Deus ex machina

*External link to the Japanese website
**External link to the website except written in Japanese

About 3:30 p.m. I arrived in Asakusa (浅草) by Toei bus (都営バス) in order to see Rick and Anneke.

In spite of the fact it had been already September now, it was very sunny and terribly hot today; there were no clouds in the sky but terrible crowds around Sensou-ji temple (浅草寺).

Kaz was absent here.
Why? According to Rick, he had gone to his so-called second hometown, Matsumoto city, Nagano Pref (長野県松本市).
What an unlucky man!

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Tokyo Sky Tree

Today I came here because I was asked by them to take photos of them with the landscape of Asakusa.
As you know, and of course as they know, I am a very good cameraman! (lol)
Dropping the knee on the concrete ground, I took a lot of pics with a lot of sweats in the killing and sticky sunshine; the ground was very very hot as if eggs could be cooked well on it.

He always calls me whenever and wherever he wants while he often declines my invitation because "I'm busy now."
He must think of me as Deus ex machina or something.

About 5 p.m. we entered a Japanese old-school cafe, Tomorrow* (友路有←これで「トゥモロー」と読む……難読？) in order to seek cool air and avoid the heat.
But the inside of the shop was not air-conditioned well and it was a little hot.
And there I showed them (especially him) Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary Book* (ドラゴンクエスト25周年記念BOOK) published by Shuueisha (集英社) which I bought in Akihabara (秋葉原) last Saturday; Rick is one year older than I, and we are of the same generation therefore we have played same video games such as DQ, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger and so on.
They treated me to tea in return for taking photos (thanks!)

After we left the cafe, I bought a black "senseful" sensu (扇子) at 1000 yen at a shop, Takahisa* (高久), which is located just in front of Tomorrow.

About 6:45 p.m. we went to my hometown Kanamachi by Subway Asakusa line (地下鉄浅草線) and Keisei line (京成線) in order to join my brother at our house.
This was the first time for both to visit our new nest and also the first time for my brother and both to see each other.

About 7:30 p.m. we went to Higashi-ikebukuro Taishouke Rozeo* (東池袋大勝軒ROZEO), Matsudo city, Chiba pref. (千葉県松戸市) by my brother's car, which he drove, and we arrived at this shop about 8 p.m.
This was the first time for all of us to visit it.
Very surprisingly, inside the shop Mr. Tomita Osamu*, owner and leader of Tomita group including Rozeo (とみ田系列の総帥・富田治氏) visited it with his family, wife and two young children, and was waiting in line just before us maybe in order to inspect his staffs and shop.
By the way, his children were noisy and running around inside the shop when they were eating ramen; their father should discipline them earlier than his employees.

ROZEOに到着すると、なんとわたしたちの前に、とみ田系列の総帥で、もちろんROZEOの経営者でもある富田治氏が家族連れで席が空くのを待っていた。恐らく店舗の視察及び指導のためであろうが、これには大層驚かされた（のはわたしだけだったが）。
ただ、いかにROZEOがファミリーやグループ向けの広々とした店内を有しているとはいえ、彼の子どもが店内で騒々しく遊びまわっていたのには驚かされた。
特に彼も厨房に立つとみ田の本店は超行列店で、客に長蛇の列で待たせる上に、ラーメンが配膳されたら黙々と食してさっさと退店しなければならないという、ある種の「行儀のよさ」を客に要求している。
にもかかわらず、幼子とはいえ、自分の身内はほったらかしという態度について、富田氏はとみ田のファンに納得のいく説明ができるだろうか。
今回のことは、彼の作るラーメンについてはともかく、わたしの中での彼個人にかんする評価を下げる結果となった。
富田氏には、スタッフの指導や管理よりも先に、客にそのような「行儀のよさ」を要求する前に、自分の子どもたちのしつけをしっかりとやってもらいたい。
「親の顔が見てみたい」とは、まさにこのことである。　

I chose large-sized tsukemen (特製もりそば 大盛) (400g) (860 yen), and the rest of us also ate tsukemen (I forgot their size or topping!)


Large-sized tsukemen

Very good! It tasted ever better than I expected.
Its soup reminded me of a veteran well-known ramen shop in Takada-no-baba, Shinjuku ward (新宿区高田馬場), Benten's (べんてん) tsukemen.
I was deeply impressed with its deliciousness.
I will come back to this shop though it is rather far from my house.



After we went out of Rozeo, about 9:30 p.m., my brother and I drove them to one of the nearest stations, JR Shin-matsudo station (JR新松戸駅).
The east area of the station is like a labyrinth therefore we almost lost the way in spite of using a car navigation system.

After we saw them off at the station, my brother said to me that he had a longing for bilingual, as Rick spoke in Japanese and German fluently.