Chris' World

Cow Tongue (Gyutan) in Sendai Japan

Sendai Japan is the original home of Cow Tongue, aka Gyutan in Japan. This video highlights the cow tongue culture.

Yamadera Temple in Yamagata Japan

Yamadera, literally “Mountain Temple”, is a temple in Yamagata Japan that requires climbing a staircase of over 1100 steps to reach the top! Checkout the video to see the climb, and the Ryūshaku-ji Temple (立石寺) at the top!

Best Gyoza in Japan

In the city of Utsunomiya in Japan, they are crazy about gyoza! Inside and outside the train station are many restaurants that specialize in gyoza (potstickers). There’s even a gyoza statue! This video highlights “gyoza street” inside the train station, and two of the restaurants outside of the station.

1000 Year Old Cherry Blossom Tree

The Miharu Takizakura (三春瀧桜) in Japan is a cherry blossom tree that is estimated to be over 1,000 years old. Perhaps even 1500 years old. It’s an amazing sight, with an equally amazing amount of tourists who come to see it. This is truly a sight to be seen! Considered one of the three best cherry trees in Japan! It is located near Fukushima in Japan… a couple hours from Tokyo.

Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn New York

Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn New York has been rated as one of the best Steakhouse in New York for over 20 years…. Is it worth the hype? Check out the video! It’s certainly one of the most expensive, at $86 for the “steak for two”.

Matsushima Bay in Japan

Matsushima (松島) is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (shima) covered in pines (matsu) – and is ranked as one of the Three Views of Japan. This video shows the views from the boat tour of Matsushima Bay, and also highlights three of the Islands that are accessible on foot. Matsushima is accessible via a 20 minute train ride from Sendai.

Shiogama Shrine

In April, Tanya and I went to Japan to check out the Cherry Blossoms. One of our first stops was the Shiogama Shrine 鹽竈神社 . Shiogama (塩釜) is located about 20 minutes via train from Sendai in the Miyagi Prefecture– and about 2 hours from Tokyo. We visited during April, which is Cherry Blossom season. We also had a tasty snack of odongo at the shrine which were some chewy rice cake things seasoned with red bean, soy sauce, and sesame.

Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo Japan

The Meiji Shrine is right next to the Harajuku station in Tokyo Japan. The Meiji Shrine is quite an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, and has over 100,000 trees on the shrine grounds.

Hotel New Yokosuka Video Review

On my last trip to Japan I stayed at the Hotel New Yokosuka, in Yokosuka Japan. The Hotel New Yokosuka is conveniently located just one block away from the main gate of Yokosuka Naval Base.

While this hotel caters mostly to American’s on business in Yokosuka, it still retains a very distinctive Japanese flair. Upon check-in, I was asked for your passport, but not a credit card. No payment is rendered until check-out. During check-in the staff informs me of my selected room rate, and how it compared to the current US Per Diem rate based on the current Yen exchange rate. I was then informed that my room included free “Breakfast, ADSL Internet, Drink Tickets, and Pay TV.” I was given the option of daily maid service in my room, or weekly maid service but daily laundry service. I took the daily laundry service as clean clothes are pretty nice, and I’m okay making my own bed. They do still come in to the room to bring new towels for the bathroom, they just don’t change the sheets.

My room on this stay was on the 6th floor of the “West Wing” of the hotel — a new building that is connected to the main building. The rooms in the West Wing are much bigger than the standard rooms, and include a little Kitchenette. Having stayed in the very small rooms in the main hotel, I’d definitely reccomend one of the West Wing rooms.

The room included a queen size bed, a flat screen television, two desks, and a balcony. The bathroom is a very typical tiny Japanese bathroom, with a heated/bidet toilet seat, and with an unusual feature of a television that you can watch from the bathtub. There was also a kitchenette with a mini-fridge, sink, dishwasher, stove, and microwave. I found the room to be very quiet — which is a plus for me since I’m a pretty light sleeper. The rooms in the main part of the hotel are not very quiet due to their small size, and proximity to each other.

Although you’d think Japan is pretty modern, many hotels in Japan still use actual metal keys, and this hotel is no exception. The key also has a big plastic thing attached to it that you insert in to a slot when you enter the room to turn the power on. The key needs to be returned to the front desk when you leave the hotel, and picked up when you come back to the hotel. They ensure you return the key, because breakfast coupons are tied to picking up your key in the evening.

The hotel provides breakfast every morning in the downstairs bar/restaurant. The breakfast is this bizarre combination of Japanese and American breakfasts… something in between. They serve eggs, cooked to order, cereal, toast, bacon that is waaaaay undercooked, miso soup, fried fish, and steamed rice. Fairly decent overall.

Every evening the hotel bar is open for the drink tickets to be redeemed. You can redeem the drink tickets for alcoholic, or non-alcoholic beverages. So if you’re a soda drinker like me, you can indeed get a coke . There is a pretty good American bar scene at the hotel every night with many of the Americans working on the base go to unwind. There’s also a 7-11 right cross the street in case you need a quick snack, or beverage the hotel doesn’t provide.

As far as transportation to the hotel goes — there are two main ways to get to Yokosuka by train, the JR Line, and the Keikyu Line. The hotel is located about a mile from the JR Yokosuka station, about a half mile from the Shiori Station on the Keikyu Line, and 3/4 of a mile from the Yokosuka Chuo station also on Keikyu line. My preference is to take the Keikyu line, as it is much faster than the JR. You can pick up the Keikyu line in Tokyo at Shinagawa, or at the main Yokohama station. From Yokohama it’s about 30 minutes if you take the express Keikyu to Yokosuka Chuo.

Yokosuka Japan

Yokosuka is a Navy town in Japan about 45 miles south of Tokyo. Yokosuka is home to both Japanese and US Navy bases. But I think Yoskosuka is most famous for “The Honch” — or the pedestrian street full of bars .