Tokyo, Japan

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gauze

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Any recommendations on ramen? Been doing it pretty much everyday. So far my favorite was ABC Ramen in Ginza, next was some place on the second floor on Omotesando St next to the harajuku station. Ichiran was kind of a disappointment, cool experience though. Nakiryu albeit great and what not, just not an everyday ramen.

As far as anime goes. Uniqlo is doing a Jump collab and they're running a museum for the 50th Ani. Right now the jworld museum is hosting 90s, and will soon be rolling out the 00.

As American ramen goes, all the places I've been in the states always have a special flair that ive yet to really find here besides the two Michelin and their use of truffles. Domu in Orlando has been the most consistent with Japanese style, but the others like Kimura in San Antonio does a marinate/cook/marinate/char with some shittake that is crazy good. Another place in Nashville does a Korean style fermenting of their menma which was quite interesting and good.
 
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Chysamere

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Any recommendations on ramen? Been doing it pretty much everyday. So far my favorite was ABC Ramen in Ginza, next was some place on the second floor on Omotesando St next to the harajuku station. Ichiran was kind of a disappointment, cool experience though. Nakiryu albeit great and what not, just not an everyday ramen.

As far as anime goes. Uniqlo is doing a Jump collab and they're running a museum for the 50th Ani. Right now the jworld museum is hosting 90s, and will soon be rolling out the 00.

As American ramen goes, all the places I've been in the states always have a special flair that ive yet to really find here besides the two Michelin and their use of truffles. Domu in Orlando has been the most consistent with Japanese style, but the others like Kimura in San Antonio does a marinate/cook/marinate/char with some shittake that is crazy good. Another place in Nashville does a Korean style fermenting of their menma which was quite interesting and good.

Depends on what type of ramen you want to eat. If you want Miso, it has to be Sumire. If you want Tonkotsu, I like Mutekiya. For Iekei, you need to go to Yoshimuraya. For Shouyu, Shinasobaya is great.

If you go to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum you can hit 3-4 of the best in the country right there. Just avoid the weird foreign ramen they have there.

You should definitely go to the famous ones like Jiro, Tenkaiipin, Ippudo, they have branches everywhere and usually don't require a special trip. I also have a soft spot for Menya Musashi.

There used to be a great story on a website called Lucky Peach called "A Guide the regional ramen of Japan" but the website seems to be gone and I couldn't find a mirror. It's what led me to Kumamoto ramen with black garlic oil, which is really good.

There was also an anime recently called "Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san" in which the character visited various ramen shops, famous and not. It led me to trying Yarou Ramen in Akihabara, which was a reasonable Jiro rip off.
 
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gauze

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Kyushu Jangara is the one in harajuku. Have you tried either Jangara or ABC? Just curious on scale of ratings. There's another place I liked but the lack of romanji kinda ruins my documentation.. And I'm not doing myself a service by answering hitori either cause I keep getting hit with a shit ton of dialog and I just nod and it works?

Might do Menya Musashi today since it's in Shinjuku, make use of my commuter. Trying to figure what to do with golden week as I waste away.

As far as types, tonkotsu and lekei are my go to. Yet to have a shoyu or miso blow me away.
 

Chysamere

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Kyushu Jangara is the one in harajuku. Have you tried either Jangara or ABC? Just curious on scale of ratings. There's another place I liked but the lack of romanji kinda ruins my documentation.. And I'm not doing myself a service by answering hitori either cause I keep getting hit with a shit ton of dialog and I just nod and it works?

Might do Menya Musashi today since it's in Shinjuku, make use of my commuter. Trying to figure what to do with golden week as I waste away.

As far as types, tonkotsu and lekei are my go to. Yet to have a shoyu or miso blow me away.

No I haven't tried either of those. I generally don't go that far out of my way unless it's for something famous. If you don't speak Japanese, it's a good idea not to open with Japanese, because a lot of the workers at ramen places either don't speak English or are foreign with job-required Japanese only and will jump on the chance.

If you get Menya Musashi, get the ramen, NOT the tsukemen, and see if you can get the giant piece of pork belly. It's expensive but soooo worth it.

nW8B0xY.jpg


To get some great Miso, go to Do Miso in Kyobashi or Nidaime Tsujita Miso no Sho in Kanda. It's actually right across from my house, and it's great with the charshu rice they do.
 
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Korrupt

Blackwing Lair Raider
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No I haven't tried either of those. I generally don't go that far out of my way unless it's for something famous. If you don't speak Japanese, it's a good idea not to open with Japanese, because a lot of the workers at ramen places either don't speak English or are foreign with job-required Japanese only and will jump on the chance.

If you get Menya Musashi, get the ramen, NOT the tsukemen, and see if you can get the giant piece of pork belly. It's expensive but soooo worth it.

nW8B0xY.jpg


To get some great Miso, go to Do Miso in Kyobashi or Nidaime Tsujita Miso no Sho in Kanda. It's actually right across from my house, and it's great with the charshu rice they do.

Jesus bro, I want that rib or belly now
 
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gauze

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Trail by fire, I guess. Trying to learn some Japanese here and there, rather than sticking to the shirainai, eigo desu ka. I often get the oh you're not Japanese, granted I look nothing like a Japanese person.

Didn't manage to get to go to Shinjuku today, ended up having to deal w/ post man and declaring residency? idk.. annoying shit didn't want to have to wait for my package in 10 days when it was suppose to be here yesterday.

I'll definitely have to report after seeing that lovely heap of porkbelly. I haven't gone into tsukemen territory yet. Have you tried either Nakiryu or Tsuta? how does it fair to rest of your choices, if so? I think my biggest issue, granted it originated in China.. is ramen that still has a very ingrained with Chinese taste. It's not bad, I just don't care for it nearly as much as some of the other flavors.
 

Chysamere

<WoW Guild Officer>
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Trail by fire, I guess. Trying to learn some Japanese here and there, rather than sticking to the shirainai, eigo desu ka. I often get the oh you're not Japanese, granted I look nothing like a Japanese person.

Didn't manage to get to go to Shinjuku today, ended up having to deal w/ post man and declaring residency? idk.. annoying shit didn't want to have to wait for my package in 10 days when it was suppose to be here yesterday.

I'll definitely have to report after seeing that lovely heap of porkbelly. I haven't gone into tsukemen territory yet. Have you tried either Nakiryu or Tsuta? how does it fair to rest of your choices, if so? I think my biggest issue, granted it originated in China.. is ramen that still has a very ingrained with Chinese taste. It's not bad, I just don't care for it nearly as much as some of the other flavors.

I've tried Tsuta but not Nakiryu, haven't had the time yet. Tsuta is good but I wouldn't want to eat it more than once. It's too.. fancy?

They lost something when they tried to make it as elegant as possible.
 

gauze

Molten Core Raider
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Fair enough, yeah its my same thought on Nakiryu. I'd still like to try Tsuta but doing the whole queue system is just a bit of a hassle.. almost an all day affair. Nakiryu is slightly easier to get into, line up at 10, doors open at 1130?, get in around 12. It just seems very Pat's vs Geno's regarding Ramen. They both use truffle, and seems to be the common lining for the Michelin.

I'm still dreaming of the menya musashi... it's going to happen.
 

Chysamere

<WoW Guild Officer>
3,307
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Any recommendations on ramen? Been doing it pretty much everyday. So far my favorite was ABC Ramen in Ginza, next was some place on the second floor on Omotesando St next to the harajuku station. Ichiran was kind of a disappointment, cool experience though. Nakiryu albeit great and what not, just not an everyday ramen.

As far as anime goes. Uniqlo is doing a Jump collab and they're running a museum for the 50th Ani. Right now the jworld museum is hosting 90s, and will soon be rolling out the 00.

As American ramen goes, all the places I've been in the states always have a special flair that ive yet to really find here besides the two Michelin and their use of truffles. Domu in Orlando has been the most consistent with Japanese style, but the others like Kimura in San Antonio does a marinate/cook/marinate/char with some shittake that is crazy good. Another place in Nashville does a Korean style fermenting of their menma which was quite interesting and good.

Thinking about it more, you really should try out Tenkaiipin. It's pretty unique as Ramen goes, it's from Kyoto.

Your order should be "Charshuu Toko-mori Kotteri Ninniku ari karaage set" - Thank me later, and use the rice to soak up the last of the soup after you've eaten the noodles.

Many people who go to Tenkaiippin say you should only eat fruit for breakfast, since it's so rich. (and voluminous, in the case of that order - go hungry!)


Oh and if you like Spicy food, you can't go past Mouko Nakamoto tantanmen. Or, if you're feeling /really/ brave, you could go to Kikanbo.

Picture is Nakamoto
AtfvUfS.jpg


Ramen Adventures: 鬼金棒 (Kikanbou in Kanda)


I took R ramp there a few years ago and I don't think he's recovered yet.
 
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gauze

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Haha I'm at menya musashi. I skipped pretty much everything for this moment.

I'll have at it next time though. I'm stoked XD

In terms of spicy.. Where does it rate for spice? Japanese spice has been tame, even asking the Indians to crank up the spice on their curry has been lack luster, but I think next time I go to their shop they got me covered... I'm half thai, so it's relative. I don't really want to bother with gimmick spice though, still want it to taste good!
 

Chysamere

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Haha I'm at menya musashi. I skipped pretty much everything for this moment.

I'll have at it next time though. I'm stoked XD

In terms of spicy.. Where does it rate for spice? Japanese spice has been tame, even asking the Indians to crank up the spice on their curry has been lack luster, but I think next time I go to their shop they got me covered... I'm half thai, so it's relative. I don't really want to bother with gimmick spice though, still want it to taste good!

Both of them are burn your mouth out spicy if you want and let you customize your level. Mouko has 10 levels and they won't let you get the top 3 on your first time there. Kikanbo has a literal "You will die if you eat this" spice level.
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Tsukemen is my favorite Ramen. I will go out of my way to have it. Only one place in Austin, TX even sells it and you have to get their fucking Jap menu for it. I look forward to a daily dose of Tsukmen when I make it there.
 

MrHolland420

KRA! KRA!
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You want some dank Ramen Chys, you going to have to travel a little but out into the "Country" but this place will knock your socks off.

Kippoushi

Google Maps
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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Hey Chys, I'm headed back over to Japan for a little bit in June.

Leave here on the 7th, arrive back home on the 18th.
You down to do anything? We'll be in Tokyo for a night or two. Going to hit up Disney for the kids.
 

Chysamere

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Hey Chys, I'm headed back over to Japan for a little bit in June.

Leave here on the 7th, arrive back home on the 18th.
You down to do anything? We'll be in Tokyo for a night or two. Going to hit up Disney for the kids.

Sure thing, I'm in Australia until June 2nd but I'm free after that. We'll have to get that spicy ramen you missed out on last time.
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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Chys, we're flying over on Thursday. We're not going to be in Tokyo directly. Just Chiba (for Disney). We're thinking either 11th & 12th or 12th & 13th. Wanna meet up?
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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I honestly have no idea. I'll message you on LINE once I'm over there and I figure out the exact schedule.
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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So we flew out of Honolulu on Thursday morning. Well, afternoon.
We left Hawaii Kai at 11:00am for a 1:10pm flight. And there was plenty of time to spare. HNL is a very easy airport in most situations. We took a $36 Uber ride. We had difficulty fitting a single large bag and a stroller int he trunk of his Accord, but everything mostly went well. He was also a Chinese guy that knew only a few words of English. I've heard of those drivers from some of my passengers (I also drive with Uber & Lyft), but that was the extent of it. The car was completely silent. He didn't have the radio on for ambient sound. Aside from that, it was a very easy ride.

There were a bunch of people (a tourist bus) that were trying to get onto an Alaskan Airlines flight, but the line for Japan Airlines (JAL) was easy enough. My party was my wife, my 6 year old daughter, my 9 month old son and myself. All in all, we had 1 large bag for all of our shit, his stroller, 2 backpacks and a hand bag. We'll be staying at my wife's parents house, so we didn't need to bring a lot of shit. Oh yeah, we also brought car seats for both the 9 month old and a booster seat for my daughter.

When we got to the front of the JAL line and began our check in, we discovered our first problem of the day. My daughter's US passport has expired, so my wife left it at home. We also haven't even tried to get my son a US passport yet. That said, they are both American citizens. So when we checked in, it was real easy to go through. My wife gave the agent the 3 Japanese passports and my US passport. Then they asked how the kids were planning on getting back. We weren't sure what they meant, but it turns out, we should have brought something with us to prove US citizenship for both of them. Namely, their birth certificates. Whoops. We have a few options. get another Uber to hopefully RACE home and grab the BC's, then race back to the airport and pray to make the flight in time (it's' around 12:00 at this point for a 1:10 flight), or just go out there without issue and try and explain our way into the country when we return. At this point, we decided just to fly out. We'll send a letter to our friends with a house key and ask them to pick up the two BC's from our cabinet and fed ex them out to us.

The flight was a little long. We landed at 4:15pm Japan time. They're 5 hours behind Hawaii, but tomorrow. For example, right now it is 1:26pm in Hawaii on the 9th. Out here is 8:26am on the 10th. We had to quickly leave our plane and grab our stuff. We have a connecting flight from Narita (Japan's largest airport) to Niigata, the prefecture that my wife's family lives in. That was scheduled to depart at 5:35pm. After making our way through customs and collecting our luggage (they don't transfer luggage for you out there), we got onto a tram to head over to the other terminal at 5:10pm. We finally arrived there around 5:20pm and rushed to the other departure gate. Turns out they weren't even listing that this flight was ready. We had all of our luggage and were trying to get everything done. But the woman spent 5 minutes (as politely as possible) explaining to my wife that they close new people from entering a flight at the 20 minute mark before the flight takes off. So 5:15pm. We're out of luck. This was going to be a 1 hour flight, but now we need to take a train from Narita to Tokyo. That's a 1 hour train, then take a bullet train from Tokyo to Niigata. That's a 2 hour train. So if we're already killing lots of our rest time. Oh well.. As we were making our way to the first train, pulling the large bag that we brought, the wheel on the left side broke, and went rolling across the floor. Fuck, just what we need. I'm already in a lot of pain because my arthritis has been acting up on the flight. So I'm pretty miserable, and now I'm trying to walk and use this bag like a very painful crutch while also trying to push a stroller that's holding the baby seat and booster seat... This is fucking miserable.

We make it onto the train and sit down. It's nice to finally sit again. I'm really tired at this point, and Tyler, the 9 month old is acting up. He hasn't slept at all on the flight, even though we had ordered a bassinet seat for him on the plane. At the same time, my daughter is also miserable. She's extremely tired, and going from moody to crying at the drop of a hat. Fuck me. Oh well, she ends up passing out on the train. My wife is holding my son in one of those Kangaroo pouch things, and they both fall asleep, and I'm reading my Kindle. The train is mostly uneventful, except for my son screaming a bit early on.

When we arrive at Tokyo, we're all pretty much the walking dead. Everyone is exhausted, and we're just struggling to move. What's worse is it's a far walk to go from the Narita train out to the Niigata bullet train. And I'm having to fight the broken bag every step of the way. So fucking tired, and now I'm miserable also. Also, the plane completely dried out my sinuses, so now my nose is full of Triskets and my eyes are burning. Oh well, we fought it out and made it to the train. Then sat down for another ride. This ride was also uneventful. Everyone seemed to get a little sleep, myself included. Then when we arrived in Niigata, we turned on our phones again and tried to call Manami's mom at their house, then her dad in his car. Both times, it said that the line wasn't able to connect from a cell phone. Chalk that up to some added frustration. We were planning on my wife's dad being a the train station waiting for us. We made our way to the exit of the train station, and it sucked. Lots of steps and no elevators. We had to fight the stroller with baby seats & the luggage up and down all of them. Fortunately this college age Japanese girl helps me out with the stroller as we're going down some of the steps. I was really happy about that.

So we're walking around the train station for a good 30 minutes trying to locate Manami's dad, and we're completely out of luck. Everyone's tired, so we just decide to get a cab. There are spots for 3 types of cabs. Large, Medium and Small. We get in line for a large one, and a medium car pulls between two spots, completely blocking the large space from approaching. He sits there for a while, and a large car pulls up, can't get to us, so drives away. Mean while, this medium guy keeps looking at us, then saying no when we ask if he wants to drive us. At long last, he pulls away and we're waiting for another large car. Then suddenly, Manami's dad walks over. It seems that he was waiting for us at the other exit of the train station. And that side had elevators. Whatever, we weren't in the mood to hear that. But we made it to their house, took showers, and quickly went to bed. Miserable day complete.