Totsuka Ku

This morning Junko and Tadonori picked us up in a hire car and drove us to Yokahoma. Yokahoma is about an hour out of Tokyo and is Japan’s second largest city.

Our first stop was the Ramen museum which basically went through the history of the first ramen dish. It was interesting to learn that ramen (along with many typical Japanese dishes and traditions) was heavily influenced by China. It was said that although the noodles come from China, the soup broth is uniquely Japanese. At the museum we also tried more ramen.

Next we visited Sankeien Garden which was a beautiful garden built during the Edo period. The houses within the garden were said to be Japanese treasures as they were so beautiful and expensive. Although it was raining, it was still a beautiful walk.

Next we visited the cup noodle museum. It was hilarious to see such an impressive facility dedicated to the history of cup noodles. At this museum we made our own cup noodles, which involved designing the cup, choosing the stock and ingredients and watch the package the cup.

Next, we rode on one of the world’s highest Ferris wheels. This Ferris wheel is seen from all over the city of Yokahoma. The view was beautiful although the ride was a bit scary.

Then we checked into a lovely hotel before heading out again to an eel restaurant. We ate eel liver and then eel with rice for a main. The taste was rich and quite delicious. The chef told us that the eel was caught this morning so what was ate was very fresh. I was initially worried to try eel but was pleasantly surprised!

After dinner, we caught the cable car over the river - another beautiful view - before boarding a sight-seeing boat around the city. It was cold but a fantastic way to see the city lights on the water.

The next day, we woke up and drove to Kamakura. First we had a delicious brunch of whitebait on rice. I had mine booked but Alex tried a mix of raw and boiled whitebait. The area is known for it‘s fresh caught whitebait. Then we visited Kamakura Hasedera which was a large temple set amongst beautiful gardens. Next, we visited Kotokuin temple which is home to one of Japan’s largest Buddha statues.
In the afternoon we drove to Enoshima island which was a fabulous seaside island. The streets were lines with markets and seafood stalls. We tried octopus rice crackers which are a typical snack of the area. We then hiked up to see the temples and beach side caves.

After our day of adventuring Tadenori drive us back to Tokyo to catch the night bus to Kyoto. Before boarding the bus, we went to a restaurant to have Kobe beef, which is Japan’s (and possible the world’s) tastiest beef. We tasted all the different types of beef and it was absolutely delicious. Alex thinks this was his favourite part of Japan!Read more