Japan

Down to Yokohama for some ramen and rides

B Byrd

— 6 min read
Down to Yokohama for some ramen and rides
Yokohama harbour by night.

On Wednesday we headed down towards Yokohama for the day (about an hour on the train – most of our excursions around Tokyo have been 20 to 60 minutes on various trains).

Our first stop was the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. An awesomely niche museum all about the history and variety of ramen (one of the most eaten meals in Japan), this unassuming (from the street) spot also descends two stories underground with recreated historic ramen restaurants showcasing different ramen styles from across Japan. Entry was also very cheap (less than $12 for all of us – though adults are also obligated to buy some ramen).

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Traditional ramen cart, alongside Uncle Charumera (a classic ramen mascot).
A ramen map of Japan.
Wall of ramen bowls.
Some other tourists doing a ramen noodle making class. The instructor was the loudest (and perhaps funniest) Japanese person we've seen so far.

One of the fascinating things about ramen is that it's also sold in "cup noodle" form (bowls really), ready to just add boiling water to eat at home or work (we saw dozens of options in every konbini and grocery shop). Worldwide, over 100 billion instant ramen bowls are sold every year!

At the museum is the RA-HAKU SUGOMEN LAB, a "full-fledged original Instant Cup Ramen production facility", where you can design and have made (with custom lid) your own custom instant ramen... which we did.

So many choices!
Adding our selected ingredients (onion, char-siu and Chinese dumplings for me).
Wrapping and heat seal.

After we picked up our instant ramen, it was downstairs for some non-instant ramen for lunch.

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Some familiar faces strolling old-ramen-land.
Tiny orange juice poppers for lunch (ramen came too).
Plexiglass to keep us from fighting.
Slurping politely per Japanese custom.

After filling up on tasty ramen, we hopped back on the train to head further into Yokohama proper and visit Cosmo World. A theme park with different areas spread around near the old dry-dock area of Yokohama, at Cosmo World you just pay for what you ride.

Looking across the harbour at the main Cosmo World area.
Sailing training ship moored in the harbour.

On our way over to Cosmo World, we also made our first vending machine purchase. Ice creams for the boys (despite it being about 10 degrees), hot chocolate for A and potato (maybe?) creme brulee for me. We paid with our IC cards (the stored value cards we use for most train travel).

Burano in Yokohama...
...somewhat similar to the one near Venice.

The boys were keen to try a few things, but eventually settled on an augmented reality game to play together (Ghost Hunter 2). We then waited till after sunset to ride the Cosmo Clock 21 together (a 112m Ferris wheel... not as big as the 135m London Eye A and I had ridden years ago, but considerably bigger than the 60m Wheel of Brisbane we've previously taken the boys on).

The boys getting ready to slay some ghosts.
I really wanted to ride the pink rollercoaster that disappears under water, but A hates rollercoasters... and it was closed for winter.
J getting some daddy-leg courage to survive the scary heights.
Yokohama from the Cosmo Clock.
Looking up into the Cosmo Clock.
Some final pirate skeleton blasting at the arcade.
We may have succumbed to peer/child pressure for dinner.
Heading back to the train and home with locals and their stuffed toy collection.

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