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.

Tokyo Flaneur (4): Bus to/from Asakusa

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

Also today I "labored" at Nishi-sugamo, Toshima ward (豊島区西巣鴨) and kept standing from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. except little rest time; I worked as a proctor (試験監督官) for the national examination of pharmacist (薬剤師国家試験).
Of course my legs, waist and back hurt deadly because of 2 days' standing and making an attentive inspection on examinees (受験生).

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In the morning about 7:30 a.m. I went to Nishi-sugamo from Sugamo station (巣鴨駅) by walk in order to skimp on ticket fare (170 yen) between Sugamo and Nishi-sugama station on Subway Mita line (地下鉄三田線) while yesterday I went there by Mita line.
It was very refreshing for me to walk in such an early morning but at the same time I felt tired because the fatigue of yesterday was still left on me.

It took me about 20 minutes to go by walk to my place of labor at Nishi-sugamo.

After the labor I went back home by bus; from Nishi-sugamo I took Toei Bus Kusa 63 line (都営バス草63系統) which is operated from Ikebukuro to Asakusa via Sugamo, Hakusan (白山), Sendagi (千駄木) (Bunkyo ward [文京区]), Nishi-nippori (西日暮里) (Arakawa ward [荒川区]), Minowa (三ノ輪) (Taito ward [台東区]) and so on (see here*)
And I transferred to Toei Bus Kusa 39 line (都営バス草39系統) which runs from Asakusa to Kanamachi, Katsushika ward (葛飾区金町) through Sumida ward (墨田区) at Asakusa-Kotobuki-chou Bus stop (浅草寿町バス停) which is the terminal of Kusa 63 line and Kusa 39 line (see here*.)
It took me about 1 hour and 40 minutes to go by bus to Kanamachi from Nishi-sugamo (about 30 minutes by train with 2 transfers) but very attractive and I, being very tired, was able to have a rest on the seat.

By the way, a pair of man and woman who both were short of stature were sitting on the seat just before me when I took Kusa 63.
I was not able to tell whether they were adult (that is, dwarfism [小人症] adult), children or persons who were phisically handicapped and mentally retarded (知的障害の身体障害者).
I thought so because their faces looked old though they were short and they (especially the woman) kept on chattering about what I was not able to understand.
They took a bus at Asakusa as well as I and got it off at a bus stop in Katsushika ward.
(Pics will be added later.)

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)

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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.

Shoes town Asakusa

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

Today in the afternoon I went to Asakusa (浅草) by Toei bus (都営バス) in order to buy business shoes.
I took a bus because a bus from my nearest station Kanamachi (only 200 yen) costs less than trains (350 yen). And moreover, I need not transfer to another bus from Kanamachi to Asakusa.
I wanted new business shoes because my old ones which I had bought 4 or 5 years ago and which had been cheap were broken; I had them only.

[Read more]

Starting at about 2:45 p.m., I arrived at Asakusa 3:25 p.m.


(Left) Tokyo Sky Tree (Right) Kaminari-mon (雷門) of Sensou-ji

Asakusa is not known only as a town of temples (e.g. Sensou-ji temple [浅草寺]) but in Tokyo sometimes also as a town of shoes shops.
And I got information about a reasonable shoes shop there from the internet before going out of my room.

I visited Maruzen*, which stands opposite Tobu Asakusa station (東武浅草駅) and was called the most reasonable shoes shop in Asakusa on a certain TV show, according to the shop itself (see also here*.)
A female staff of the shop explained me that there were a lot of shoes wholesalers (卸問屋) there and some of them as well as Maruzen also sold retail (小売) so they could sell shoes at inexpensive price.



(Left) entrance of Tobu Asakusa station (Right) appearance of Maruzen taken on the side of Asakusa Sta.



These are the shoes I bought there today.
How much are they? Answer: 1990 yen!

To tell the truth, I wanted business shoes at 790 yen but they were sold out then.
And in fact it was Asakusa where I had bought my old broken shoes at about 2000 yen 4 or 5 years ago.

Also on the return about 4:30 p.m. I took a bus, which was very crowded then by old passengers maybe because passengers older than 70 years can take free almost all of bus lines, and the following lines operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (東京都交通局): Toei Subway lines (都営地下鉄各線), Toden Arakawa tram line (都電荒川線), and Nippori-Toneri liner (日暮里・舎人ライナー) in Tokyo with Tokyo Silver Pass* (東京都シルバーパス).

By the way, today is my father's birthday; he became 56 years old.

Zusammenfassung von heute (today's summary)

• Umgefähr um 14:45 Uhr heute habe ich nach Asakusa von Kanamachi mit dem Bus gefahren, um neue Geschäftsschuhe zu kaufen, weil meine alte Geschäftsschuhe kaputt waren.
• Da habe ich neue Schuhe für 1990 yen gekauft.
• Heute ist es meines Vaters Geburtstag; er ist sechsundfünfzig Jahre alt geworden.
  

Ramen seekers

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

It was about 2 p.m. when we woke up... Overslept!
Myself aside, Koba slept too much because Koba might have been very tired.

That is why Ramen Jiro Matsudo (ラーメン二郎 松戸店) finished the daytime business (11:30-15:00) when we rushed there just a few minutes before 3 p.m.
We looked for another good shop or restaurant but, for example there was an incredibly long waiting line in front of Tomita* (中華蕎麦 とみ田) which is located near Matsudo station (松戸駅) as well as Jiro, the No.1 ranking in Ramen Date Base (as of Nov. 2), we were not able to find it and it was not already lunch time then therefore we gave up having lunch (breakfast?)

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We went back to Kanamachi in order to take a bus for Asakusa (浅草); he wanted to get Tokyo souvenirs for his family.
And there I bought 30 pieces of Ningyou-yaki (人形焼) (a Japanese cake and a popular souvenir from Asakusa) because it was discounted at a certain shop (700 yen per 30 pieces.)


New landmark of Tokyo, Tokyo Sky Tree


Kaminari-mon gate (an entrance gate of Sensou-ji temple)

About 5 p.m. it started raining when we were walking around Sensou-ji temple (浅草寺) and Nakamise-dori (仲見世通り) (a shopping center of Sensou-ji.)
We took shelter from the rain under Houzou-mon (宝蔵門), a large entrance gate of the main building (本堂) of Sensou-ji, for a short while but at a 100-yen shop* near Sensou-ji I bought a plastic rain poncho (I carried a fold-up umbrella with me) and Koba bought an umbrella.

About 6 p.m. we took a train at Asakusa station on Toei Asakusa line (都営浅草線) via Toei Mita line (都営三田線) in order to go to Meguro (目黒) and visit Ramen Jiro (ラーメン二郎 目黒店) there.
It cost 260 yen to buy a one-way ticket a person to go there.



But today Meguro Jiro took a extra holiday though it usually opens on Sunday...

Unbelievable! Not again! (=またか!) Why does it happen to me again and again!?
And moreover, we came here from a distant place through the rain expressly to eat its ramen! (Meguro Jiro is far (about 15 minutes' walk) from Meguro station (目黒駅), its nearest one.)
Scheisse! I will never come to this shop!

We were at a loss where to go to eat ramen.
It was proposed that we go to Ikebukuro (池袋) expressly in order to eat ramen at Jiro (ラーメン二郎 池袋店) or Taishoken (南池袋大勝軒) there but for the present we tried to look for another good ramen shop around Meguro station.

On the way back to the station from Jiro, we found out a certain tsukemen shop; Zyurumen Ikeda (づゅる麺 池田) (too hard to transcribe into arphabet... I hate an absurd Japanese transcription ignoring the pronunciation! I cannot understand that "KAT-TUN" should be pronounced [ka:tu:n] (like "cartoon") or "∞" of "Kanjani ∞" is not "infinity" but "eight.")
At first we wondered if we should enter this shop or not.
However, Ramen Date Base* said through my cellular phone that Ikeda had the No.166 ranking (rather higher!) in October therefore we decided to try it.


extralarge-sized tsukemen

I chose extralarge-sized tsukemen (つけ麺特盛) (500g, 900 yen) as well as Koba.
Its tsukemen tasted good. Noodles were boiled properly and smelled like Minami Ikebukuro Taishoken's ones.
But it was good but not great. I did not think that it was peculiar; I love more peculiar ramen like Jiro or Tonikaku (Matsudo) (松戸・兎に角), Momiji (Kokubunji) (国分寺・つけ麺紅葉) and others.
I will not come to Meguro expressly to eat this tsukemen again.

After going out of this shop, about 8:30 p.m., we went to McDonald's in order to chat with each other; Our behavior remains the same even if the one moved to the other place!
And it was about 11 p.m. when we parted from each other; he went to Takada-no-baba (高田馬場) to be a Net Cafe refugee again there.
He said that the next day in the morning he would take the limited express train Azusa (特急「あずさ」) at JR Shinjuku station (JR新宿駅) in order to go back to Nagano and at that time he would dismantle his bicycle in order to carry it on the train.

Today's story still carries on.

About 1 a.m. my younger brother, Ryoma, a university student in Niigata prefecture (新潟県), reached my room by car from Kochi prefecture (高知県) in a distance of about 900 km on about 12 hours' drive.
A week ago he went to Kochi from Niigata by his own car in order to conduct research on the geological features there; he has studied geology.
I had received an E-mail from him through my cellular phone at about 1:30 p.m., about 12 hours before, that he had been starting for Tokyo from Kochi now.