Izumibashi Sake Brewery is one of the Kanto region’s best, and it’s located right in Yokohama’s backyard, just a 20 to 30-minute walk from Ebina Station. If you haven’t been before, there’s even more reason to pay a visit now. They’ve just added a beautiful new tasting room to their attractive facilities. The family-owned brewery was founded in 1857. It’s currently run by sixth-generation president Yuichi Hashiba, though his daughter Haruna is quite active in the business as well. The brewery’s sake is easy to recognize on shelves of local retailers, as it features an iconic dragonfly logo. This fascinating…
Author: Seasider
The Yokohama Museum of Art announced that it resumed all operations on February 8, 2025. After previously undergoing large-scale renovation work for about three years (beginning in 2021), the museum reopened in March 2024 for the Yokohama Triennale but closed again after the event. While some facilities have been open since November of that year, this year will be the first in four years that the entire museum will open as usual. As a part of its full restoration, the Yokohama Museum of Art returned approximately 14,000 pieces of its collection from offsite storage. It also transformed the Grand Gallery…
There’s a classy eatery in Izumi-cho (Kanagawa Ward) called Izumi Tea & Bar that may stop you in your tracks as you pass. It’s located in a building designed by architect Riken Yamamoto, who just last year won the Pritzker Prize, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture. The building stands on the site of his family home. During weekdays, the restaurant serves lunch, and at night, it transforms into a bar. The bar is managed by Zenichi Kamiya and Nozomi Yamazaki. Kamiya has a long history in the area, having run the jazz bar Liberte since 1979.…
An old university classmate who’s been a professional musician in a popular rock-improv band in America for twenty-eight years recently convinced me to get a record player. As a teen, I had a hand-me-down from my parents. That was before the age of digital streaming, of Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube. These services are convenient and the internet has exposed us to a dazzling array of the world’s music, but have we lost anything in the process? It’s too easy to click away mid-song. We get bored or distracted quickly. Music that’s complex or highly creative challenges us at first…
Imagine a library out there where the carefully planned architecture of the interior features bookshelves with elliptical curves that gently slope and connect each floor. Books of various genres are easily displayed. Simply walking around and gazing at the books adorning the walls exposes one to new knowledge and surprising encounters. This is true for radio, too. When you focus on the information entering your ears, perhaps during household chores or commuting, you may have moments of realization or empathy, resulting in new perspectives. Mitsukuni Miyazawa (known as Mitsukuni-san) is an active radio DJ on FM Yokohama (84.7MHz). He’s been…
Greetings Yokohama! You are cordially invited to participate in our annual International Food Fair taking place on April 29th. Beyond the food, guests will have the chance to win some wonderful prizes, such as a treasure chest of goodies, travel vouchers, computers, and dining vouchers. Guests can look forward to enjoying live entertainment while sampling cuisine from many countries around the world. There will be an array of other stalls, including a ‘white-elephant’ one where used or unwanted items are sold to benefit the cause. There will be many children’s games as well. It’s guaranteed to be a special day…
This issue of the Yokohama Seasider marks our 16th anniversary! It feels good to have committed to something for so long, especially a publication in the service of the community. It hasn’t always been easy, but we’ve been buoyed by our long-term sponsors. Please thank them and/or patronize their businesses. They appreciate your support as much as we do theirs, and they’re a really decent bunch of people, too. They care about this city and want to make it thrive. Like we’ve said many times over the years: Together, we make Yokohama an even better place.
Highbury is one of Yokohama’s more notable bars in recent memory. It serves high-quality lagers, Belgian beer, and… cask ales. What’s that? To keep it simple, they’re unfiltered ales that undergo further fermentation in a cask. They’re then served after a special period of “breathing” for a day or two in that cask. To learn more and/or try it (as you must), plan a visit. There’s much more to like, from the cozy interior to its friendly owner, Kohei Ando. Ando learned the pleasures and art of cask ales during an impressionable stay in the UK. Of note, he spent…
The ceiling is intricately cut into a circular shape, creating a striking space with soft light pouring in from the curved walls. Given that patrons can enjoy a full French lunch course in such a meticulously designed setting for just ¥2,500 (tax included), the restaurant is always bustling with regulars. Owner-chef Susumu Takido decided to pursue a career in cooking after working part-time at a steakhouse in Yokohama during his student days. After training for ten years at a Southern European restaurant in Kichijoji, in 2000 he and his wife opened this French restaurant here in their hometown. The lunch…
In this season of continuing cold days, a hot and spicy soup curry with plenty of vegetables is very appealing. Yokohama Soup Curry Shinpee in Tsurugamine is a restaurant where you can enjoy additive-free soup curry made with over 20 types of spices along with carefully selected ingredients. The owner, Shinpee Ishiyama, is originally from Tomakomai, Hokkaido, and came to Tokyo for university. After graduating, he first worked at a company, but inspired by his grandmother, who had managed several restaurants in Hokkaido, he decided to pursue a career in the food industry. He first trained at an Italian restaurant,…