新横浜ラーメン博物館 shin-yokohama raumen museum
by rameniac | 30 Jul 2008







Every time I visit Tokyo, I make it a point to stop by the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum. A veritable mecca for ramen lovers (not to mention an unqualified triumph in marketing - when was the last time you visited a Ripley’s Believe it or Not?), the “raumen” hakubutsukan features, contrary to popular opinion, neither the best ramen in all of Japan nor the most entertainment value for your yen. As a museum, it’s certainly not the Tate Modern or the Louvre, comprised of little more than a gift shop and an ever-fickle spotlight on one of Japan’s regional ramen varietals. On last visit, it was all about Kumamoto, and the entire “exhibit” consisted of a few bowls under glass, a video loop, and some wall-sized posterboard mockups.
mitsuwa autumn fair 2009
by rameniac | 22 Oct 2009

Why am I starting to feel like this space is basically an advertisement for Mitsuwa? They keep having these festivals. By now everyone should have subscribed to their flyers and you all should know the drill. Mitsuwa is now having an
Autumn Fair featuring that old standby
Chibakiya and
Goma-Ichi, a tan-tan men shop from Hawaii. I doubt Chiba-san will be doing his shark fin ramen this time around though as it's a bit too posh for these recessionary times.
mitsuwa hokkaido fair 2009
by rameniac | 10 Sep 2009

Yep, it's time again for Mitsuwa's Hokkaido Fair. The 2009 event starts today, and this time around, your favorite stateside Japanese supermarket chain will be all about the shio. There's Ishikari's Ramen Shingen in Torrance and also Ezo-Fukuro in Costa Mesa doing a couple of versions of the stuff; next week the festival moves on across the U.S., as usual.
Go here for all the details and the tour dates. These ramen shops should all just hurry up and open permanent North American branches already.