4 posts tagged “yokohama”
CHINATOWN, YOKOHAMA, JAPAN
Today we visited Y O K O H A M A~! Ne....like I've said many times before (in previous posts)...Yokohama is my father's birthplace and hometown. So, therefore, today was an especially memorable day for me. I still have many relatives living in Yokohama...well, to be exact...most of my dad's relatives still live in Yokohama. Only one or two relatives moved to Tokyo with their respective families. However, I was not fortunate enough to be able to visit those relatives, due to everyone's work schedules. It is very difficult for all of the families to get together often (if at all) since each family has different work schedules. So, I was not able to visit my cousins and their families at this time.
However, looking on the positive side, I was able to visit the location of my father's former home. When I say "former" home, I mean that it is still my dad's home....the location space....but my relatives (aunts & uncles) decided to tear down the existing home (the original building where my dad grew up) and built an apartment tower there instead. Wait...I don't want to get you all confused here, so let me give you a little background info about my dad's house.
It all started with my grandparents. After World War II (WWII), my grandfather started his own business making mens suits (and at one point, making womens kimonos, but that didn't quite work out). He opened up a shop called "Rong Shing Tailoring Co." (Rong Shing being my grandfather's name). The store was on level 1, and the family residence was on level 2. Over the years, the store developed...and some time in thd 1970s-1980s, my aunt added a small cafe inside the store. (Trust me when I say that all of my aunts can cook authentic Chinese food...and they are GOOD at it.) Anyway, back to the story, some time between 2005-2006 my family decided that in order to make a better income, they should remodel the family store into an apartment tower, and thus...make money off of the rent they collect. The end result became...."Ryus Tower". That's the name of the apartment building. I don't know what it means, or if it has any meaning at all, but that's what my aunts/uncles chose, so I had no choice in the matter. My grandfather's business is still there, at that location. It's just been relocated to the 3rd level. It's still called "Rong Shing Tailoring Co." even long after my grandfather has passed away. The logo is a Billiards 8-ball with an "R" in the middle where the number "8" should be.
My dad's house is approximately 1.5 blocks away from Motomachi. Motomachi is a very famous and popular street which is a long street filled with restaurants, boutiques, designer stores, cafes, bakeries etc. There are a few residential areas sprinkled along the back alleyways of Motomachi, but the main street itself is a shopper's delight. We quickly visted Motomachi today...whilst on our way to visit a close friend of ours who also happens to live in Yokohama. While waiting to meet with our good friend, we visited a popular bakery. I'm not sure of the name of this bakery, since I cannot read Japanese characters, but at least the signage in the store window was written in English and it said "Established since 1888". Wahh!!! This bakery has been around since 1888?! Yes, it's true. Also, this was the exact bakery my dad used to go to when he lived in Yokohama. He used to visit this bakery every morning before school to buy a bun for breakfast. On top of that...my oldest brother used to visit this bakery often, whenever he would spend summer breaks in Japan as a child. I will tell you the exact name of this bakery once I can get my friend to translate the name. Until then, all I have to say is that this bakery really blows me away. The quality of their pastries is sooooooooo top notch...I just have to give them a shout out...and really pimp them out. I mean...I just have to brag about them for a second. They are just that good.
New layout...
So...now the time has come to meet up with our friend. Her name is Yukie (most people pronouce her name as "Yu-kee-ah" but it could be pronounced other ways). Our friend Yukie once lived in the U.S. and that's how we met her...through a friend of ours who lived in the same apartment building as she. Yukie just happened to have moved back to Yokohama around the same time we were visiting, so we just had to meet up with her along the way. That afternoon, we had such a fun time chatting about nothing, catching up on old times. Little did we know what Yukie had in store for us, as a little "welcome to Yokohama" invitation. That night, as we set out for dinner, Yukie brought us to a little sushi restaurant that she visits often, while spending time in Yokohama. Let me tell you....this sushi restaurant was THE BEST I ever had in my entire life. And it will probably be the best I'll ever have for a long time to come. The sushi chef was so much fun to talk to, and he would instruct us on how to eat each piece of sushi/sashimi/nigiri properly. (On a side note...sushi=raw fish + rice wrapped in nori; sashimi=raw fish, plain or topped with the tiniest garnish; nigiri=small, hand-rolled ball of rice, with a tiny dollop of wasabi, topped with raw fish or cooked sweet egg.) I can't fully describe how delicious each piece of sushi was...that would just take hours and hours to explain. BUT...............I will say this....WE ATE REAL WHALE SASHIMI. Yes, you heard it here folks. We ate raw whale meat, and it was TASTY as hell. (Side note: it tastes like beef sashimi.) Also, we got to eat sashimi that was still ALIVE! It was the "Geo Duck". We watched as the sushi chef prepared the Geo Duck nigiri-style, and just before he placed it on our dishes, he slapped it real hard...and thus made the Geo Duck wiggle and crawl around on our plate. Not only that, but we got to eat "Otoro" which is the fattiest, most delicious, most expensive part of the tuna used for sushi. For example:
- Maguro = tuna
- Toro = fatty tuna (fat, expensive, tuna)
- Otoro = ultimate fatty tuna (most fat, most expensive, most sought after, tuna)
Basically, Otoro is the "be all, end all" of tuna sashimi. Oh...did I forget to mention that toro is my all-time favorite nigiri/sashimi fish?! So, I nearly died and went to heaven after eating "otoro" for the first time. I metaphorically popped my sushi "cherry" after eating this.
Later on that night, after dinner, we went to a bar-type lounge called "Colors". Yukie's brother visits this bar quite often, so the bartenders all recognized her. We sat a table in the corner of the bar, which was very small. This bar could probably only hold 20-30 people max. This bar is very interesting. It's not like any other average bar. If you can't think of any specific drink you want, then the bartender will ask you what types of flavors you like, and he will make a custom drink based on the flavor you choose.
Until tomorrow............We'll be heading off to Asakusa to check out Sensoji, as well as make a quick stop at the "golden turd" also known as the Asahi Breweries HQ!!! Maybe a pit stop in Nakano to search for some rare goods and hidden treasures at Mandarake!! What vintage & collectible toys we'll find...you'll just have to wait and see... Later!
CHINATOWN and its surrounding areas
Today's the day where we just felt like blah. No, not really...I just wanted to say that for the hell of it. But anyway, we headed back to Harajuku and Aoyama. Today's the day where we could go back and get the last minute stuff we wanted or to get the stuff we were thinking twice about getting the first time. There wasn't much going on today except some casual browsing and walking down Omotesando in the Harajuku part. During the other times we visited Harajuku, we mostly walked around Meiji-dori and Harajuku Street. Today, we really focused on Omotesando Hills and a lot of the back and side alleys because that's where most of the cool, underground urban stores are. Most of the shops we were looking for were all in the back alleys, in the most un-noticeable places (not in some over-priced, stuffy shopping complex). And they don't have very big or ornate storefront signs either....sometimes no signage at all.
After visiting Harajuku...again...we walked all over Aoyama (wich isn't that big of a district...but it's not small either). We of course had to visit the BAPESCLUSIVE store again. And we met the same sales clerk that helped us out the last time. I couldn't believe he remembered us. I know it's only been 3 days and all, but there's so many customers coming in and out of that store, and there are a lot of tourists who visit that store too, so I was a little surprised when he was acting so familiar with Jian. One thing I regret though is that I didn't ask for his name. This sales clerk guy was so friendly and so nice to us, and he tried so hard to speak to us using the limited amount of English he knew. He helped Jian try things on; he helped us pick stuff out, and he would even give us advice on things that don't match. He was trying so hard and I really admire him and appreciate that he tried to make us feel welcome and feel comfortable. In contrast, when we visted the BAPE Store in Harajuku, the sales clerks weren't exactly friendly, but they weren't mean either. They were just really quiet and hard to talk to.
