Yokohama - Craft beer central

Yokohama

Our next stop after Matsumoto was actually Tokyo - we sort of flitted in and out of there a few times  - but I will do all of the posts from there later. For now, we'll fast forward on to Yokohama.

Yokohama

This stop was really all about the beer. It certainly wasn't about the accommodation; we had a truly tiny room (so small you could only just about put the bed mats down), at the top of a block that was probably best described as boarding rooms.

Hikawa Mura, Yokohama

We had read that this was the place to come for Japanese craft beers, and it certainly was. But we did fit in a little bit of sightseeing. We didn't bother to go on the ferris wheel, but we did take a walk through the park, with its floral display competition going on, and visit the old ocean liner, The Hikawa Maru.

Yokohama

The Hikawa Maru was built in 1930, as Japan's response to the ocean liners of the UK and USA. It was introduced to sail the Japan-Seattle line, and was state of the art, with some beautiful art deco style interiors.

Hikawa Mura, Yokohama

The Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) shipping line was keen to entice some big names to its ship. On hearing that silent movie star Charlie Chaplin was planning a journey, and that he loved the tempura made by the exclusive Hanacho restaurant in Tokyo, they sent one of their chefs to the Hanacho kitchens to learn their secrets.

The ploy worked, and Charlie Chaplin chose the Hikawa Maru for his trip, and reportedly ate the tempura every night.

Hikawa Mura, Yokohama

During the war, the ship was pressed into use as a Japanese Navy Hospital ship, and managed to survive striking mines three times without sinking.

Hikawa Mura, Yokohama

She resumed life as a cargo and passenger ship on the Japan-Seattle line in 1953, before being retired in 1960 after 254 voyages and carrying over 25,000 passengers. She was refurbished in 2006-8, and visitors today can see the style that the first class passengers travelled in.

Hikawa Mura, Yokohama

Hikawa Mura, Yokohama

Hikawa Mura, Yokohama

Hikawa Mura, Yokohama

Red Brick Warehouses, Yokohama

Our second bit of sightseeing was to the popular red brick warehouses, which contain a variety of shops and eateries. We did have a bit of a look here - and bought some rather tasty apple pie from the very busy Granny Smith shop - but quite by chance, we also came across a beer festival.

Beer Festival, Yokohama

It wasn't especially big, but it did have quite a good range, albeit that it had quite a few imported German beers. One German import that we hadn't expected to see here, was a Bavarian Oompah Band. They were very popular, though most of the songs that they did were English.

Beer Festival, Yokohama

There was something quite strange about standing in a beer tent in Japan, listening to a German band play Let It Be, with hundreds of Japanese drinkers singing along and waving their arms in the air!

Yokohama

Which leads me nicely on to the rest of the beer here. We tried a range, from the large 'Yokohama Brewery', to the much smaller 'Bay Brewing Yokohama' microbrewery, and various ones in between. We spent quite some time searching for 'Craft Beer Bar', discovering 'The Taproom' on the way. When we did find it, we discovered that the owner isn't keen on foreigners; he seemed OK with us though, and we enjoyed a quick few there.

Yokohama

While failing to find another bar that we were looking for, we came across the local British Bar, 'The Full Monty', and decided to check that out. We spent some time chatting with the owner, especially when it turned out he was a Liverpool FC fan. When they closed, we ended up going with him to another bar, this time a Scottish Gastro pub called Wyvern

El Nubichinom, Yokohama

And the next day, we did find the one we had missed the day before, El Nubichinom must be the smallest bar I've ever been in, or am likely to go in. It takes about six of us foreigners, or maybe a few more if they are the somewhat smaller Japanese. The photo shows basically the whole bar.

Sweet shop, Yokohama

The owner knows his beers - he judges national beer competitions. With room for only six different beers at a time, he picks them carefully, and changes them regularly. This bar was a great little find, and I would definitely recommend it, though it is best to plan to go for just one or two, as it is only reasonable to move on and give the next person a chance to get in!

Sweet shop, Yokohama

There was one other thing we quite enjoyed here, which was spending a while watching a sweet shop making their little pulled sugar delicacies. it was fascinating to watch them make the little ones, but I would rather have liked to have seen them make the shoes too.

Sweet shop, Yokohama

Sweet shop, Yokohama

Drain cover, Yokohama

A walk down 'Sake Brewery Street' and a beer festival

Saijo, Hiroshima

Hiroshima isn't only known for its dramatic past and lousy baseball team; the area also has the accolade of being known as Sake Town. There are a couple of towns near to the city that are very well known for their excellent sake, and we took a train out to one of them.

Saijo, Hiroshima

Saijo is only a small town, but it is home to eight sake breweries, seven of which are in one street, Sakagura-dori, or Sake Brewery Street. We visited the breweries that were open, and tried plenty of different sakes. Most weren't really our favourites, (we seem to like those from the Kyoto area best of those we tried,) but they were definitely good quality, and are regular prize winners.

Saijo, Hiroshima

The secret is apparently in the water. The quality of the water is an essential factor for good sake, and you will generally find breweries exist only where the water is good. The water here is known as miracle water, and is called shikomi-mizu, a medium hard type that is perfect for sake.

Saijo, Hiroshima

It varies slightly at the different points along the street where the breweries are, so the sakes are a little different too. The breweries make efforts to preserve the local forests and mountains through which the waters come to develop their sought after qualities.

Saijo, Hiroshima

Some of the breweries have excellent buildings too, and it is lovely to see all of the tall brick chimneys marking the sites. It would be great to be here in October for the sake festival.

Matsuo Shrine, Saijo, Hiroshima

And of course, in a town where sake is so important, there has to be a shrine dedicated to the stuff, the Matsuo Shrine.

Matsuo Shrine, Saijo, Hiroshima

Matsuo Shrine, Saijo, Hiroshima

Matsuo Shrine, Saijo, Hiroshima

Matsuo Shrine, Saijo, Hiroshima

 

Hiroshima Beer Festival

Back in Hiroshima city, we had an opportunity to partake of alcohol of another kind, as we happened to be in town for the Hiroshima beer festival. We were pretty impressed with some elf the Japanese brews on offer, taking a particular liking to a smoky beer from Fujizakura Heights.

Hiroshima Beer Festival

Hiroshima Beer Festival

Hiroshima Beer Festival

Munich and the Oktoberfest

From Stuttgart we took the train to Munich.  We were staying in a room in a private house just of the outskirts of the city, but it didn't take long to get there.  The prices of accommodation soar around Oktoberfest, and it can be hard to find anywhere for a reasonable price.  Having read the reviews, we didn't fancy the campsite, so found a room instead.  The room was OK, but certainly overpriced for what it was.

We went into Munich for the first day and found ourselves a nice square where we could eat outside with more locally brewed beers to wash it down.  After a wander around the city centre we ate just off the main square in a more traditional place and tried a few more beers.  Well we were here for the beer festival!

The next couple of days we spent at the Oktoberfest itself in Theresienweise. It is huge, but actually not quite as big as I had expected after just being at the Stuttgart one.  The tents are certainly bigger and busier, but there aren't as many of the big rides here.

We headed straight for one of the tents.  After queuing for a while at one, and seeing no likelihood of getting in, we moved on to another, this time with more luck.  We managed to find a seat quite easily as it was still early, and quickly ordered a couple of beers and some very tasty chicken.

The beers here come in the stein style glasses and are all sold as litres.  The beer that you get is that of the brewery tent you are in, so we had the Hofbrau .  You can order a Radler, which is a lower alcohol version, a bit like a shandy when you start to feel you've had too much, but it would not be good form to start on anything but the real stuff.

The people at our table were a couple of older guys from Frankfurt and three people perhaps a bit younger than us from around Munich.  Unusually, none of them really spoke any English, so I got to practice my German a bit.  We quickly got into the Prost habit.  Whenever one of the table says Prost (cheers) everyone says Prost, clinks glasses and drinks.  This can be a dangerous thing if you are with a group of fast drinkers, but our table was a bit more moderate.

We had a bit of a todo with the table behind us at one stage when a couple of them figured they could spread over onto our benches as well as theirs.  My German was tested a little, but I was able to hold up my end of the argument, and with some support from our new friends, we soon had them back in their place. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the tent, listening to the oompah bands and watching the people who had paid large sums of money to have a go at conducting them.  It is certainly a fun experience, helped if you have a good set of people on the table with you.  Eventually though we decided it was time for a break from the beer and a bit of fresh air, so went back out for a wander around.
 

Over the two days we were there we did go in a number of tents but didn't sit down so didn't stay as long as in that first tent.  We did spend some time in a beer garden which was good, and we also tried the rather smaller and more refined coffee and wine tent.  That was good fun too, as the band there played a lot of popular songs and people were up dancing in between the tables.
 

We spent some time watching the men lining up to test their strength on the hammer.  It was all men that we saw having a go.  Some didn't do too well, and didn't manage to ring the bell even once; they sloped off looking a bit sheepishly.  Those who managed to hit the top at least once generally looked fairly satisfied, and took their fake rose away with their heads up high.

But the crowd's cheers were mostly reserved for those few who managed three out of three right to the top.  Their prize of a pair of fluffy dice in colour options of luminous green, orange or pink, paled into insignificance compared to being able to claim victory in this test of their manhood.
 

I couldn't persuade Nic to try out his strength, but we did have a go at a couple of the stalls here.  Nic tried splatting frogs onto lily pads.  His first attempt was pretty pathetic, but he improved, and we came away with a few little stuffed toys to prove his skill.

We both had a go at hammering nails into a block of wood with one hit.  Nic just beat me when I failed on one of mine.
 

But I discovered a new skill when we had a go on the shooting range.  The initial plan was to share a go with nine shots each, but when I had got all nine of my targets down, we agreed that if we wanted the prize, I should carry on.

Having hit all eighteen and got the fluffy wild boar, I asked Nic if he wanted a go; he declined, on the basis that he couldn't do any better and might not do as well.

We had two good days at the Oktoberfest, and managed to get through them without collapsing comatose on the grass or being carried off on a stretcher like some of the people that we saw.  We certainly enjoyed it, but if we came again we would make reservations for some of the tents, and probably it is best experienced in a bigger group so that you have a table full.