Enshin in Ikebukuro and Akihabara

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

About 6:30 p.m. I went to Ikebukuro (池袋) from Waseda (早稲田) by Toden Arakawa line (都電荒川線) in order to see an old friend since high school student, Enshin.
And with him I visited Ramen Dai Ikebukuro (らーめん大 池袋店) at the east side of Ikebukuro station about 7 p.m.
This is the first time for me to visit this shop as well as him.


Arakawa line tram I took(maybe the newest one)


Outside of Ramen Dai Ikebukuro

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I chose middle-sized ramen (らーめん中盛) (750 yen) and he also chose middle-sized with more slices of roast pork (ちゃーしゅーの有料トッピング) (120 yen).

He said that yesterday night he had lost his wallet and cellular phone because he got drank badly after the work.
Next day (today) he had been able to find them out but 50,000 yen and PASMO* card had been stolen from the wallet.
Now he is very silly rather than unlucky! (see the article titled "unlucky man" on Nov. 19, Sat.)


Middle-sized ramen

I asked staffs to add "a little more" vegetables (ヤサイ多め) but he asked "more" (ヤサイマシ) therefore he had to eat incredible amount of vegetables.
(By the way when you ask "more and more" [ヤサシマシマシ] there, you see uneatable amount of vegetables.)

Frankly speaking, Dai Ikebukuro is not good (boo!), and Enshin agreed with my opinion.
It is very surprising that it has No. 280 ranking in Ramen Datebase* (as of Dec. 4.)
Tough noodles were tolerated, but roast pork was very tough and not good; Enshin was unlucky because he ordered non-free roast pork.
I would never visited this shop again unless it develops new ramen (for example, miso ramen.)

And inside the shop it was hot and very humid.
We were in a sweat so much while eating, especially Enshin more than I.
That is one of reasons why I do not like this shop.


Enshin

About 7:40 p.m., after left the shop, we went to Akihabara (秋葉原) by Subway Marunouchi Line (地下鉄丸ノ内線) from Ikebukuro because he wanted to visit Maid cafe (a kind of Costume-playing restaurants**) there.
In fact we got off the train at Subway Ochanomizu station (東京メトロ御茶ノ水駅) (don't confuse Shin-ochanomizu station [同 新御茶ノ水駅] I always use) and went to Akihabara Electric Town (秋葉原電気街) from there by walk.
He said that he had never visited any Maid cafes in Akihabara, whereas he had frequented a Lolita cafe* in Shinjuku (新宿) before.
That is, he loves such a Costume-playing cafe! (I would not like to find fault with others' taste...)

About 8:30 p.m. we arrived at "At-home Cafe" (@ほぉ～むcafe), which has been in the fifth floor of the same building, Don Quijote Akhabara (ドン・キホーテ 秋葉原店) which has been also occupied by AKB48 Theater** (AKB48劇場) (the eighth floor.)


Entrance of At-home Cafe (photos are prohibited inside. A person on the photo is neither Enshin nor I.)

When we entered the cafe, waitresses called "maid" in the same uniform greeted us, "welcome back home, our masters!" (ご主人様) though this is NOT OUR HOME here of course.
They call you "our lady" (お嬢様), not "mistress" (上記masterの女性形) if you are a woman, albeit young or old.

We were charged 700 yen for admission (oops!)
And the menu is very expensive, the most reasonable is non-alcohol drink at 500 yen.
I chose iced cocoa (アイスココア), and he chose iced cafe au lait (アイスカフェオレ) (500 yen each, see the menu*.)

They showed us to the table in front of a small stage, on which after a while two maids started a game of scissors-paper-rock (janken) with the guests including us.
It was the game that the winner got a right to take a photo with those two maids on the stage in front of, or seen by, other customers.
I lost in the first game as soon as the game started.

Oh, let me out!
I was not able to enjoy myself at heart here.
I live in the real, third dimension world.

"Your face looks stiffened," Enshin said.

About 9:30 p.m., after left the cafe, we entered "Saizeriya"** (サイゼリヤ) near it and Subway Suehiro-cho station (東京メトロ末広町駅) in order to get rid of the aftertaste of maids.
And Enshin wanted to eat sweets; he is a member of "Sweet Party" (甘党).

There and then while talking with him I found out that my watch stopped running!
I was given it by my father eight years ago, this is the third time that it did not work (also 2006 and 2009.)
(After that day I asked the makers to repair it.)

About 11:30 p.m. we went to JR Ochanomizu station (御茶ノ水駅) by walk from Saizeriya and parted from each other there.

New challenge: Tensouden Gaku

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

About 8 p.m. I visited a ramen shop, Tensouden Gaku, Suehiro-cho (天想伝 楽@末広町) (located in the north area of Akihabara Electric Town [秋葉原電気街]).
This is NOT the first time for me to visit it; it was last Saturday (Oct. 15) that I visited it first.
The truth is that I planned to write a report about this shop after visiting it first but I was not able to finish it before next Saturday had come.


Outside of Gaku

There is a close connection between the place occupied by Gaku and myself.
Once this place was occupied by a tsukemen shop, Tsukemen Ippo (つけ麺 一歩), which was then really one of my favorite shops and which I had visited so often, about once a week, with my friend Koba (also with my friend Rick or my youngest brother) therefore the staffs and we knew each other by sight.
Also Sep. 11, 2009 (Fri) I visited it and I saw them.

[Read more]

However one day, Oct. 10, 2009 (Sat), I visited it with Koba and Rick (then they met each other again after a long separation) but the old staffs we knew disappeared and new staffs we saw first were working.

I asked one of the new staffs, "where have old staffs gone?"
He answered, "I don't know because the manager of this shop has been replaced. All I can say is 'they left this shop'."

I was very surprised and shocked.

I had never visited Ippo again at all.
And Jul. 20 this year it closed down its business (see here*.)

Looking back now, this event might have made me "Ramen-Satan."
And by chance two days later from then, Oct 12, 2009 (Mon), Rick called me "Ramen Daimaou" (ラーメン大魔王) in Japanese for the first time (I remember clearly!)

Incidentally, the Japanese nickname "Ramen Daimaou" was translated into English/German because Rick had to explain it to his then German girlfriend and our friend Anneke in German, and in addition, more importantly, I love Heavy Metal music and satan is one of typical motifs of Heavy Metal!
According to him, he told her that "Daimaou" was like someone who appeared in Schubert's music.
(The fact is that he is called "erlking" ["Erlkoenig" in German], not "satan" [但し邦題だと「魔王」].)
I like this evil nickname a little.

Oh, we have gotten off the subject! (話が脱線してしまった！)

Anyway, visiting this place again arouses mixed feeling in me.
However, I felt like going to it again because this place was occupied by a tsukemen shop which is famous to ramen fans, moved from Ochanomizu* and changed its name (旧・天神屋 御茶ノ水店) "Tensouden Gaku."

Interiors are less hardly changed than those of Ippo.
Inside the shop I found noodle boxes of a noodle maker and ramen shop producer, Taisei Shokuhin* (大成食品), which had served noodles to also Ippo (see here*) therefore I guess that there might be a certain connection between Ippo and Gaku through Taisei Shokuhin.


Noodle boxes of Taisei Shokuhin

There were 4 staffs, 3 men and 1 woman; the man who looked the oldest must be the owner-chef (the boss. See a photo* on their website.)
I think that 4 staffs are too many because of the reason I will state later.
(According to this website* [see the article on Aug. 8, 2011], in fact thanks to Taisei Shokuhin this place is occupied and some staffs who had worked for Ippo before are employed now by Gaku.)

I chose "mega"(="extra") large-sized tsukemen (つけ麺 メガ盛) (500g.)
950 yen... Is it a little expensive?

When I visited it first (Oct. 15), while I was waiting for finishing cooking tsukemen I sent an E-mail to my friend Koba living now in Nagano pref. (長野県) in order to report to him that I came back again to this unforgettable place for us.


Mega large-sized tsukemen (950 yen)

Here is mega large-sized tsukemen.
Gaku serves relatively thin noodles, whereas other tsukemen shops generally gives thicker ones.
In the case of tsukemen, I prefer thicker to thinner noodles.

The soup they serves is very thick and strong, and tasted good (I like it!)
However their soup is so good that they should have chosen thicker noodle!
(Now I feel like sending an E-mail to this shop in order to tell it to do so.)

And strangely, it reminded me of Ippo's soup; I think Gaku's soup is more or less similar to Ippo's one.


Noodles are a little thin?

My complaint about Gaku carries on.

My noodles became dry while I was eating tsukemen therefore by myself I had to add to noodles some water in a pot on the counter to drink.
They should have made resources to keep noodles wet!
(食べている間にわたしの麺が乾いてしまったので、自分でカウンターのポットの水で麺を湿らせなければならなかった。彼らは麺が乾かないような工夫を予め施しておくべきだった。)

And I had almost run out of the soup when I was about to finish eating noodles.
They should have served more soup to customers like me who chose mega large-sized.
I paid 950 yen or so to the shop in order to enjoy whole ramen or tsukemen from the start to the end of eating .
(そして、食べ終わる直前に、わたしのスープがほとんど空っぽになってしまった。恐らくスープの量は、並、中、大、メガと全て同じなのだろうが、麺の量が違う以上、誰が食べても食べ切るのに必要なスープの量が違うのは同様であろう。彼らはわたしのようにメガ盛を注文した客には、増量したスープを提供すべきだった。どうしてわたしが950円を店に支払ったかというと、それは食事の最初から最後までラーメンやつけ麺を味わい切るためである。)

And, what is more, it is too expensive that large-sized tsukemen is priced at 850 yen and mega large-sized at 950 yen!
It would be not enough but relatively reasonable if normal-, middle-, and large-sized (default) were priced at 750 yen and mega at 850 yen.
(そのうえ、大盛850円、メガ盛950円というのは高すぎる！　もし並、中、大盛がデフォルトで750円、メガ盛が850円だとしたら、十分とは言えないまでも、まあまあ納得できる。［ここから日本語のみ］ついでに言えば、メガ盛は500グラムあるらしいが、中太麺のせいか食べ応えがあまりない。わたしの場合はとりわけ顕著であるが、950円も払って満腹にならないのでは、代金を払った甲斐がない。)

I guess that 4 staffs are too many though tsukemen's price is expensive; 3, perhaps 2, persons are moderate.
Frankly speaking, the young man wearing black glasses is NOT needed in this shop because in this shop a work load is not so heavy to be shared with him, with 4 staffs.
(In fact I saw him having less things and standing without anything to do.)
（もしかして、つけ麺の値段が高いにもかかわらず、スタッフ4人という人数は多すぎるのではないだろうか。3人、ひょっとすると2人くらいがちょうどいい。率直に言って、黒ぶち眼鏡をかけた若い男性店員は要らない。というのもこの店の仕事量は、4人で回すほど、そして彼にまで与えるほど、多くはないからだ。実際、わたしは彼にすることがなく、ただ立ちんぼしている場面を何度も見た。）

I will not bring my friends to this shop because it has a lot of problems I analyzed above.
And as for myself, I will not visit it once a week but once a month or 2 months or so.
They should improve these problems as soon as possible.

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.

Back to Kagemusha

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

My brother wanted to go to Ochanomizu (お茶の水) in order to buy hiking goods so in the evening about 7 p.m. I followed him there.
I bought hayauri Weekly Shonen Jump (週刊少年ジャンプ) at a certain book store but he got nothing there.

After that we went to Akihabara (秋葉原) by walk and about 8 p.m. visited Kagemusha (影武者), which I used to visit with Koba before his moving to Nagano prefecture (長野県).

I chose large-sized ramen (らーめん大盛り) (780 yen) while he chose normal-sized one (らーめん) (680 yen.)
Their roast pork is very tender and delicious but noodles are not so good as before.

When we were leaving the shop, I said hello and goodbye to the master, who loved Hard Rock and was busy with his work inside the kitchen.
So he said to me, "thank you for coming again and again!"
Then all customers in the shop looked at me in surprise.

Long-distance driver

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

My younger brother, Ryoma, headed for Koriyama city, Fukushima prefecture (福島県郡山市), our hometown where our parents and youngest brother lived from Kochi prefecture (高知県) by car through the following prefectures: Tokushima, Kagawa, Hyogo, Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga, Mie, Aichi, Shizuoka, Kanagawa (徳島県, 香川県, 兵庫県, 大阪府, 京都府, 滋賀県, 三重県, 愛知県, 静岡県, 神奈川県).
And he dropped in at my room, Tokyo to give me some Kochi souvenirs and take a rest on the way back to Koriyama; he said that he had kept on driving on the expressways without stopping for 12 hours except some short rests at service areas. And he said also that his legs were numb slightly and this was the first time for himself.

I said to him, "how crazy you are!"

[Read more]

I asked him whether he was hungry or not because I had eaten nothing but tsukemen in the evening today (already yesterday) and felt a little hungry.
He answered, "yes, a little" because he had not had dinner because of the long-distance driving.
So we went out by car in order to buy gyu-don (牛丼) at Sukiya (すき家) (I drove his car because he said that he was extremely tired.)
It was about 2:30 a.m.

---

And the day broke.

It was I who proposed that we go to Ramen Jiro Koiwa (ラーメン二郎 小岩店).
And we went out there by his car; Koiwa is a northern area of Edogawa ward (江戸川区) and close to the southern border of Katsushika ward (葛飾区) but we have to take a bus or use a car to go there from Kanamachi, a northern area of Katsushika because there are no railway to Edogawa running through the length of Katsushika.

About 1 p.m. we had to wait in line in front of the shop for a short while but got the seats soon.
This was the first time for him to eat ramen at Jiro.
He said that Jiro tasted good but was a little surprised at its strong broth and garlic.
I think that Koiwa Jiro is as good as Musa-ko (むさこ = 武蔵小金井) or Matsudo (松戸), better than Ikebukuro Jiro (池袋).
And Koiwa reminded me about a taste of old Takada-no-baba Jiro (旧高田馬場店).


Small-sized ramen (小ラーメン) (700 yen) we chose





By the way, because of Jiro Koiwa we had not felt hungry until about 9-10 p.m. lol

After going back to my room from Koiwa, about 5 p.m., we went to Akihabara (秋葉原) in order to buy a switching hub and LAN cables (Ethernet cables) for him.
We walked around there and looked for more reasonable products at some shops.
A new switching hub was a little expensive therefore we bought a secondhand one (made in 2002) at Sofmap* while we bought new LAN cables at Tsukumo*.

At first we had planned to eat Sutadon (すた丼) at Densetsu-no-Sutadon Akinabara* (伝説のすた丼 秋葉原店) but we were still full (because of Jiro!) about 9 p.m. so we went back to Kanamachi for the present.

In the train on the way to my town, I had just thought of the idea that we go to Bamiyan* (a Family Restaurant) in Katsushika ward by car and suggested that idea to my brother. At that time we had started feeling hungry.
It was about 10 p.m. when we got to Kanamachi, and about 11 p.m. when we started eating dinner at Bamiyan.
He said that Mabo doufu (特製おぼろ豆腐のコク旨マーボー) (418 yen) he ate was very delicious.
And I chose a set meal with deep-fried chicken (特盛り唐揚げ定食) (999 yen.)
(Here* you can see Bamiyan's menu.)



After the late dinner, about 0:30 p.m., we went to Nonbe Yokocho* (呑んべ横丁) (small pathways occupied by a lot of bars, pubs or "Snack Bars" (スナック) and "Izakaya"(居酒屋)) in front of Keisei Tateishi station (京成立石駅) not because we wanted to drink alcohol but this miscellaneous and dingy area might be lost because of the redevelopment therefore my brother would like to see the look of them.
(In view of that chaotic construction, Nonbe Yokocho is compared to Kowloon Walled City** (九龍城塞) in Hong Kong in rare instances.)
We were hanging around these pathways for about 30 minutes in the midnight but the sudden rain stopped our crawling.


The sigh of "Nonbe Yokocho" and my brother


Dingy pathway

(First updated Nov. 18. 2010)

Day of disappointment

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

About 8 p.m. I arrived at Akihabara (秋葉原.)

I was very astonished by the fact Shinjuku Shoten Akihabara (新宿書店 秋葉原支店) had already closed down the business Aug. 15*.
(Shinjuku Shoten is a book store putting a great deal of effort into selling manga books.)
I did not know its closing down because I went back to Koriyama city Aug. 11 and had stayed there since then for about 2 months in this summer. Therefore during that time I had not visited this shop.

[Read more]

But according to this page*, it was Feb. 11. 2003 when Shinjuku Shoten Akihabara started a business in a room of the building it had occupied by now but before that Shinjuku Shoten had been in business on another place in Akihabara and had closed down the business once.
So I guess that Shinjuku Shoten would come back to Akihabara once again because Akihabara is a town of manga and animation!

There was no help.
Next I went to Yodobashi Camera Akihabara (ヨドバシ アキバ店) in order to buy a waterproof radio.
I always like listening to the radio, I wanted to listen to it also in the bathroom because I often take a bath for more than 1 hour.
(Before I was listening to it in the bathroom by playing a normal (non-waterproof) radio outside it but it can be hardly heard.)
I chose the cheapest most reasonable radio (880 yen) among ones being displayed in the store.


Waterproof radio

After going out of Yodobashi, I went to Kanda (神田), one station south from Akihabara on the Yamonote line (山手線), by walk in order to visit a new ramen shop which I had never visited and which had had a good reputation on the internet.
And this shop, Yarou Ramen** (野郎ラーメン), is inspired by Ramen Jiro (ラーメン二郎). Oh, I must try it as a Jiro fan!

About 9 p.m. I arrived there.

I was very disappointed by the fact that Yarou Ramen had been closed because the soup had been sold out. orz
This shop will be nailed to the cross because it made Ramen-Satan angry extremely.

I was at a loss where to go to eat dinner.
At first I was going to visit Hakata Furyu Kanda (博多風龍 神田店), a tonkotsu ramen shop, in front of JR Kanda staion (JR神田駅), near Yarou Ramen.
But on the way there I found out a tsukemen shop, Mita Seimenjo Kanda* (三田製麺所 神田店), by chance and entered it as if it had attracted me; Intuition told me that this shop must serve me a good ramen.


The exterior of Mita Seimenjo

My anticipation proved true; its tsukemen was good.
In summer last year (2009) I had been despaired by the fact that at my formerly most favorite tsukemen shop, Ippo (一歩), all of the staffs whom I had been friends with left suddenly and had been replaced by other persons, and moreover, tsukemen of this shop had got less good than before.
(I had been informed of their departure when I had visited this shop with Rick and Koba.)
But the entrance of Mita Seimenjo will heal my loss of the favorite tsukemen shop.
It is very good that we can eat this rather good tsukemen at Kanda, the center of Tokyo, till late at night (11-26:00, Sat: 11-22:00, Sun: 11-18:00.)


Tsukemen (500g, 800 yen)

Next, about 10 p.m., I went to Ueno by train in order to buy hayauri (早売り) Weekly Shonen Jump (週刊少年ジャンプ) at Shinjuku Shoten Ueno (新宿書店 上野店); Shinjuku Shoten has branch shops also at Shinjuku (新宿), Ikebukuro (池袋), Jinbou-cho (神保町) and Ueno (上野).
(For more information about hayauri, click here.)

It was 10:53 p.m. when I took a train on Chiyoda line (地下鉄千代田線) at Yushima station (湯島駅), near Ueno.

Mawaranai sushi

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

I was stood sushi for dinner by Ajimo, my old friend since we were six or seven years old and elementary school students.
It was Non Conveyor Belt sushi (回らない寿司) he treated me at Tsukiji Tamazushi Ginza Core* (築地玉寿司銀座コア店) because I bought him the Academic Package of a certain computer software he wanted (of course with his money.)
(Only students, teachers or those who work for education can buy the Academic Package.)
That software is priced at 134,400 yen as fixed at Yodobashi Camera Akihabara (ヨドバシアキバ店) but the Academic Package is priced at 13,440 yen (90% off.)
That is, he treated me sushi in order to show me his gratitude. However I said to him that he needed not consideration for me.

[Read more]

Ajimo and I went to the same elementary school, the same junior high school and the same high school.
We have been buddies known each other for a longer time than June and Canon.
After graduating a national graduate school of engineering last year (2009), now he has worked for a company as a computer programmer in Tokyo.
And he has been called his slightly strange nickname, Ajimo, since he was nine or ten years old.
(I do not know in detail why he was called so. A nickname children gives their friends is often strange or sometimes come from where adults hardly think of.)
More funnily, his parents sometimes call him so.


One of sushi plates we ate

Tamazushi was very delicious! I love sushi!
I would like to take my family to this sushi restaurant someday.
Ajimo, thank you very much!

During eating sushi at Tamazushi, he confessed to me that these months he had been very and very busy at his work; on weekdays he come back home (he lives in Asaka city, Saitama pref. (埼玉県朝霞市)) 1 a.m. and go out to the office 6:30 a.m. He said that he was able to sleep only for three or four hours on weekdays. He was a hard-core video gamer when he was a student but he played the latest Pocket Monsters title released Sep. 18, 2010 in Japan, Black Version and White Version** only six or seven hours in total.
Therefore he wanted to eat delicious foods with someone in order to get rid of his stress. He did not treat me sushi only in order to show me his gratitude.

By the way, we ate about 70 sushi pieces (70貫) in total. (Can't eat less than expected!)

This restaurant closed at 10 p.m.
So we wanted to enter any coffee shop around Yurakucho station (有楽町駅) in order to carry on chatting. But any of them around that station was going to close at 11 p.m.
There was no help for it. We bought plastic bottles of drink at a Convenience Store and chatted with each other seated on the bench in the Underground Square* under Yurakucho station (有楽町地下広場) where there were few passengers going then.
We were talking especially about our family. (One tends to take care of his parents when he gets old.) As of myself in detail, I told him of my father's condition.

It was about 11:50 p.m. when we parted from each other in front of a ticket gate of Tokyo Metro Yurakucho line (地下鉄有楽町線) in Yurakucho station.

The ramen-man condition (2)

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

Attention: I have been writing the article about my brother's visit in Tokyo: day 2 on Jul. 25, but it has not been completed yet. So I publish today's article first.

About 9:30 p.m. I ate tsuke-men at Yasubee Akihabara (やすべえ秋葉原店) alone.
This was the second time for me to eat it there (the first time was May 29. with Koba.)


Extralarge-sized tsuke-men (550g) (880 yen)

[Read more]

I like their tsuke-men but I did not feel that it tasted as good as before probably because I might have already experienced more delicious tsuke-men than Yasubee, as I said before.

However, it is praiseworthy that this shop had a steady flow of customers (客の回転がいい).
More delicious tsuke-men shops I have mentioned sometimes have a non-good flow of customers; for example, at Momiji (紅葉) I always must wait in line every time I visit this shop. Of course it is because Momiji is one of more popular tsuke-men shop in Tokyo.

After leaving Yasubee, I dropped in at Bookoff** in front of Akihabara station (ブックオフ秋葉原駅前店).
It was exactly 11:19 p.m.* when I took the Hibiya Line train for Kita-Kasukabe (地下鉄日比谷線北春日部行き) at Akihabara.

Who's a currier?

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

About 9 p.m. I visited Mammoth Curry* (マンモスカレー), Akihabara (秋葉原) with Koba.
I have already eaten their Mammoth 1.1 kg Curry three times.


Mammoth 1.1kg Curry (including 100g of free additional rice) (880 yen) with Salad (150 yen)

[Read more]

It is no doubt very easy for me to eat it up all!

And Today I cooked ramen for lunch by myself.



It looks bad but tastes no problem.
It is not "Jiro" (二郎) but could be named "Saburo" (三郎) or "Shiro" (四郎). lol

Frontier spirits

This is a new frontier.
About 8:45 p.m. I visited Bankara (ばんから), Akihabara (秋葉原) with Koba.
This ramen shop started a business May 21. and this was the second time for me to come to this shop; it was in the end of May that I ate their ramen first.

I am ultra-conservative about food and do not mind visiting my favorite restaurants every week.
But, on the other hand, I am a ramenist therefore I have to reclaim a new ramen world.
This is just a frontier spirit!



I chose mega-sized tsuke-men (1000 yen) with additional noodles (120 yen) (メガ盛つけ麺 + 麺増し).
Its soup was sweet and spicy (甘辛い), and was quite different from, for instance, Momiji's (紅葉) soup, which was cooked very well in good stock (出汁が効いている).

This tsuke-men was good.
But I would not like to eat it every week because it was too expensive.
I suppose that mega-sized would cost about 800 yen at a reasonable price.
(I think that all of their ramen were more or less expensive while they had a small amount.)

Curry on!

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

Hahaha! I'm also the Curry Satan!
Today in the evening, about 8:30 p.m., I just conquered a curry kingdom at Akihabara: Mammoth Curry*.
The enemy was mighty and heavy: 1.1kg!

[Read more]

Mammoth 1.1kg Curry (including 100g of free additional rice) (880 yen) with Salad (150 yen)

But it was not my opponent. I ate it up all easily.
It was cleaned away by my friend Beelzebub, Koba, too!



Hahaha! I will curry on... no! carry on my way!

Gratis brings us back

About 9 p.m. I visited Kagemusha (影武者), Akihabara to have dinner with Koba.
I chose large-sized ramen with optional slices of boiled pork (らーめん大・豚入り) (930 yen) and he selected large-sized ramen (らーめん大) (780 yen.)



Inside oh this shop today a legendary Hard Rock band, Rainbow's CD was being played.
The master of this shop loved Rock'n Roll music.

While we were eating ramen, the master gave us two halves of a boiled egg as a present to thank us for our advice.
When we visited there last time, Apr. 17., he changed its noodles so he asked us whether new noodles were good or not.
I like such a gratis gift! We will be back again!

How many keyboards

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



I bought a new PC keyboard* produced by Sanwa Supply (サンワサプライ) (2280 yen) at Yodobashi Camera, Akihabara for my laptop PC because it was too small for my hands to type its keyboard.
(On the photo above on your right side a black and white object is my cellular phone.)
The new keyboard has no ten key therefore it is very portable and useful.
And this is the most expensive among my keyboards.

[Read more]

From left to right: the one (PS/2) accompanied with my desktop PC; the second one (PS/2) produced by Sanwa Supply for which I paid 100 yen at Akihabara because it had been displayed at a store; the third one (maybe 780 yen) (USB) with the logo of "HP" (Hewlett-Packard); the fourth one (PS/2) (500 yen) with the logo of "IBM." The latter two were bulk products therefore cheap. And now I am using this IBM keyboard for desktop PC.



On this photo above (1180 yen) is the soft (or limp?) waterproof keyboard (USB) made from silicon but not useful for me therefore I have not used it any more (also see here*.)

And you might want to ask me whether I need so many keyboards. Yes, I need not these keyboards shown in this entry except the IBM one and the one I bought today.

by the way, at my laboratory of the university I use another keyboard which my friend Canon gave me before.

Satan or paranoid?

This is, as you know, Ramen-satan's blog.


Large-sized ramen with optional slices of boiled pork (らーめん（大）豚入り) (930 yen)

About 8:30 p.m. I ate ramen at Kagemusha (影武者), Akihabara with Koba.
Today it tasted better than the one which I ate with Rick last week there.
And its boiled pork is always excellent!

[Read more]

Today I received an E-mail on my PC from my friend who and I were contemporaries at university where I was before but is 5 or 6 year-older than I and has already worked for a company since graduating university 2007.
It said that she would marry and hold a wedding party so she would like to invite me to it.

Heiraten! Wirklich?

This happy news astonished me very much though I was not surprised at all by a sudden death of my relative.
And this shall be the first time for me to attend a wedding party of my friend.
I am going to be 26 years old next June. And my friends got so old and grown that they are prepared for or start wedding except myself.

Oh, I would have never wanted to get old...orz
And I am afraid that a depressive paranoid like me would not be suitable for a happy, or euphoric party.

I was never euphoric at all then

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

I ate ramen at Kagemusha (影武者), Akihabara (秋葉原) for dinner with Rick, who came there in order to buy a new laptop PC.
This is the first time for him to eat it there and he had wanted to eat its ramen because I told him that it was good and he has read the story of Kagemusha on this blog.


Large-sized ramen with optional slices of boiled pork (930 yen)

After leaving this shop, he said to me that its noodles were not boiled enough.
I thought so too but the noodles they served were boiled well when I visited this shop before.
I do not know why.

[Read more with pics]

Omake.



Oh Rick, you are a good guy though you have a nasty tongue when you speak in Japanese.

Waratte yurushite ne?

A hard cold's night

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

It was deadly cold today too, and moreover, the wind blew heavily.

I met Koba at Akihabara about 7:30 p.m. in order to eat Mammoth Curry* (マンモスカレー) because we were not able to eat it though we visit it last Tuesday.

Before we visit Mammoth Curry, we went to a secondhand book store Bookoff there.
I watched a very famous and big hit movie Yougisha X no Kenshin (容疑者Xの献身) (The Devotion of Suspect X**) so I wanted its original same-titled novel written by Higashino keigo (東野圭吾)... Call me a "mie-her," copycat or lowbrow if you want!
I bought this novel (400 yen) as well as Tantei Garireo (探偵ガリレオ) (the detictive Garireo) (200 yen) and Yochimu (予知夢) (predictive dream) (350 yen) written also by the same author and these novels have the same main character: a 34 year-old associate professor of physics Yukawa Manabu (湯川学).

After left Bookoff about 9:00 p.m. we visit Mammoth Curry but it showed us the sign of "closed" (「準備中」) in front of its entrance in spite of the fact that its website said that shop hours are between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m!
I got mad at its closing so I sent an E-mail to its address shown at the website after I got home "when are you open? We have visited you twice but you were always closed!"

We had no alternative but to visit Densetsu no Suta-don ya* (伝説のすた丼屋). We did not go to a ramen shop such as Ramen Kagemusha (らーめん影武者) or Hakata Furyu (博多風龍) which are both located in Akihabara because I will not eat ramen in the 6 days as I decided the day before yesterday.
We had not visited this shop since we came to it last October.
When we got there there were already customers waiting in line therefore we also had to wait in deadly cold air.
I chose large-sized Suta-don (すた丼飯増し) (690 yen) and Koba ordered normal-sized Suta-don (600 yen).


large-sized Suta-don


The outside of Suta-don; it was about 10 p.m. when I took this pic but many Suta-don fans were still waiting in line.

After leaving this shop about 10 p.m., we chatted at McDonald's, Suehiro-cho (末広町) until 0 a.m.
We were listening to many Hard Rock, Heavy Metal on Youtube through the internet with my laptop computer today, too.

After we left each other when I was waiting a train at Yushima station (湯島駅), we got an E-mail from Koba. It said that he missed the last train on Ginza subway line from Suehiro-cho station (末広町駅) therefore he had to go to Akihabara station in order to take a train on the JR line from there to Takada-no-baba station (高田馬場駅) and had to go by walk on the way home which took 20-30 minutes from Takada-no-baba.
What's pity to walk through deadly cold air in the night!

After getting home I received an E-mail with some pics from my younger brother living in Niigata city, Niigata prefecture (新潟県新潟市) which is one of the snowiest regions in Japan.
He reported that it was the first time for him to see such heavy snowfall since he stared living there 3 years ago. And he said "I woke up in the morning, my car disappeared in the snow (laugh.)"
A TV news also said that the ground was covered with 80 cm of snow in Niigata city.


My younger brother's car; rescue it right now! (photo taken by himself)

It was deadly cold in Tokyo today too, and moreover, the wind blew heavily here.
Therefore I closed rain shutters (雨戸) of my room in order not to avoid rain- or snowfall (in fact it was neither raining nor snowing here then) but to protect my room from cold air itself and keep it warm when I went to bed.

Ramen Kagemusha again

*External link to the Japanese website

I went to Akihabara (秋葉原) with Koba about 8 p.m. in order to take back from Yodobashi Camera (ヨドバシカメラ) my watch which I asked them to repair before.
The charges for repair were 9450 yen but I had 1306 Yodobashi points (an allotment of points are practiced by many shops and stores in Japan as loyalty programs) therefore I paid them 8144 yen and 1306 points for it.

After that we would like to Manmoth Curry* (マンモスカレー) who serves 1kg curry which we have never eaten.
But this shop has been closed for renovation until Feb. 5 (Fri.) although we visited it and went in front of the shop. I read their website before going out of home but they announced no information about renovation on it. (They must announce it in advance, damn it!)

We had no alternative to visit Ramen Kagemusha (らーめん影武者) which we ate just 3 days ago.
Inside of this shop today a CD of a British Hard Rock band was being played, too; live album Made in Japan (Live in Japan) 1972 by DEEP PURPLE.
I chose of course large-sized ramen with optional slices of boiled pork (らーめん大 豚入り) (930 yen) while Koba ordered large-sized one (らーめん大) (780 yen).
Their sliced boiled pork was very good! Recommended!


Large-sized ramen with optional slices of boiled pork; it is shredded garlic that looks yellow and is in a small cup.

And we were identified perfectly as ourselves by Kagemusha's staffs surely because I talked a little with them about Hard Rock as we ate it before...

After leaving this shop about 9:30 p.m., we chatted at McDonald's, Suehiro-cho (末広町) until 0 a.m.
We were listening to many Hard Rock, Heavy Metal or Japanese Visual Kei (ヴィジュアル系) songs (last one I do not like) through the internet with my laptop computer today, too.

Ramen and Hard Rock

*External link to the Japanese website

I ate ramen with Koba at Ramen Kagemusha (らーめん影武者), Akihabara (秋葉原) about 8:30 p.m.
（I have eaten it there just 2 weeks ago.）

I chose large-sized ramen with optional slices of boiled pork (らーめん大 豚入り) (930 yen) while Koba ordered large-sized one (らーめん大) (780 yen).
As we were eating it there, we started hearing a Hard Rock song being played inside of this shop; "Knocking at Your Back Door" from Perfect Strangers (1984) by a British Hard Rock band, DEEP PURPLE.
I love this band as well as Koba therefore we ate ramen with talking about them.
Asking staffs of this shop about that song as we left it, they answered that two of them had loved DEEP PURPLE since they were junior-high school students when this band came to Japan in order to give shows at Tokyo and Osaka 1972. (These shows are recorded on live album Made in Japan (Live in Japan) 1972.)


Large-sized ramen with optional slices of boiled pork

Long live Kagemusha whose staffs love Hard Rock music!
I would like to support them as one of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock fans and ramen fans.

After leaving this shop about 9:00 p.m., we chatted at McDonald's, Suehiro-cho (末広町) until 0 a.m.
We were listening to many Hard Rock or Heavy Metal songs through the internet with my laptop computer or my Gigabeat because we listened to DEEP PURPLE at Kagemusha therefore wanted more such songs.

[続きを読む (但し日本語のみ)]

Below is for readers who can read Japanese texts:



「2010年1月4日の月曜日　この場所に　二郎インスパイア系ですが　ラーメン屋が新規オープンします。ご来店お待ちしております。※残念ですが「大二郎」さんとは無関係です。」

この画像は「らーめん影武者」がオープンする前の09年12月27日に撮影されたものである。この張り紙は、かつて「大二郎」が入居していた（つまり現在「影武者」が入居する）店舗のシャッターに掲示されていた。こちら*のページは、「影武者」と「大二郎」の経営者は同じで、スタッフが入れ替えられただけだと推測しているが、真偽は不明である。

Broken watch & Jiro-like ramen

*External link to the Japanese website

I went to Akihabara with Koba in order to eat ramen at a new shop.
We ate it at Ramen Kagemusha* (らーめん影武者) about 8:30 p.m.
Kagemusha is inspired by Ramen Jiro (ラーメン二郎) and serves a Jiro-like ramen.
(Click here to see all of my articles of the days I ate Jiro!)

Of course I chose large size (780 yen) as well as Koba.
It tasted rather good but was not Jiro; it was less oilier and plainer than Jiro.
And they should put pieces of ice in water pots on the table.
I would like to eat it again. I am glad that good ramen shops increases more and more at Akihabara.

「影武者」について日本語で詳しく書いてほしい人は、コメントください(日本語可)。
本文かコメント欄かで応答いたします。


Large size I chose; optinal vegetables on another dish

I rendezvoused with him about 8:00 p.m.
At first I bought next week's Weekly Shonen Junp (週刊少年ジャンプ) vol.7 and Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai (神のみぞ知るセカイ) vol. 7 by Wakaki Tamiki (若木民喜) there.
And Wakaki asked us on his blog* where we bought his manga book.
Ok, let me answer you. I bought it at Melonbooks (メロンブックス), Akihabara.
(It was Oct 18, '09 that I bought Kami nomi vol.6 maybe at the same store. )

After eating ramen, we went to Yodobashi Kamera in order to ask them my watch repair.
My watch is out of order and stopped running with remaining showing the date "(January) 12th."
This is the second time to ask Yodobashi my watch repair. The first one is almost just 3 years ago (I surely remenber that I asked them to do so at the end of the year 2006.)
This watch was given me from my father when I was a third grade high school student 7 years ago (2003) and he gave it to me a few days before I took National Center Test for University Admissions (センター試験).
I would like to use it for a long time because it is the gift from my father.
And there I bought a cheep watch (1000 yen) as an apology for my broken one.

by the way, today (Sat.) and tomorrow (Sun.) Center Test is carried out this year.

As is usual with us, after going out of Yodobashi we chatted at McDonald's, Suehiro-cho (末広町) until about 0 a.m.
We talked about nothing special. We chatted with reading Jump and net-surfing.

My brothers from Koriyama (1)

*External link to the Japanese website

Two younger brothers of mine, a 21 year-old university student in Niigata prefecture and a 17 year-old high school student in Koriyama city, came to Tokyo by car in order to take me back to my hometown Koriyama city, Fukushima prefecture for the New Year holidays.
They got to my house about 11:30 a.m. when I just went out of the bathroom and was washing my clothes with a washing machine.

[Read more with pics]

We ate tsuke-men at Tonikaku (兎に角), the east area of Matsudo station (松戸駅) about 2 p.m. for lunch because one of my younger brothers wanted to eat good tsuke-men in Tokyo.
We went there by car which my 21 year-old brother drove.
Tonikaku is one of the most popular ramen shops in Tokyo and Kanto area.
In the outside of this shop there were many ramen fans waiting in line and we entered this line.
Tonikaku tasted tonikaku (at all) good! I love it!


The shop sigh of Tonikaku


Extra large-sized tsuke-men (900 yen)

After eating tsuke-men we stopped by at a secondhand book store, Bookoff* in front of Matsudo station.
Then by chance this shop was having a half-price sale for all books except 105 yen ones for 1 hour between 3 and 4 p.m. So I bought more 10 books.

Next we visited Akihabara because my youngest brother loved video games and wanted to go to a retro game shop, Super Potato* (スーパーポテト). But we bought no softwares, just looking.
And my 21 year-old brother wanted to a book store so I led them to Yurindo* (有麟堂) which was in the building of Yodobashi Camera.
He bought a textbook for the public service examination.


My younger brothers with Mr. Mario who has also a brother in green @ Super Potato

We took a train on Yamanote line (山手線) from Akihabara station to Shibuya.
It was about 9 p.m. that we arrived Shibuya station (渋谷駅).
We ate hamburger steaks at Gold Rush* (ゴールドラッシュ) there because my youngest brother loves it and we can eat Half and Half 1 Pound steak with less prices (1200 yen) than usual (1730 yen.)
I have eaten it before with Rick at Gold Rush, Ikebukuro (池袋), also my brothers liked it as well as him.
(In fact my youngest brother ate it with Rick and me at Ikebukuro last July when he came to Tokyo. In addition, my 21 year-old brother ate it at Shinjuku (新宿) when he was a high school student and came to Tokyo.)
I think they should eat what tastes good and we can eat only in Tokyo whenever those who like them have rarely come to Tokyo visit there.


Half and Half 1 Pound steak; still steaming!

About 11:30 p.m. on the way back home from Shibuya by Ginza line (銀座線) when we were waiting for a train on Chiyoda line to transfer to at Omote-sando station (表参道駅) my 21 year-old brother got intestinal troubles suddenly and rushed to the toilet in panic.
My youngest brother and I laughed at this situation and were reduced to waiting a train there for about 30 minutes also because less trains were on service at midnight.

At night we slept in my small room for 3 men.