down to the broth. Neither Kerwood nor I liked the fish based broth. Now we are the wiser, we can try to avoid this at all costs! Pork and miso all the way :)

Okay, one last thing about this museum. It takes up two levels, all below grade, and it has been designed to look like the old streets of Tokyo (like in the 40's or 50's).....There were lots of families at the museum and the kids seemed to be having a hoot! Oh, in the souvenir shop, I also came to know my hero comic character.....neko ramen (Ramen Cat--perfect, isn't it?). There are comics, a TV show, and a new DVD coming out. I'm looking forward to trying to find the TV series, which have been translated into English....Anyhow, enough about food!

Let's move on to something more classy, shall we?


Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum: This museum is actually housed in Prince Asaka's former residence. As a result of World War II, many members of Japanese royalty had to renounce their titles and become regular citizens--which is what happened with Prince Asaka's family. The house makes for an opulent museum, however, and we were thrilled to see the Tokyo in the 1930's and the Birth of Prince Asaka's Art Deco Residence exhibit there.
http://www.teien-art-museum.ne.jp/info/e_index.html

The photo above is a view of the house from the back yard. Photos were not allowed in the house, a tragedy to be sure, so it's best to check out the website to see some of the stunning details in this house (e.g., the glasswork in the front entrance--it glows amber and the women's dresses are three dimensional, the custom designed grates to cover the fireplaces, the custom designed light fixtures, a stunning light column at the top of the grand staircase, the circular study/den with glass display cases that opens onto a formal library, complete with a rolling ladder). Can you tell I love this era of design? It was so worth the trip even though we were in the middle of packing.....

Mori Art Museum: This museum is on the 53rd Floor of the Mori building. We started off with the Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art exhibit, which just opened a few days ago.
http://www.mori.art.museum/eng/index.html

We were taken aback at the sheer size of the show. We came to a few points in the exhibit thinking that we must be entering into the last 'phase', and no, there were a few more to go through. It was fabulous! I loved one of the first pieces, which was a hand grabbing and twisting the wall (and this was all 3D). Actually, the entire first room was phenomenal--a different artist created a huge spiral with bindis and also made a life size fiberglass elephant.....the skin of the elephant was also done with bindis, however each of the bindis was painted over to create the head of a sperm and then a tail was extended from it. The entire skin of the elephant was done in this way--it must have taken forever!

Oh, later on, there was an interactive piece wherein you walked into a room and you were back lit, creating a shadow on a screen on the opposite wall. Once you were recognized in the room, objects would start coming down the screen and attaching to your shadow form. It was actually a bit disconcerting to have these shadow objects stuck to you and you couldn't do anything to get them off....There was also an amazing installation piece with wire mesh and airplanes in various formations--created anew for each exhibit that it travels to....

So many great pieces and not enough space or vocabulary to describe them all. Chalo! means "Let's Go!" and the show definitely highlighted the beautiful aspects of India, as well as the struggles that are being faced.

Sky Deck:
After exploring Chalo!, we went to the roof of the building.....open air observatory like you've never seen before. It was spectacular! It was 270 m above sea level (about half the elevation of Mt. Takao ;). You can see Tokyo Tower in the picture to the left and you can see Shinjuku district in the photo on the right....You can also see Shinjuku Goen, Yoyogi Park and a sizable cemetery in the foreground.

Inside, you can go around the 'Sky Walk'....as soon as we entered, our noses were overwhelmed with the sweet fragrance of lilies. We didn't know where it was coming from until we rounded the bend and came upon this tree! The entire tree is dappled with lilies (apologies for the bad lighting--I didn't want to use my flash on this one)....Elegant, classic, and it smelled scrumptious!

Izakaya & Karaoke Grand Finale: Well, this will be my last post. Thank you to everyone who has been reading my stories....I will try to post as we continue to travel through the Philippines, Thailand, and Kauai, however I'm not sure what the internet access will be like.

We're having a sianora gathering on Sunday, our last official night in Tokyo. We're going for izakaya, drinks, and then going for karaoke (a fantastic way to end our time here)! Actually, I think I'm going to be doing back-up dancing, since I can't sing at all! I'm not sure which is worse, though, my singing or my dancing. Oh well, everyone will be too drunk to even notice ;)