Visit Yokohama: Maguro Donya Miura Misakiko

I'm always game to eat wherever my friends suggest, and although I don't eat a lot of seafood, I had no problems dining at Maguro Donya Miura Misakiko at Yokohama World Porters.

Maguro Donya Miura Misakiko is a kaiten sushi restaurant, where you can pick plates off of the conveyor belt, or give your order directly to the sushi chefs.

Potatoes

Egg

Salmon

Chicken Karaage

Crab Miso

Unagi

Edamame

Rolled Omelette

Assorted Tuna

Shrimp

Upon being seated, our server simply gave us a notepad to write down our orders on.  We were waiting for her to retrieve our order, but later realized we could give the orders directly to the sushi chefs.  

Service was somewhat spotty, but the food was pretty good.

The restaurant even offers some entertainment, with a lengthy production revolving around the cutting of a huge fish (you can watch an excerpt here on our Instagram).

Maguro Donya Miura Misakiko
2 Chome-2-1 Shinko

Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 231-0001, Japan

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Visit Yokohama: Yokohama Trick Art Cruise

While in Yokohama, we decided to go to Yokohama Trick Art Cruise at the Yokohama Landmark Plaza since we had nothing planned in the afternoon.

At the Yokohama Trick Art Cruise, guests immerse themselves in exhibits that incorporate a variety of Trick Art (aka 3D Art) produced by SD Corporation, the originators of Trick Art. The artwork in this museum creates optical illusions in such a way that when you take a photo next to it, it appears as if you are a part of a 3-dimensional exhibit.

Yokohama Trick Art Cruise is very similar to the Tokyo Trick Art Museum in Odaiba.  In fact, there were quite a few identical Trick Art exhibits, but Yokohama Trick Art Cruise was smaller in terms of number of exhibits.

Kids (and adults!) will have a blast pretending to be on a sinking ship, in the jaws of a great white, or in the talons of an eagle.

The Yokohama Trick Art Cruise is very interactive.  In addition to the Trick Art exhibits, there are puzzles, games, and more.

Check it out if you have time while in Yokohama!

Yokohama Trick Art Cruise
Japan, 〒220-0012 Kanagawa Prefecture

Yokohama, Nishi Ward, Minatomirai, 2 Chome−2−1 ランドマークプラザ
+81 45-264-9240

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Visit Yokohama: Cupnoodles Museum

After reading Nadia's experience at CUPNOODLES Museum in Yokohama, we knew we would want to visit during our recent trip to Japan.

We went on a Saturday, and the trains were quite empty for most of the 40-minute ride to Yokohama, so we could sit in comfort.

We arrived at the Cupnoodles Museum a few minutes before opening time, and as people warned me - there was already a pretty long line to get in.

Fortunately, it moved quickly, and once we got our admission tickets, we immediately went to get tickets for My Cupnoodles Factory, since tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Luckily, our time slot was right away.

We each bought a cup to decorate, sanitized our hands, and were directed to a table to start decorating our cups.

After decorating, we took our cups and watched noodles get placed in each cup, and we each picked our broth (original, seafood, curry, chili tomato), and up to four toppings.

We then watched each cup of noodles get sealed, and then we each had to place our cups into a pouch to "shrink wrap" it and protect it (be sure to read the instructions carefully, as some of us did not, and our cups kept falling out of the pouches!).

Don't get discouraged if you see an enormous amount of people, because the process is run very smoothly and the employees are very friendly.

Allow for about 45 minutes for the entire process.

We did not participate in any of the other paid activities at the Cupnoodles Museum - the My Cupnoodles Factory was sufficient enough for us, and it made for a fun morning!

Cupnoodles Museum Yokohama
Cup Noodles Museum
2-3-4 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama 231-0001 Japan

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Visit Yokohama: Desserts at Yokohama World Porters

Yokohama World Porters is a huge shopping complex, and while there, we indulged in a bunch of sweets!

Baskin Robbins offered some interesting flavors!

Candy Box

Wild Amazon

Popping Shower

Tai Parfait offered all sorts of taiyaki sweets!

I couldn't resist a sampler of cheese tarts from Yokohama Cheese Tart Torrot.

Blueberry

Cream Cheese (the most popular)

Green Tea

The Cream Cheese flavor was my fave!

Yokohama World Porters is huge (they even have a Hawaiian Town) - it won't be hard to find something to satisfy your sweet tooth there!

Yokohama World Porters
2 Chome-2-1 Shinko

Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 231-0001, Japan
+81 45-222-2000

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Visit Yokohama: World Beer Museum

In Yokohama, we made an impromptu stop at the World Beer Museum after getting a coupon for the venue.

Sakura Komachi Beer

Kasteelbier Donker

I had the Sakura Komachi.  I'm not a beer fan to begin with, and I actually did not like the taste of this beer (my friend who tasted it did not like it either).  The Kasteelbier Donker was very good though - I would definitely drink that again!

Nachos

Fries

Poutine

We also ordered some munchies.  The Poutine had BBQ sauce instead of gravy, but everything we ordered was perfect bar food.

If you want to try beers from around the world, definitely stop by World Beer Museum!



World Beer Museum
2 Chome-2-1 Minatomirai,

Nishi Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 220-0012, Japan
+81 45-664-2988

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Visit Yokohama - Tai-Parfait

This was our most favorite treat during our trip to Japan!  After a visit to the Cup Noodle Museum, we walked across the street to World Porters - a mall with over 200 shops! - to look for a treat.  As soon as I saw the Taiyaki soft serve at Tai-Parfait, I knew I had to have it.  

I had the cremia - a Japanese premium soft serve made from Hokkaido milk and heavy cream.  Cremia is known for a higher milk fat content giving it a rich deep flavor.  It was sweet, slightly salty, and pretty amazing.  Under the cremia was a bit of red bean and the taiyaki was perfectly crunchy and chewy.  By far the best I had ever had.

My kids also had taiyaki, but with vanilla and green tea soft serve and they both loved theirs as well.  Definitely recommend!

Tai Parfait
Yokohama World Porters
2-2-1 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0001

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Visit Yokohama - Cup Noodles Museum

I centered our family trip to Tokyo around my kids and since we had some time after exploring Tokyo, I decided a day trip to Yokohama to visit the Cup Noodles Museum would be fun for them.  It took us about 40 minutes by train to get to Yokohama from Shinagawa.  It was a nice and scenic 10 minute walk from the train station to the Cup Noodle Museum.  The museum is also located near a huge mall (World Porters) and an amusement park complete with ferris wheel and roller coasters.

During planning, I had visited the website and learned that in addition to making your own cup noodle, you can also sign up for the chicken ramen classes.  However, it said you had to work in pairs and I wasn't sure they would allow myself and 2 kids.  Plus, the sign up is online in Japanese.  The reservations for the chicken ramen class sell out so don't expect it to be available if you didn't make a reservation.

The entrance to the museum is 500 yen for adults and free for children.  The cost of each cup noodles is 300 yen.  Once you pay your admission, you get tickets for a time slot for the My CUPNOODLES factory.  You get in line at the time designated on your ticket.  Once you enter the cafeteria, you purchase your cup noodles from a vending machine.  Next you'll cleanse your hands with the sanitizing spray.  You then get seated by the staff to a table where you decorate your Cup Noodle.  Be sure to stay within the red lines and write the date.  The noodles need to be eaten within a month. 

After you'r done decorating, you'll stand in another line to make your cup noodle.  You'll get to choose one of 4 soup bases: chili tomato, cup noodle, curry, or seafood.  Then you get to choose 4 toppings.  If you only want one topping, you can get 4 servings of it.  You'll then watch it get sealed and heat wrapped.  It was a very fun and creative experience for the kids.  They both enjoyed it and I highly recommend this activity. 









Afterwards, the kids played at the Cup Noodles Park.  The admission is 300 yen for 30 minutes and is very well organized.  The kids travel to each station clockwise so it's not chaotic like other playgrounds.  We also checked out their food court for treats, but if you can wait it out, go next door and visit the mall's food court for better selections.     
     
Cup Noodles Museum
2-3-4 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama 231-0001 Japan

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