6/04/2006: Ramen Shop

     I decided to hunt down a ramen shop today that my friends recommended to me as, "The tastiest and cheapest place around." After walking in circles for what seemed like an hour I finally noticed it in a little ally-way with an impossibly tiny sign that read, "Akasaka Ramen Shop." Upon entering the little entryway I browsed over the ticket machine (you pick the set and drink you want via ticket machine and then hand it to the wait staff and get your seat. This streamlines and makes it so that wait staff don't have to handle any money.) For only 650 Yen I got a HUGE pork ramen with three gyoza on the side (and water to drink).
     Usually the walls are lined with bars and wooden stools for you to sit on (and are usually just as full with salarymen at lunch and dinner times as they try to scarf down their food as quickly as possible before returning to work or going out with their co-workers that night, which is usually expected of them after a day with the company they work for.).
     Ramen shops are really one of the fastest ways to get a filling, great tasting meal, though it's probably not great to be eating ramen every day. My 650 yen turned out to be a good choice, and the man returned to me with a huge bowl of ramen flowing with broth, noodles, two round pieces of pork, seaweed and something that tasted like swiss chard. My three dumplings were hot, steaming, and delicious with shoyu (soy sauce) on them. I ate for what seemed like an hour but turned out to be only around 30 minutes. As I ate, various salarymen would glance over at me and seem astonished that I was chowing down with them on ramen and didn't seem phazed by the fact that I was the only girl in there, let alone the only foreigner! 

I really hope good ramen comes to where I live in the US someday.
Lady Laura Jones
















Went to give offerings at the local shrine, Hie Jinja, today. There is a large sacred circle set up that people walk through and around each side like a figure eight then passed straight through to the temple to pray.
















More pictures of the views in Ueno Park yesterday. This lake was a part of the zoo as well as the park around it. There were a lot of birds about.
















So many lily pads!
















A quintessential photo in Japan: You can see a lake, tall grasses, a shrine, and unique skyscrapers.
















A statue in Hie Jinja.