One of the things that I have liked best about Japan is all of the Ramen. There are ramen restaurants everywhere. There is even a stand-up ramen restaurant on one of the platforms at Nakano metro station. They come in a variety of types but all of the ones I have seen are very down to earth and some are very convenient.

My first trip to such a place involved a bit of confusion. It was my first attempt at eating out (having previously relied on the supermarket). I purchased my ramen from the ticket machine but there were a number of questions that I needed to answer when I gave my order. In retrospect I suspect these questions where about the type of noodle, soup and spicyness. The middle option for the first question seemed to “normal” or some japlish variation there of so I just answered normal to every question and managed to get some nice ramen. Quite what they thought of me is another matter.

The second time I went for ramen I figured I should brush up on my ramen vocabulary and looked up a number of terms on the internet. None of which were required. In fact most other restaurants I have been to have not required much in the was of communication.

This is one of the restaurants near Nakano Broadway. It’s just tables, a box of chopsticks, some spices on the left. On the right is the wide hatch to the chef.

Ordering is rather straight forward by way of the ticket machine below. Put your money in and press the button(s) for what you want.

Can’t read Japanese? Well luckily this gaff has some plastic food in the window to help. The Japanese are very big on plastic food. In fact, you can go to the manufacturer and make some yourself.

Once you have your tickets you go in and hand them over to the chef through the hatch. He may ask you some questions. Listen out for the words for different noodle types: soba, udon, etc. In this place I was asked whether I wanted my soba hot or cold or “hotto” and “coldo” as the chef put it.

The use of tickets is interesting. It’s not just limited to ramen restaurants but all cheap places. The university cafeteria has a similar system. I’ve started to learn the Kanji for some of the key items. I guess it allows the chef to just worry about making nice food.