New challenge: Mendokoro Hanada Ueno

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

I take on new ramen shops which I have never visited when I am alone, as I did so yesterday, because I do not want to take my friends or brothers to bad ramen shops; above all, one of my friends is a gourmet and severe critic (who is he?)
Today's shop I introduce you is one of such shops: Mendokoro Hanada Ueno (麺処 花田 上野店).

About 8 p.m. after the shopping in Akihabara (秋葉原) I hurried to Ueno by walk because Hanada's open hours were 11:30-21:00, according to Tabelog* (食べログ) or Ramen Date Base* (ラーメンデータベース).
I was in a sweat though it was autumn night and not so warm.
By the way, I often walk on the way between Akihabara and Ueno (about 1 km) and I am used to going on this route.

[Read more]

About 8:30 p.m. I got there; I felt cold because of a sweat.
And I was a little surprised when I saw the sigh of Hanada; it read open hours: 11:30-24:00 (Mon-Sat) 11:30-22:00 (Sun- and Holiday)!
Fuckin' damned Tabelog and RDB! I need not have hurried so!
(This wrong information in these websites has not been corrected as of Oct. 11 though right information is given in Hanada's official website*, which I had not read carefully...)

I got a seat without waiting.
I chose large-sized miso ramen (790 + 120 yen.)


Chopsticks holder which reads: more vegetables and minces of garlic added, rice (only lunch time on Mon-Friday) free

The system of this shop is similar to Ramen Jiro's (ラーメン二郎) one; we can ask staffs free to add more vegetables (野菜マシ) and minces of garlic (ニンニクマシ) (see photo above.)


Large-sized miso ramen

Very good ramen!
I felt that this soup tasted faint sweetness of soy beans beyond mild miso saltiness.
Preferred was moderete chewiness of noodles which matched this soup.
And I like slices of long green onion with red chili oil dropped.
(味噌のマイルドなしょっぱさの向こうに大豆のほのかな甘味を感じた。程よい歯応え麺もこのスープによく絡んでよい。そしてわたしは、ラー油で味付けされた長ねぎの辛味は好きだ、と言いたいのヨ)

It was a pity that on its ramen there was a small amount in a bowl, even large-sized, especially for me, and a bowl cost a little expensive; in comparison with Jiro, its normal-sized ramen is about 650 yen or so and reasonable, which is caused with the fact that almost all of Jiro branches are located in the suburb or outskirts of Tokyo.
And generally speaking, miso ramen often costs more than other kinds of ramen mainly because more ingredients and toppings (meat or vegetable, etc.) are needed and cooked.

Thanks to Hanada, I found the new frontier: miso ramen!
I will look for good miso ramen shops. The truth is that I prefer strongly seasoned ramen to weakly seasoned one; for example, I do not like shio (mainly salt-seasoned) ramen (塩ラーメン).
And anyway, I can recommend Hanada to my friends Koba and Rick, who is a gourmet and severe critic.
Hanada has a branch in Ikebukuro (池袋), which I had never visited but just passed when I visited Gold Rush Ikebukuro (ゴールドラッシュ 池袋店), so I will visit it there.

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By the way, about 9:40 p.m. on the way to Subway Yushima station (地下鉄湯島駅) from Ueno just by chance I went by the professor (Mr. T. J.) of Waseda University, who had taught me and whom Koba and Rick have known quite well.
But I did not call out to him, and I guess that he must not have noticed, or has forgotten myself totally.
I was very surprised at what I had never expected happened.

Can you celebrate?

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

(Sep. 5 Youtube movie added below.)

About 9 p.m., when I was eating ramen at Kagemusha, Akihabara (影武者@秋葉原), rang my cellular phone; I got a call from a friend.
He said that he and his girlfriend were going to have their marriage registered at a government office tomorrow (that is, Sep. 4.)
I was not surprised at that news because before he had confided to me that they would get married before long.
I just said to him simply, "yeah, yeah, congratulations!"

I hung up after we talked for about 3 minutes.
Tonight Kagemusha's ramen seemed to taste more delicious than usual.

[Read more]

After leaving Kagemusha, about 9:30 p.m., under the night sky in which it started and stopped raining due to Typhoon 12 (台風12号), I went to Ueno from Akihabara by walk in order to buy hayauri Weekly Shonen Jump (週刊少年ジャンプ) there.
Then suddenly I wondered why they dared have the marriage registered on Sunday, tomorrow Sep. 4 and just remembered something.

I gave a phone call to him and asked, "perhaps it is both your birthday tomorrow?" He and his girlfriend shared the same birthday by chance.
He answered "that's right! Great!" Oh, more romantic than I think.
And he said, "you're not like 'another friend of ours.' I told that guy about our marriage after you but he wanted to talk just about himself."
"Hey, you. I am a 'better actor than he.' I am grown more than that fellow," I said.

Tonight I decided to go home by Keisei line local train (京成線普通電車) from Keisei Ueno station (京成上野駅) after a long time.


"Tentoumushi no samba" (ladybug's samba) (1973) by Cherish --the most popular and typical wedding song in Japan.

Tokyo Flaneur 2 Asakusa

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

After buying hayauri Weekly Shonen Jump (週刊少年ジャンプ) vol.13 at Ueno (上野), about 8 p.m. I started for Asakusa (浅草) from there by walk.
I walked there along Asakusa dori street (浅草通り), under which Subway Ginza line (地下鉄銀座線) runs through to Asakusa and along which there are a lot of shops for Buddhist altar fittings (仏壇・仏具店) because there are also a lot of Buddhist temples around there.
But those shops were already closed therefore along the street it was dim and there were few passengers and cars.


Mascot of Western tableware shop Niimi (ニイミ洋食器店)

[Read more]

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Please read the following texts with my walking route* (created Feb. 28) on "Chizumaru" (ちず丸) provided by a map publisher Shoubunsha (昭文社).
(Attention: the walking route would be deleted automatically by the provider if it is NOT accessed ONCE every 60 days since last accessed.)
(注意: この行程表は、最後にアクセスされてから60日間アクセスがないと、プロバイダ側で自動的に削除されます)

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I turned left at the crossing to Kokusai dori street (国際通り) (point 2).
And soon after a few minutes' walk, I turned right at the T-shaped junction to Kaminari-mon dori street (雷門通り) (point 3).


T-shaped junction of Kokusai dori to Kaminari-mon dori

This is not the first time for me to walk through this course between Ueno and Asakusa while I cannot remember when I walked this course first; I guess maybe 5 or 6 years ago.

I went to Asakusa in order to eat tsukemen because I ate ramen at Ramen Jiro Senju-oohashi (ラーメン二郎 千住大橋店) for dinner yesterday.
(The report about Jiro I ate yesterday will be updated later.)
So I visited Rihei* (利平) (point 4), which stands near Kaminari-mon of Sensou-ji temple (浅草寺雷門) and is regarded as one of Yasubee's (やすべえ) branches by ramen fans (Rihei and Yasubee are probably operated by the same manager.)


(Left) tickets to order tsukemen (Right) extralarge-sized tsukemen I ate (820 yen)

This is not the first time for me also to eat its tsukemen but "I did not feel that it tasted as good as before," as I wrote when I ate tsukemen at Yasubee Akihabara (やすべえ秋葉原店) before.
On the contrary, I was a little surprised and disappointed by the fact that it really did not taste good.
And some of the staffs spoke to each other perhaps in another Asian language except Japanese.
Some customers might be annoyed that the staffs were talking with each other though their guests were eating ramen just before themselves.

I would never come to Asakusa expressly to eat its tsukemen again.

After going out of Rihei, I began to walk toward Oshiage station on Keisei Oshiage line (京成押上線押上駅) which is located in Sumida ward (墨田区) because from Asakusa station (浅草駅) I could take Subway Asakusa line** (地下鉄浅草線) train which ran through Oshiage line but I just wanted to skimp on ticket fare between Asakusa and Oshiage (170 yen.)

Walking across the Sumida-gawa river (隅田川) over the Azuma-bashi bridge (吾妻橋, transcribed "あづまばし" in Hiragana) (between point 4 and 5), I entered Sumida ward from Taitou ward (台東区).
By the bridge on the Sumida ward side I was received by the head office buildings of a brewery and soft drink company, Asahi Beer (アサヒビール), which is famous because of its golden object on the rooftop often called "golden s**t" (金色のう●こ) after its shape.
I walk again along Asakusa dori, under which Asakusa line runs through from Asakusa.
Honjo-azuma-bashi station on Asakusa line (浅草線本所吾妻橋) (point 5) is located just beyond the buildings of Asahi Beer, under the crossing of Asakusa dori and Mitsume-dori street (三ツ目通り).


The buildings of Asahi Beer; you can see "golden s**t"

In the day on Asakusa dori in Sumida ward we must be able to see Tokyo Sky Tree (東京スカイツリー) which stands over Oshiage station and Narihira-bashi station on Tobu Isesaki line (東武伊勢崎線業平橋駅) but in the night dark we were not able to see it.
Also there along the street there were shops already closed, few lights and passengers and it was dim, too.

However, looking up at the sky, I was able to see the tower dimly with warning red lights.


Tokyo Sky Tree

And I could hardly believe my eyes when I found out a certain ramen shop at Narihira 1-chou-me crossing (業平一丁目交差点) (point 6); Ramen Dai! (らーめん大)
I knew never at all that the Jiro-inspired ramen shop invaded this place.
(I have visited Ramen Dai Koganei [らーめん大 小金井店] and Horikiri [ラーメン大 堀切店] before.)
According to this website*, Ramen Dai Oshiage-Narihira-bashi* (らーめん大 押上・業平橋店) has started its business since Dec. 10 last year.
I will challenge this Ramen Dai later though I think that every Dai's ramen tastes worse than every Jiro's one.


(Left) appearance of Ramen Dai (Right) exit A2 of Oshiage Station I entered

About 9:50 p.m. I arrived at Oshiage station (point 7.)
It was the Toei Train 5300 series** owned by Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (都営地下鉄5300形電車) that got to Oshiage for Inzai-Makinohara on Hokusou line (北総線印西牧の原行).
I was a little disappointed because I wanted to take the Keikyu Train (京急車) which is unique for its motor "Doremifa inverter" (ドレミファ・インバーター) produced by Siemens AG (独ジーメンス社) sounding "do, re, mi, fa..." when starting from the station (see this movie*.)

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According to the walking route above, I walked about 3.8 km from Ueno to Oshiage via Asakusa and I consumed 167 kilo calories of energy by walking.

Tokyo Flaneur

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

It was deadly cold today.
It seemed to snow in the midnight before the dawn even in Tokyo.

And, as is a quite Japanese expression, "also the contents of my wallet is cold." (Try to translate into Japanese!)
Therefore I must save money.

I went to Ueno by train (one-way ticket: 210 yen) in order to buy hayauri Weekly Shonen Jump vol. 11.
About 7 p.m. when I started from my nest it was raining (rain like snow was falling) but about 7:40 when I got to Ueno it stopped raining.
The thermometer on a department store, Marui** (丸井) in front of JR Ueno station (JR上野駅) read 2 degrees centigrade (摂氏2度).

[Read more] (First updated Feb. 19 / last revised Feb. 22, 2011)

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Please read the following texts with my walking route (created Feb. 13) on "Chizumaru" (ちず丸) provided by a map publisher Shoubunsha (昭文社).
(Attention: the walking route would be deleted automatically by the provider if it is NOT accessed ONCE every 60 days since last accessed.)
(注意: この行程表は、最後にアクセスされてから60日間アクセスがないと、プロバイダ側で自動的に削除されます)

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About 8:10 p.m. after making a window shopping in Yodobashi Camera Ueno* (ヨドバシカメラ上野店) (point 1 on the walking route) I started from Ueno to Ramen Kojirou 526 Nippori (らーめんこじろう526 日暮里店) (point 5) by walk in order to skimp on ticket fare!
It is located at Higashi-Nippori, Arakawa ward (荒川区東日暮里) and about 10 minutes' walk from each of the nearest stations, Nippori (日暮里駅) or Uguisu-dani (鶯谷駅).
Uguisu-dani station is next to Ueno on JR Yamanote line (JR山手線) and about 10 minutes' walk from Ueno so I thought it would take about 20-30 minutes to reach Kojirou Nippori from Ueno.

In fact it took 40 minutes.
And my decision to walk through in such deadly cold weather have might been an act of sheer madness.
However, ramen we eat after walking in such cold night is very good!

Along Iriya-guchi-dori street (入谷口通り) on the east side of Ueno station it was dark because there were few shops open.
And there were some homeless persons around the Iriya-guchi exit of the station (上野駅入谷口) on Iriya-guchi-dori.

About 8:50 p.m. I arrived at Kojirou.
There were no customers inside the shop; this was the second time for me to come here and last time I visited this shop about 10 p.m. also Saturday. Then there were no customers, too.
But that never means this shop is not popular. On the contrary, it has No. 243 ranking on Ramen Date Base* now (as of Feb. 14. Cf. Jiro Ikebukuro: 578, Jiro Shin-Koganei-kaidou: 19.)

I chose normal ramen (250g, 650 yen) with 100g of additional noodles (麺増) (100 yen.)
Jiro(-inspired) ramen we eat in such a cold day is particularly the best!
The broth on a cold winter night warms my 11 internal organs and myself up so nicely from the inside.


(Left) tickets to order ramen (Right) ramen I ate

And 3 customers (a couple and a single man) came into the shop in succession while I was eating ramen.

After going out of the shop, at first I had been planning to take a train from Mikawashima station on JR Joban Rapid line (JR常磐快速線三河島駅), which is also one of the nearest stations from Kojirou Nippori and to which it takes about 10 minutes' walk from here.
Therefore I had no reason to go to JR Minami-senju station (JR南千住駅), which is next to Mikawashima on Joban Rapid line, but suddenly I got to feel like going there by walk.


Outside of Kojirou

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Strolling, wandering, which Walter Benjamin called in French "flaneur," is one of my hobbies--to be precise, "was" one of my hobbies, I might have to say.
In the past, 4 or 5 years ago, when I was an undergraduate student (学部生), I used to wander and walk around in not a so long but moderate distance (about 4 or 5 km) between stations in Tokyo.

Why between stations?
Those who live in or around Tokyo take (perhaps must take) trains everyday in order to move and go on and through Tokyo.
So they, especially subway passengers, cannot get to know the landscape of towns or cities between stations; literally they know only "points" (areas around stations they use) but do not know a "line" (area between stations.)
And young I wanted to know these "lines."

And I remember clearly: when I reunited with Rick 2 years ago 2009 after it had passed 3 or 4 years since I had seen him last, he asked me whether I kept on walking around in Tokyo.
I answered to him, "No."
I have no time and no inner reserves (精神的余裕) to spend wandering around after entered the graduate university.

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In fact I did not go to Minami-senju by walk; on the way to there I turned around.
On the small pathway from Kojirou (point 5) to Nikkou Kaidou street (日光街道) (National Route 4 [国道4号線] ) (point 6) there were few lights and it was almost dark.
I reached Minowa station on Subway Hibiya line (地下鉄日比谷線三ノ輪駅), which runs through under Nikkou Kaidou; it is a large street and around the station and among the street there are many stores so it was light.

I did not go to Minami-senju because I wanted to see Minowa-bashi station on Toden Arakawa tram line** (都電荒川線三ノ輪橋駅) (point 8), which is a terminal of the line and to which it takes a few minutes' walk from Minowa station.
Minowa-bashi stands in the different direction from Minami-senju.


(Left) entrance of Minowa-bashi station (Right) tram for Ouji station (王子駅前行き)
　　
At the point that I reached Minowa-bashi, "to go to Minami-senju or not to go," that was the question.
But then I noticed that Nikkou Kaidou ran through to Kita-senju station (北千住駅) (point 17), which is next to Minami-senju on Joban Rapid line.
That was why I started walking to Kita-senju among Nikkou Kaidou.

Walking across the Sumida-gawa river (隅田川) over the Senju-oohashi bridge (千住大橋) (between point 11 and 12), I entered Adachi ward (足立区) from Arakawa ward (荒川区).
Keisei Senju-oohashi station (京成線千住大橋駅) is located near the bridge.
And Ramen Jiro Senju-oohashi (ラーメン二郎 千住大橋駅前店) (point 14) stands in front of the station!


Photo taken on Senju-oohashi

I knew Jiro had been already closed today (Sat: 11-15:00, then about 10:30 p.m.) but the truth is that I wanted to eat ramen for dinner here.
I bought a 500ml bottle of oolong tea (烏龍茶) at a convenience store inside the station.


(Left) sigh of Senju-oohashi station (Right) outside of Ramen Jiro Senju-oohashi

I have gone to Kita-senju from Senju-oohashi among Nikkou Kaidou by walk when I visited Jiro here at the end of the last year so I knew the route to there well.
But then around there I felt tired and was in a little sweat.
I put a hood of my overcoat on the head because I got sweat on it and in the hair so I felt the cold.
There were few passengers among Nikkou Kaidou maybe because it was already late.



About 11 p.m. I finally arrived at my goal, Kita-senju station! Tired!
I wanted to tell someone this pleasure of mine at once so I sent E-mails to Koba and Rick through the cellular phone on the platform of the train.
I got a response from Koba soon but did not from Rick at all by now... well, as is often the case with him.


Entrance of Kita-senju station to the ticket gate of Subway Chiyoda line (地下鉄千代田線)

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According to the walking route above provided by Shoubunsha, I walked about 7 km (exactly 6.89 km) long from Ueno to Kita-senju via Kojirou Nippori and I consumed 303 kilo calories of energy by walking!
It is suited well as excise after eating ramen!