The Skinny on Those Hand-Cut "Crack Noodles"

Weather and Fearless at Kyokarou Honkan

My friends and neighbors have been raving about a restaurant in Yokohama's Chinatown that serves fresh hand-cut noodles in a spicy Szechuan broth. A legion of addicted fans have dubbed them "crack noodles." Weather Explorer is one of those fans and today she shepherded Fearless and me to Kyokarou Honkan where we treated our tastebuds to what might very well be the Eighth Wonder of the World.

My discerning mouth decided the broth is even more remarkable than the noodles.  It's deliciously spicy with a bit of an afterkick solid enough to purge your sinus cavities.  There weren't many napkins left in the table dispenser after Fearless and I finished blowing our noses, suggesting this is a place to take your friends rather than entertain your boss.


We had the two-pepper dish (upper right corner, above) for 700 yen. It looks like you'll have to pay 200 yen more for the dinner version.

Clicking on this post's title will take you to the restaurant's webpage. It's mostly in Japanese but you'll find an address and telephone number in English in the bottom right corner if you scroll down. Hours are 11:30 am to 9:30 pm.

We took the Minatomirai Line from Yokohama station to Motomachi-Chukagai, the last station, but the restaurant is just as easily accessible from Ishikawacho station on the JR Keihin-Tohoku or JR Negishi line out of Yokohama station. While you're in Yokohama station, be sure to pick up one of the latest English maps of the city at the information shop on the main concourse.

I hope you have an opportunity to experience "crack noodles" the next time you are in the vicinity of Yokohama's Chinatown. It's my distinct pleasure, not to mention civic duty, to share Weather Explorer's restaurant tip with you.

Rising to the Occasion

The Ancient Mariner and I sauntered casually through the doors of the Mercure Hotel to check out the quilt exhibit. "Good Lord," I choked, "they put our names under our blocks!" The six small quilt blocks displayed in the lobby were the only entries to which names were attached. 

Most of the pieces were on display in a room just off the lobby.  As we edged into that room, one of us blushing furiously, two ladies seated on chairs in the corner stood to greet us.  One balanced herself on a cane.  Try as we might by word and pantomime to convince them to return to the safety and comfort of their folding chairs, they remained on their feet.

Realizing we had reached a cultural impasse of sorts, the Ancient Mariner and I signed the guestbook and inspected each item on display; one of us used facial expressions and gestures to indicate which items most appealed to her; the other nodded sagely at appropriate intervals while keeping one eye on the lady with the cane in case she started to tip over.  We were walking an emotional tightrope.  We didn't want to overstay her balance, but we didn't want to offend these nice ladies by rushing through the exhibit too quickly.  What's a gaijin to do?

I decided to swallow my embarrassment and take ownership of my quilt blocks.  I gestured toward the lobby and then gestured toward myself.  The lady with the cane responded by beaming at me and gesturing toward her own chest.  We all shuffled out to the lobby where she pointed to her name on the card and the square she had made.  I pointed to my name and squares and admired her tiny perfect stitches.

Then the Ancient Mariner took our picture to prove to my children and siblings that I really did make quilt squares that were displayed in a public building in Japan.

Next time I'll try to get a picture of the Ancient Mariner looking sage at a quilt exhibit.
      

Pip Turns Heads in Akihabara

We took the train up to Tokyo after mass yesterday. The Ancient Mariner will be deploying again soon and won't return to Yokosuka until after Pip goes back to college so we lured Pip out of his cave by chanting "Akihabara! Akihabara!" at the top of our parental lungs.

Akihabara is Tokyo's electronic district, as most of you know by now. The prospect of Akihabara is what spurred Pip to take his first train ride in Japan nearly five years ago and he hasn't tired of it yet.

Because it takes slightly over an hour to travel to Akihabara, and because I was seated next to Pip on the train while the Ancient Mariner sat on the other side of the car with his nose in his Kindle, I can now offer you a fairly decent plot summary  of a post-Apocalyptic computer game set in Nevada and the Mohave Desert.  But I won't.

I suspect he gets his blow-by-blow verbal skills from me. Fortunately, he gets his looks from his father.

A Case of Inordinate, Immoderate, Overweening Pride: The First Quilt Blocks

The quilt blocks for the Tsunami Relief Exhibit were handed over to Shinagawa-san yesterday morning. Now they are hanging in the lobby of the Mercure Hotel in Yokosuka. All three of them! Every little mistake glares at me and all the big mistakes make me cringe. But it was a fun learning experience and I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment right now. Simply meeting a deadline is out of character for me.

Woven Ribbons

Moon Over Mount Fuji

Sailors Within Squares

On the back of each block I wrote "Tomodachi" (friendship) and my name.

Of course my work pales in comparison with everyone else's.

Weather Explorer included a Japanese flag and sewed shiny beads on her first quilt block.

Shinagawa-san's labor of love is entirely hand-stitched.

Fukutani-san created a bride and groom from PET bottles!

Fukutani-san's satin and velvet purse

The Ancient Mariner and I are heading into town for Thai food now. Maybe we'll just happen to stroll through the lobby of the Mercure Hotel and glance ever so casually at the quilt exhibit.

Ofuna Botanical Garden: The Illustrated Version

Last week my camera was on the fritz when Ishii-san took me to Flower Center Ofuna Botanical Garden. Today I had better luck, thanks perhaps to that lucky purple wildflower we spotted in Kamakura yesterday.  Maybe it's the Japanese version of a four-leaf clover. 

A section of the Iris canal

What a difference a week makes in the life of a garden at this time of year. The peonies were no longer blooming, alas, but the irises and lilies offered sweet consolation.

The shortest lilies are starting to open.

The roses paid a toll to last weekend's driving rainstorms, but more in terms of looks than fragrance. I can see why elderly ladies in bygone eras liked to dab rosewater on their pulse points. Maybe I'll add resurrecting that tradition to my list of things to do in the Ancient Mariner's retirement.

The greenhouse sits off to the side of the ornamental garden

Daffy Explorer and Junior Explorer

My companions today were Daffy, Fearless, and Weather along with a new Navy spouse younger than two of my children.  She was appropriately dubbed "Junior Explorer" by Weather who returned from a whirlwind trip to China just in time to experience Ofuna with us and start packing for a July move to Tennessee.  But I'll think about that tomorrow...

Rather than sharing one of the dozens of pretty pictures I took in the water lily room inside the greenhouse, I thought you might be more interested - whether you realize it or not - in the unique platter-like leaves on the plant in the back left corner. 

In the days ahead, at random intervals, I'll be sharing more pictures from the Ofuna Botanical Garden.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Get Thee to a Nunnery: Eisho-ji in Kamakura

Ishii-san at entrance to Eisho-ji

You've seen this little door before, perhaps twice. The Explorers spotted it a year ago on their way to the money-washing shrine and a few months later Ishii-san and I crawled through that door to view the garden on the other side. The garden is attached to Eisho-ji, the only remaining temple for nuns in Kamakura.

Today Ishii-san and I returned to Eisho-ji to see the recently reconstructed gate (left). This gate was destroyed during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. An enterprising man hauled away all the fragments of the gate and rebuilt it in his backyard, which must have been enormous, and not just by Japanese standards.  The gate changed hands again 88 years later and was returned to the temple where it was once again reconstructed.

There's been a bit of construction in the neighborhood surrounding the temple over the course of the past 88 years.  Train tracks have been laid, houses have been built, roads have been diverted.  Visitors these days approach the gate from the interior of the temple complex, through the garden, after paying 350 yen to a nice man who sits in a booth just inside the little door.

Passing through the gate, we turned around to experience the perspective of a 17th Century visitor (above).

There's a ladder to the second story of the gate to Ishii's right (your left). A piece of plywood blocks the ladder. I did not succeed in goading her into removing the plywood and clambering up the ladder, more's the pity, but she was intrigued by a cave on a nearby hillside so we inched our way up that slippery slope and caught another view of the gate.

Later I found out that Ishii-san spotted some very special flowers while we were scaling that slope. These small purple wildflowers, called iwatabako, have a short blooming season in a limited area. She says only lucky people can see this flower. Had I only known, I would have taken a picture for her.

It was another lucky day for both of us.

Hello, Rainy Season!

Yokosuka Honko (Main Port) from Verny Park

The Rainy Season runs from June through the first or second week of July.

There are five umbrellas standing at attention just outside our front door and another four or five folding versions in the hall closet but my eyes keep drifting toward the colorful umbrella displays in local shops. A purple one would look nice at the Iris Garden and a blue one would sure look nice against a backdrop of hydrangeas later this month.

Japan is beautiful during the Rainy Season.  Staying indoors is not an option, at least for me.