But with iOS 4.3.5, you can enable Emoji in any country, on any iPhone without installing the Japanese keyboard.  It’s super easy to do, so get out your iPhone and let’s do this.

Just as stated in the original article, first go to the iOS Settings App.

tap settings button

Next, scroll down until you see General.  Tap General.

tap general

Then, you need to tap International Keyboards.  And then tap Add New Keyboard.  Scroll down to the E’s and tap Emoji.  And you’re done!

scroll down and choose the Emoji keyboard

this how my list of installed keyboards looks. i have english, japanese and emoji keyboards installed.

And that’s it!  Now you’ve got Emoji on your iPhone and you’re ready to rock and/or roll.  The Emoji keyboard is always accessible.  But just a heads up, not every website can handle Emoji, but in my experience, it seems like there are a lot of them.  Some will change the look of the characters, or some will only display them for other iPhone users.

Alright.  Hope this helps.  If you want to see a list of the Emoji characters and get a little bit of the background, please check out my original post about it HERE.

People keep asking me how to do this, so I figured I should just make a blog post and make the details available to everyone.  After all, it takes seconds to set up and will make your Facebook posts standout all the more.

Because Japanese uses Kanji, an ideographic writing system, it’s only logical that including pictures or emoticons along with text would be a natural thing to do.  All Japanese cellphones come loaded with tons of emoji (絵文字 “pictographs/emoticons”).  There are sets specific to au, Softbank, and DoCoMo (the major cellphone carriers in Japan).  But there is also a universal set that is cross platform (and even displays on computers).

When the iPhone was released in Japan, immediately people started complaining about how boring it was because it didn’t have emoji.  After a few months, Apple released an update to the iPhone OS that among other things, brought universal emoji functionality to the Japanese input systems.  People in other countries don’t know much about this feature (and other awesome iOS features) because they are peculiar to the Japanese input keyboards.

I’m not sure if there’s a way to do this via the computer (but seems like there must be since the emoji are displayable on computers).  If there is, I don’t know how.  Also, the other drawback is, you’ll have a Japanese keyboard pop up as one of your options when you go to do text.  You can arrange the order in which keyboards pop up when you have multiple keyboards installed, so putting the Japanese at the very end is a good way to keep it out of sight if you don’t need it.

STEP ONE
Go to Settings

go to the settings icon

STEP TWO
Go to Keyboards.
Turn on Japanese.
don’t worry, it will keep your previous language.  you can install as many as you like, i think.

add the Japanese 10 key input

STEP THREE
Enable Emoji.

it used to be disabled by default, but i'm not sure about recent versions of iOS. might be pre-enabled these days. anyways, you're a big boy. you can figure it out.

Congratulations! Now you can use emoji just about anywhere… including SMS, e-mail and Facebook.

Here’s a screenshot from the Facebook app for iPhone and I’m updating my status with text and emoji.  To toggle between keyboards, just tap the International button in the bottom lefthand corner (it looks like a globe).  Use this toggle button to get back to your regular language input after you’re finished using emoji.

shock and impress your friends with your emoji arsenal

You can use the emoji in any app that allows for them.  All the native iOS apps, including Messages (SMS), e-mail, etc. allow emoji use.  Here’s an example of emoji used in the Messages app.

your mom

Here’s a list of all the characters that you now have at your disposal.  This is how they display in iOS.  So your iPad and iPhone will look like this.  On Facebook, they will display differently.  I don’t have a list of those.  Sorry.

this image borrowed from inner.geek.nz

If you want more technical background emoji, then please visit this website:
http://inner.geek.nz/archives/2009/02/06/the-truth-about-iphone-emoji/
He’s got the skinny on the inner workings, which I don’t.

Have fun with your emoji!

Well, OK. not really all the time.  But it did happen the other day.

I was invited to SOZAIYA in Yaesu (a neighborhood in Nihonbashi).  Sozaiya is an izakaya chain originally from Nagoya.  It’s apparently most famous for its reasonably priced fresh sashimi and, of course, a few Nagoya-style dishes.

While I’m not usually a big fan of chain izakayas, they definitely have their place in this world.  They tend to be cheaper than an equivalent grade private izakaya and the menu tends to stay fixed (so they rarely run out of food and the menu is roughly the same season to season).  I found that Sozaiya is a little bit different in that respect.  The word Sozaiya comes from 素材 (sōzai) which means “fresh raw materials.”  So the concept is more like a mom & pop izakaya than a big chain.  Meats, fish and vegetables are brought in daily and if they run out, they run out.  Your choices of sashimi may be limited by both season and availability (and I’m assuming market price).  According to the staff at the Yaesu shop where I was, the taste/quality may vary from location to location and they insisted – quite adamantly – that their shop was the best in Tokyo.

Everything I sampled was freaking awesome.  I particularly liked the tempura and miso katsu kushi.

So let’s take a look at some of the goodies:

anago tempura

One of my favorites of the whole night was 穴子天ぷら (anago tempura).   This is saltwater eel quickly deep fried in a thin, light crispy batter.  Sozaiya serves it with a special salt that I don’t know the name of it, but it was really delicious.  While anago is not a food limited to Nagoya, the city has many famous dishes that feature it.

Another delicious dish was the えび醤油ソテー (ebi shōyu sotē), baby shrimp sautéed in soy sauce.  Don’t be put off by the feet and antennæ, they’re crunchy, delicious and go well with beer!

ebi shoyu sautee (shrimp sauteed in soy sauce)

tofu & yuba

Then it was time to get healthy, so they brought me a dish which I can’t remember the name of, but I can tell you what it was.  The sauce was made from shredded seaweed and you can see the homemade tōfu on the top sliced into 3 chunks.  On the right hand side, you can see yuba.  Yuba is a byproduct of tōfu.  Small bits of tōfu rise to the top of the water and settle on top and make a film (skin).  That film is scraped off and saved in sheets that are rolled up for storage.  Yuba can be eat raw, as here, where it’s called 湯葉刺 (yubasashi), or used as an ingredient in other dishes.  It’s yummy and super good for you.

asahi super dry

As Sozaiya is an izakaya, you have to drink alcohol.  I mean, it’s in the name izakaya!   (居酒屋 = being + alcohol + shop).  As you may know, I take issue with the way in which draft beer is usually poured in Japan, but at Sozaiya I was served a cold, frosty beer without excessive head.  Proper!!

tai & shiso tempura

The tempura was so yummy that I had to try some more, so they brought out this lovely little gem.  It is Tai with shiso tempura.  Tai is red snapper, and shiso is… well… shiso.  激ウマ！！

croquet

Drinking beer makes yours truly crave fried food.  Had to try the potato croquets…  yummy!!

miso katsu kushi - YUM!!!

In Nagoya, there is a famous dish called Miso Katsu.  It’s like ton katsu, but smothered in miso paste.  Well, Sozaiya has a version of this served on a stick (called 串 kushi).  It’s crunchy and porky and miso-y and all around delicious.  I coulda nibbled on these all night long!

pineapple sherbert

For dessert, I was given this beautiful pineapple sherbert.  It was served inside a real pineapple and had little chunks of real pineapple inside the ice cream as well.  Highly recommend this!!

The Korean Style Seaweed salad, which I don’t have pictured here, was also absolutely delicious.  At first I thought the Korean seaweed was too salty, but I quickly got used to the taste.

Basically, everything was really delicious.  I was a bit skeptical at first, it being a chain and all, but actually, nothing that I tasted was “average” or worse.  It was all ranging from “really good” to “excellent.”  The service was really genki, too, which made for a good experience all together.

At the end of the meal, they even hooked me up with some 20% off coupons and told me that the menu switches over to all new items for the Fall starting next week, so I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that!

Who says writing a blog that no one reads doesn’t have its perks? lol

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Here’s the address of the shop I visited:
〒103-0027 東京都中央区日本橋2-3-21八重洲ｾﾝﾄﾗﾙﾋﾞﾙＢ１Ｆ

Here’s the webpage of the shop I visited:
http://www.kisoji.co.jp/sozaiya/navi/shop_detail.asp?ShopNo=715

Here’s the main website for the company (to find one near you):
http://www.kisoji.co.jp/sozaiya/

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

awwwwwwww yeah!
μαrκy sταr( -_-)凸

itano tomomi

Every year I attend the Edogawa Fireworks Display in, you guessed it, Edogawa, Tokyo. While the Sumidagawa (Sumida River) Fireworks have a lot of prestige for being so old and traditional, they are really crowded and the average person gets herded along the street like cattle and in between buildings you can catch a glimpse of a firework or too. Unless you have a friend with a nice view from their home, you’re better off skipping it.

But the Edogawa (Edo River) fireworks can be enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There are no tall buildings, so it’s cooler and breezier — and you can actually SEE the fireworks.  Imagine that!  :)

I put together some video footage I recorded this year and uploaded it to youtube. So, check it out.

By the way, I’ve added some annotations to the video which I think you can only see if you watch directly from youtube’s site. So don’t watch the embedded video, actually double click the video so it jumps to youtube’s site.  It’s shot from an iPhone 4, so if you have the bandwidth, watch in HD format!

Go ahead and vote and feel free to leave comments there!

Enjoy!

(I know this was about a month ago, so sorry it’s taken so long to update this, but I’ve been busy. 勘弁してくだせー)

awwwwwwww yeah!
mαrκy( -_-)凸

Hope this makes things more useful!  And thanks to everyone who pops in from time to time to read and comment!  I’ll try to keep the quality up♪

awwwwwwww yeah!
mαrκy( -_-)凸

I don’t think I did it before I came to Japan, but within a few hours of being here, it all clicked.  It suits me.  While my form might not be as good as those who grew up with bowing all around them, I think I’ve got a pretty good feel for the TPO of the act in most of its forms by now.

Bowing is integral to Japanese society.  There are casual bows among friends, casual bows among people you don’t know, casual business bows, formal business bows, formal bows, very formal bows, and bows that are done to demean yourself and submit.

To westerners – particularly Americans — who view bows as humiliating, bowing all seems the same.  It’s an demonstration of weakness or subservience.

I argue that this is not the case in practice.  It’s simply an action designed to reduce social tension.  While it is self-effacing, it isn’t usually self-debasing.  The fact that most bows are reciprocated, it means both parties have agreed to lower their status for the sake of politeness.

Granted, there are fake bows.  Some of the most gracious bows I’ve ever seen are clearly choreographed.  Everyone knows it’s fake, but the occasion calls for a good bow and nothing says “we humbly accept your money, as much as you have” than a well-timed very formal 45 degree angle bow betweeen business people or at a high-end Tokyo department store.

Many moons ago, when I first visited Japan, I was encouraged by the people around me to return bows and be very respectful of Japanese traditions.  I really took this to heart and adapted “When in Rome…” to “When in Japan…”.   This was good enough.  If somebody bowed at me, I’d bow back in the most formal way I knew.

THE KONBINI-BOW

Receiving change at the convenience store, I’d get a “Domo arigatou gozaimasu!” with a half-assed konbini-bow.  I’d return that with a really white half-assed 30 degree or less bow.

A friend pointed out to me how he’d often seen foreigners (he used the word “gaijin”)  bow too much.  While I disagreed that bowing too much was a bad thing, I do agree that if you don’t have a good feel for it, your timing and the appropriateness of your bow will fall into question…  or, well, just look weird.

I fixed my “konbini-bowing” by making it more of a Japanese head nod but upping the politeness of my Japanese.  Well, that’s not really true…  I just kinda mumble あざーす now…  Oh well…

THE “LET’S NOT SEE SO MUCH OF EACH OTHER” BOW

Passing people that you’ve already talked to in a restaurant or manga cafe.  The workers will be on their best behavior and if you make eye contact, they will bow and acknowledge you.  Most Japanese people avoid eye contact and just walk past them.  I generally acknowledge them with a casual bow.  Although, I’ve noticed after the first bow,  they tend to avert their eyes and I avoid you until you come up to them.  It’s not rudeness, it’s just they don’t want to get up in your face like American workers are forced to do.

THE “GOT IT” BOW

When people say something to you, like “Good Morning” or “O-tuskare-sama desu.”  My experience is that, no matter how polite the Japanese is, casual encounters in the hallways or entrance of the company are treated as casual, and a head nod plus some polite Japanese does the trick.

WAZZUP, WAZZUP?

In parts of America, particular the Midwest and South, we do a head nod to passer-by’s to kind of say “wazzup, we’re cool, yo.”  But the Tokyo people don’t do this at all.  Basically, you’re ignored on the street by passer-by’s.   So resist the temptation to give a heads up to anybody who passes by you.

“Well, it’s just friendly.  If I do it, there’s nothing wrong with it.” you might be saying to yourself.  Well, that’s not exactly true.   Nodding your head as a casual greeting to an unknown passer-by is probably interpretted by my Tokyo with a deeper mean.  It looks like a casual bow.  Maybe you don’t know that person, it could be offensive, but I think not.  The main thing is it would be a little bit “icky.”  Sort of like, “why are you being so friendly to me in this 2 second interval that we pass each other?”

“EXCHANGING BUSINESS CARDS”

I could write a class on this, except I’m not really qualified to it.  Actually, exchanging any document with another Japanese person in a formal situation requires two hands and some semblance of a bow depending on the status of the people involved and the transaction.  The junior ranking and female participants may do a bow very close to 45 degree angles.

Business bows are very formal, and most Japanese who join a large company are forced to go throw new recruit training which among other things, teaches correct bowing edict.  They’ll learn things such as how far down to go, how long to stay, how many repetitions are required (if any) and of course the difference between male and females bows.  Of this last point the only thing I’m aware of is that women tend to put their hands over their crotch — but I think this is because they are carrying a bag/purse/case and it looks unsightly to swing your bag around to one side.  I dunno, I’m just guessing, but it makes sense to me.

THE WAKATTA BOW

Among friends, you’ll see little head nod bows accopanied by “hai” (yes), “un” (yeah/ok), “wakatta” (got it).

I could go on and on and on about bows, but the best way is to see them in action yourself.  A quick search on YouTube should yield results or better yet, one day in Japan.  Also, if you watch samurai movies you can see the really traditional bows like “dogeza.”  A dogeza is the most formal bow, prostrated before your superior with you face nearly touching the floor.  In old Japan had many uses, in modern Japan, it’s pretty much for apologies or begging.  You hardly see it anymore.  I happened to see it once when a salary man had offended his superiors at a drinking party.  He apologized, did a dogeza and begged for forgiveness and then left the premises.  Wow.  Even some of my Japanese friends have never seen a real dogeza!  LOL.

awwwwwwww yeah!
mαrκy( -_-)凸

I haven’t written in depth about Japanese beer before — because, while I am definitely a beer lover, I’m by no means an expert.  But Japan has some great beers!  All the Japanese brands of real beer are very delicious, smooth and drinkable.  And Japanese bartenders pride themselves on pouring a proper pint of Guinness too!  Most restaurants that serve Guinness actually have notices posted somewhere near the bar to show that the bartenders are certified to pour Guinness properly.  They even put a shamrock design into the head.

On a Guinness, a nice head is always appreciated.  That head doesn’t dissipate quickly and tingles your lips and gives a creamy goodness to each sip.

But the Japanese bar owners obsess on pouring a beautiful looking head on each and every beer no matter what the brand or style.  Granted, it looks lovely if you receive your beer in a timely fashion.  But soon it dissipates and you’re left with a very sad empty space — often two or three fingers deep — of air.  And by “air” I mean “NOT BEER.”  And by “not beer” I mean “seriously, it’s not beer, even though you paid for it.”

In America, if you served a beer with a head 3 fingers deep you’d probably get it sent right back asking to tip it off properly with, um, you know, beer.  In NYC and parts of the UK or Australia, you’re likely to get the beer thrown back in your face — pint glass and all.

I kept ordering beer to loosen up, and kept getting tiny plastic cups full of Asahi Super Dry or something.  But each tiny cup had a massive head on it.  After my second beer, I was fed up.  I asked how to say “without head” and decided to make my first attempt at complaining in Japanese.

When I got next beer, I pointed at the white froth on top and said 「泡なしで」 and waited for the guy to go “sorry about that, let me fix this for you.”  But instead I got a blank stare that said “without head?  what’s that???”

My friend explained to him my request and the bartender, seeming to understand, took the cup of beer and proceeded to dump it out.  All of it.

I was shocked.  Just pour out the head and pour in beer, you don’t have to waste it! Isn’t that one of the seven mortal sins? Oh yeah, he’s probably a Buddhist…  Anyways…  He didn’t have to pour the whole thing out and start over again.  Sheeeesh!

Then he poured a new one and handed me what looked like a carbon copy of the first.

「泡なしで、お願いします」 (no bubbles… please!)

Again, with the same confused stare back at me, he took the cup of beer, dumped it out and re-poured it — capping it off again with a lovely head.  A lovely head that I had just asked him twice to not pour.

My friend again tried to explain the situation to this bozo and he listened attentively, seemingly understanding everything.  He then poured out the beer, re-poured it and capped it off with the same perfect head.

I didn’t know the word しょうがない at that time, but looking back, this was just one of those しょうがない moments.  I just had to let it go and move on with my life.  Getting worked up about this issue wasn’t going to help the situation.

A few years later I told the story to a colleague of mine who told me that he’d heard about a lawsuit “a few years ago“ in which a man tried to sue a bar for refusing to pour him beers without a head.  In court, the defense showed that the alcohol content of the bubbles was the same as or higher than (I forget which) that of the actual beer.  The court then ruled that he was not being ripped off, but actually getting his money’s worth.

need i say more? (why yes, i need say more... please continue reading...)

At the time, I accepted the story as plausible.  But now that I think about it, it’s gotta be an urban legend told by ex-pats trying to rationalize the ubiquitous refusal by bar staff to pour “a proper pint.”  And by “proper” I mean “one with actual beer instead of 3 fingers of quickly dissipating bubbles.”  It’s gotta be bullshit.  I mean, the Japanese are not particularly litigious, like Americans.  The costs involved to start a lawsuits are extremely high and the cash payouts are extremely low.  All the guy would probably win would be the right to get a headless beer anywhere in Japan.  This would be a great hit to take for the benefit of all beer lovers across the country, but who the fuck is that selfless? Furthermore, I’m no chemist, but I’m very skeptical that the alcohol content in the bubbles would be higher than regular beer, or that such a bizarre demonstration of scientific-legal acrobatics would be convincing.

Anyways, I couldn’t find anything on the web to corroborate this story.

So I’ve totally made peace with the fact that I can’t get a “proper pint” in Tokyo — no matter how much it irks me 嘘. And it really does irk me if I’m drinking 大ジョッキ, the extra-large sized beers in some izakaya.  As you can imagine, those beers come with proportionally extra-large sized heads.

I can see the rationale behind wanting to save money by charging full price for a beer then skimming a bit of beer off the top.  I can see management justifying in their own minds the aesthetic beauty of a cold mug of beer with a creamy head at the top.  It does look good!!

ON A POSTER!!!!

it really does look good... on a poster.

And this in the country where the saying “the customer is king” is rendered as “the customer is god.”
（お客さんは神様）

After 5 years of living in Japan, the only reason I bring this up now is because the other day I was at T.G.I.Friday’s in Shibuya enjoying a full rack of baby-back ribs with a frosty glass of Premium Malts or whatever beer they serve there.  As I was pointing out the extra-large sized head on the extra-large sized beer to my girlfriend, something caught my attention on the menu.  You know how fine print jumps out at you while you’re eating ribs, right?

I know the picture isn’t very good, so if you can’t make out what it says, I’ll include the transcription at the bottom.

now that i think about it, is the "no head" option only for pitchers?

(I would include a transcription of the Japanese, but I can’t actually make it out due to the crappy resolution of the camera on the iPhone 3G)

We are serving No Head Draft Beer as these prices: (sic)

THE PREMIUM MALT’S
(M)  +￥150        (L) +￥200
MAGNUM DRY
(M)  +￥100        (L) +￥150

Oh, and just for comparison…
Here’s an (L) sized beer.  I didn’t touch it.  I just let the head settle on it’s own and then took this picture.    That’s how much beer THEY DON’T SERVE YOU.  And if you want it, you have to pay for them to fill that “extra space.”

you call that beer? (say with crocodile dundee accent)

Makes me wanna beat somebody over the head with that heavy-ass glass!!!

If you think I’ve been to heavy handed in this rant, or have your own “bad head” story, leave a comment and let’s discuss.

awwwwwwww yeah!
mαrκy( -_-)凸

When I saw the name, I immediately made the connection with one of my all time favorite rāmen joints, BASA NOVA.  Just like Basa Nova, it had groovy hip hop music playing…  actually it had a really good vibe.  The interior was casual but clean and funky – like the music.  The staff was extremely friendly and seemed really serious about their work.  I instantly knew this place HAD to be good.

We went in and tried their Garyu Umami Soba Rāmen.
All I have to say is this is one of the best shōyu rāmen I’ve ever had.  Take a look at the pictures and take a look at that beautiful soup, those perfectly boiled thin noodles, and those succulent grilled slices of chāshū!!  Let the pictures do the talking — then go and taste for yourself.  I guarantee you’ll love it!!

Before I try a new ramen shop, or if I get a craving for ramen but I’ll be in a part of town where I don’t know any next level ramen, I usually check the Ramen Database.  This site is an awesome user maintained database of ramen shops in Japan.

You can search by location, name, styles — almost anything!  There are rankings and user submitted reviews.  The site is only in Japanese.
http://ramendb.supleks.jp/

ramen database page for KAOTAN RAMEN

There are a few English websites that are easily found via Google.
One that I came across today looking for pictures for my last post was this GO RAMEN!
I didn’t really look at the site much, but the guy who runs it seems pretty down with ramen, so I’ll go ahead and recommend it to you.  Oh…  and he started working at my favorite ramen shop in Tokyo, Bassa Nova!!!
http://www.goramen.com

the page on goramen! where he talks about BASA NOVA

Anyways, I decided today to offer my 2 cents on the issue of rāmen. This is a crazy topic to cover because there are so many people with rāmen mania here. Luckily I have 3-4 rāmen otaku among my Japanese friends who taught me well about the virtues (and pitfalls) of rāmen. I just want to list my TOP 5 or so rāmen and make a quick statement about mistakes that most foreigners make in Japan.

ALL rāmen IS NOT CREATED EQUAL.

To the uninitiated, rāmen culture in Japan is half epicurean wet dream and mystical mumbo jumbo about rāmen chefs who put their heart and soul into a bowl of noodles. We can thank the movie industry for this impression. If you want to read something deep and profound into it, by all means go ahead. But keep in mind that just because you pass a rāmen joint on the street doesn’t mean it’s the good stuff. Japanese cities are littered with rāmen shops and the reality is most of them suck. Just because a shop is always crowded doesn’t mean it’s something special. Granted, compared to rāmen you get in the states, even shitty Japanese rāmen is superior. But just because you can eat shitty rāmen that’s better than back home doesn’t mean you should.

And this brings me to my point:

There is rāmen.

And there is NEXT LEVEL rāmen.

What I consider next level rāmen is something gourmet. A daring twist on the tried and true noodles and soup game. These shops are famous and often pricey. But these shops offer rāmen elevated to the level of high art. They will turn you into a rāmen snob. They will make you curse the day you ever put instant rāmen in your body. They will change the way you look noodles of any kind… including soba, rice noodles and even pasta.

And so without further ado, I present my Top 5 Rāmen Shops of Tokyo. Please note, that these are in no particular order because, quite frankly, I can’t decide which is better and it probably depends on which one I’m craving the most at the moment. But you can’t go wrong at any of these shops.

1. Bassa Nova

2. Gogyō

3. Afuri

4. Nantsu-ttei

5. Ippudō

I think my #4 and #5 are probably the most famous of all these shops (Ippudo has quite a few shops around Tokyo and also a NYC shop and a rather nasty tasting instant version available at 7-11. Nantsu-ttei has a few shops too and is regularly voted best rāmen in Japan on various rāmen ranking shows on TV). I also tried to include various styles of rāmen here. So let’s take a look at what’s in store for you at each shop!

1. BASSA NOVA
You will quickly forget all about the seemingly misspelled name and find yourself eating one of the most unique rāmen in all of Tokyo. Breaking away from the typical classifications of shoyu, miso, shio and tonkatsu rāmen, BASSA NOVA offers a fusion Thai and Japanese tastes. My usual is the mix of fish stock and thai taste, usually I add nori as a topping. I always order a side of chashu. The soup is light but full of flavor and the noodles are thin (so you can eat kaedama easily if you need it). The crowning achievement, in my opinion, is the chashu which has a smokey flavor and is grilled over fire before being added to the rāmen. The shop is a bit out of the way, located in Shindaita, but well worth the trip.

2. GOGYŌ
This shop offers the thrill of delicious shoyu rāmen plus the added excitement of burning soup!! Fire! Fire! Fire! The specialties here are 焦がし醤油 (burnt soy sauce) and 焦がし味噌 (burnt miso) soups. My personal recommendation is burnt soy sauce, as the miso is bit heavy for my taste.  The shop is classy too.  You can take a date there and sit at the counter and watch the chef burn your soup!!

gogyo's delicious burnt shoyu ramen!! they actually burn it. i mean, light it on fire!

3. AFURI
Famous for Yuzu Shio Rāmen. Yuzu is a kind of Japanese citrus fruit (like a sweet lemon) and shio is, of course, salt. The soup is light and if you get the low grease one, even more delicious. The noodles are thin. I like to add nori as a topping because… it goes so well with the soup. The chashu is succulent but plain to highlight the delicate taste of the soup. It’s a great place to take girls who love rāmen but don’t want to eat a heavy bowl of noodles.

afuri's citrus flavored salt based soup ramen. awwwww yeah!!

4. NANTSU-TTEI
To many people, tonkotsu rāmen is the epitome of rāmen. It’s a complex soup based on melting down pig bones and pig fat into a thick and fatty mixture that supposedly originated in Hakata (a city in Kyushu). And while tonkotsu (the name mean “pig bones,” not to be confused with tonkatsu which means “pork cutlet”) is loved and cherished by all, the shops are a dime a dozen. It takes a lot of searching and experience to find a special tonkotsu rāmen like Nantsu-ttei. Nantsu-ttei offers a black soup colored by mā-abura (ma oil). Don’t ask me what mā-abura is, cuz I don’t know. But it tastes damn good. This rāmen is heavy and greasy (most tonkotsu rāmen is), so I don’t recommend it in the summer. But in the winter it really hits the spot.

nantsu-tei ma-abura tonkotsu ra-men

5. IPPUDŌ
This shop also offers tonkotsu rāmen, but this one is more typical than Nantsu-ttei. But don’t let that fool you – this is no ordinary rāmen. This shop is hugely successful, boasting many chain shops across the country and a line a instant rāmen and even a shop in NYC. (Don’t bother with the instant version, it’s BAD!!!) I generally go for the aka-maru 赤丸, which has a little spice to it. I think this is a good “starter rāmen” – when my friends visit Japan and want to eat rāmen, I usually take them here first.

ippudo's delicious tonkotsu ramen!

So, there you have it.  My TOP 5 Tokyo Ramen Shops.  I’d love to hear what your top 5 is!!  Bring it on!!

Filed under: Japanese Food Tagged: food, japan, japanese food, ramen ]]> http://markystar.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/marky-stars-top-5-ramen-shops-in-tokyo%e2%99%aa/feed/ 5 35.706032 139.665652 35.706032 139.665652 markystar nantsu-ttei ramen ippudo ramen gogyo ramen bass nova chashu バサノバﾗｰﾒﾝ afuri ramen gogyo ramen afuri ramen nantsu-ttei ramen ippudo ramen Share/Bookmark