Chinatown

Gong xi fa cai!  Chinese New Year was February 3rd this year.  Sorry I'm a little late, but I knew this post would be detailed.  When I visited Tokyo in 2003, we tried to find Chinatown.  Chinatown is actually outside of Tokyo in nearby Yokohama.  Last time we took the train to Yokohama and wandered around assuming we'd find it, but we never did.  This time we were prepared.  As it turns out, Yokohama is pretty big and there are several subway stops.  After some research, we decided it that it would be festive to go to Chinatown around the New Year.

One of Chinatown's four surrounding gates

I have to admit, I was skeptical.  With the possible exception of San Francisco, most of the Chinatowns I'd visited had been kind of a let down.  Sure New York's is pretty good for some fake bags or dim sum, but Flushing is really where all the real Chinese action is at.  Don't even get me started on DC.  Okay, too late- now I have to talk about it.  I remember the days when going to Chinatown in DC was an experience.  We actually got dressed up and went down there for special occasions.  Li Ho Food was an institution for my family.  Oh the memories!  Succulent shrimp (with heads on of course),  amazing Peking duck (fresh from the window), juicy pork chops in that sticky red sauce...  Sure I never drank anything so as to avoid having to use that awful bathroom.  And yes, there was the occasional cockroach that made its way across the wall.  But it was the best food!  Chinatown was a destination back then.  It's a miracle I worked so close to the "new" Chinatown for six years and never decided to go out on a soap box screaming, "where are the Chinese people?  Bring back the Chinese people!"  Chipotle and Clydes with cute little Chinese characters above their names make me sick.  Damn you MCI Center Verizon Center!

But we're not talking about Chinatown DC.  The point is, I was skeptical.  Chinese food in Tokyo has been mediocre at best.  I thought Americanized Chinese food was bad, but I'd take General Tso's chicken over some of this bland stuff any day.  I expected one street of fried rice, red fans, and maybe some soggy dumplings.  Thank goodness I was wrong!  It was huge, and the food- for the most part- was great.

Roasted chestnuts from a street vendor

We should have known to stick with street food, but we really had a hankering for dim sum.  We got suckered in to one of many all-you-can-eat places.  The menu had all our usual favorites, and we were getting hungry.  Big mistake.  All-you-can-eat is almost always a bad idea.  The quality just isn't going to be good.  We were really disappointed but ate a lot anyway.

Shopping on the other hand, was a nice surprise.  Most of the shops were filled with cheesy souvenirs (there are those red fans I mentioned), but some were really special.  We spent hours browsing stores, and we still didn't see everything there was to offer. 

All the panda merchandise you could dream of

An adorable Japanese show with beautiful textiles and kitchen goods

A funky shop with imports from Thailand and India

Standard Chinese souvenirs- cell phone charms, red tassel things, etc. 

But the nice thing about this Chinatown was that there actually seemed to be there there.  After passing the tenth store that sold the same Bruce Lee t-shirt, you came across a beautiful and peaceful temple.  Again I found myself not really understanding what it was all about, but there was something there to be respected.  I recognized the smell of incense immediately, and I was transported to my Grandfather's basement.  That smell instantly made me feel a sense of seriousness.  Chinese people don't burn incense the way hippies do.  It's to honor the dead.  I almost didn't want to enter the temple, but how could I not?  It was gorgeous.

Temple entrance

Extra large incense sticks

The amazing interior of the temple

It was really nice to see.  I enjoyed watching people light their incense and take a moment to go inside.  But I can only handle so much seriousness before I have to balance it all out with something easier- more food!  Sure, we stuffed ourselves with bad dim sum, but we had to cancel out that bad food with what was surely the real stuff.  Every corner was full of people standing around (or squatting) slurping soup dumplings out of styrofoam containers, greedily biting into their steaming pork buns, or crunching on some shrimp chips (which strangely, resemble styrofoam, but that's another blog post).  We must eat!

Fighting over the last bite of a wonderful steamed bun

Mooncake!

Okay, before you yell at me, let me clarify something.  I know you don't eat mooncake on Chinese New Year.  I know it's for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but when else am I going to get mooncake in Tokyo?  Okay- just so we understand each other.    

So in conclusion, Chinatown was a winner.  I could have easily spent more than a day there.  There was supposedly a museum that was set up to look like Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s, but we didn't find it.  Next time.  Until then, go eat some Chinese dumplings!