Have I mentioned before how much I enjoy seeing friendly faces from back home? Once or twice? Seventy-five times? Well Leigh, a good friend from high school, is one of our favorites. She's stationed in Japan as a Navy nurse a little more than an hour away from us by train, so we certainly don't get to hang out as much as we might like. And now we're trying to get all the fun in that we can as she'll be leaving us soon for a tour in Afghanistan.
We were lucky enough to get together this past weekend for a visit to a museum honoring one of the things Japan does best: ramen. Those of you who survived college on ramen noodles and Natty Light will need to throw out the window everything you think you know about this "required eating" in Japanese food culture.
The best shops take pride in their own soup base made in house and served with handmade noodles and slices of pork (now, I have been eating much more meat and have had to be far less discriminating in my choices in Japan than I am known to be at home, but this is one area I do not partake; I order mine
niku nuki - without meat). If you're lucky, your ramen may also come topped with some long onion and sprouts and sometimes spinach; though vegetables, and furthermore fostering healthy eating habits, are not what ramen is known for. (Above is Jeff's bowl of ramen from a recent outing topped with ground sesame seeds, garlic paste, and red pepper paste, ready for stirring all together and getting down to business.)
Jeff and I have been exploring Tokyo, looking for the best ramen shops in town so we can be sure to get our fill while living here. Sadly, we have yet to hear of anywhere in America that can reproduce the quality one can find on almost any corner in Japan.
There I am slurping up some ramen-y goodness. For the record, the bib is not cool, but if you care about your shirt, wear it. Eating ramen is a full-contact exercise.
But back to the museum. We went in thinking it was going to have a history of ramen in Japan (interestingly, while the Japanese take pride in having perfected the art, it was introduced to Japan via China, and has really only gained popularity within the last century) and a lot of information and samples of the different styles of ramen. We were duped, however. The museum, while fun, was more of a collection of ramen shops than a history lesson. It did have some information, but the educational displays were dwarfed by the gift shop. For me, history buff that I am, the best part was that the museum was a reconstruction, kitschy as it may have been, of a section of Tokyo from Showa 33 (1958 - the Japanese calendar is based on the years the particular Emperor has been in power).
Here is a view from the second floor looking down into the section of the museum they like to call the "ramen restaurant mall."
And there is Jeff and Leigh exploring the streets of Showa 33 Tokyo. Apparently Tokyo was very dirty and dark back then. And short too. Oh, and they had these creepy cat noises playing out of a speaker somewhere. With the old houses and the screeching cats we felt right back home in our
first Japanese apartment. We even started keeping our eyes peeled for the
neko onna.
After taking the full ten minutes it took to walk around the museum, we settled in for some mediocre ramen at one of the shops. It wasn't the best I'd had, but it certainly wasn't the worst either. The company, however, was wonderful!
The 300 yen price tag (plus the cost of your bowl of ramen, if you so choose) makes this a stop worth checking out if you're in Shin-Yokohama anyway and have the time, though I certainly would have put the mysterious caves on the Yokosuka base above this on my to-do list.
