Because foreigners were required to live separately from the Japanese, the area where the Chinese lived was called "Nanking District" (南京町 / Nankyou Machi).
Although many of the Chinese returned to China after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and being Chinese was even more of a disadvantage after the Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, the area became a tourist attraction in the 1950s.
Renamed "Chinese Street" (中華街/Chuukagai) to break any association with Nanking's wartime memories, it now has many restaurants and special activities. [Source] So that's where we went today, despite the heat and hunidity. We took the train to Motomachi-Chuukagai Station (元町中華街駅) and got lunch at a place called Kyaku-Man-Dou (客満堂) [1] (I put stars on the map to mark where these places are.
I didn't think to take a picture until about midway through lunch, but trust me -- the second half was just as good as the first half. Three lunch sets came to only about $23.
For better pictures, check out these pictures on the restuarant's website.
From there we walked over to the Kanteibyo / Kuan Ti Miao (関帝廟) [2]
Along the way, we got a stick of glazed strawberries for about $5.
Chinatown has ten gates on its periphery. This one is the Morning Sun Gate (朝陽門 / Cho-Yo-Mon). [3]
From there, we'd hoped to eat at the Flipper's - Motomachi [4]. Yet after arriving in the area, I learned I had been the recipient of bad information. TripAdvisor -- that site I just linked to -- apparently did not know that particular location had permamently closed last September.Yet there was one saving grace -- Yokohama Station had a small Flipper's there. Since we had to go back there on the way home anyway, we had NO CHOICE but to stop.
Here's what we got -- some kind of strawberry souffle sandwich and uh ... a souffle parfait(?) I'm not sure exactly what they're called, but they were amazing.
Great way to cap off the day.
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