TOKYO ~ YOKOHAMA

Making our personalized cup ramen at the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama.

After traveling around Kyoto and Hiroshima for several days, C and I traveled north to see Tokyo and visit some of C's friends from undergrad. We spent about four days with them exploring Tokyo and staying in Yokohama (Tokyo's neighbor and the second largest city) with one of C's friends. The friend we were staying with was doing a year-long intensive Japanese Language program in Yokohama and was able to show us a bit of everyday life in Japan.

Cup Noodles of the world.

While staying with her we played in arcades, took sticker pictures, sang karaoke and ate everything we could find. Since C's friend is living in Yokohama she was able to take us to all her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants and hangouts. One of the best places we visited was a dessert buffet at the top of one of Yokohama's giant shopping malls. Apparently these buffets are popular throughout Japan and provide a hangout for friends and couples. We even saw a student studying there while we ate. The basic concept is that you pay to stay in the restaurant for several hours (I can't remember exactly how long, but they didn't need to kick anyone out for staying too long) and get access to as many desserts, teas, coffees and snacks as you want — a delicious and relaxing afternoon.

The other attraction we visited in Yokohama was the Cup Noodle Museum which was much better than I expected. We walked through the surprisingly informative exhibit about the origin of cup noodles, watched short animated video about the inventor of cup noodles and finally created our own personal cup of noodles at the cup noodle factory. The entire experience was inexpensive and fun.

Endless dessert buffet in Yokohama.

Since we were busy seeing friends I didn't get as many photos of Tokyo, but we visited some of the famous neighborhoods including Akihabara, where I enjoyed reminiscing over video games I used to play and manga series I never finished, Harajuku, where everything was as cute as hoped, and Shinjuku where we visited the Pokemon Cafe! I'm not much of a city person and we didn't have enough time to explore even half of Tokyo, but we still got a good taste of the city and a chance to see Japan from the perspective of someone living there.

Entering the streets of Harajuku.