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Last year I made a decision that has forever altered the course of my life. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was going to spend the rest of my time in Japan chasing the high that was this delicious mall food court ramen.
Fact: We love nudity.
(face blurred out montage of all the pics i have SEEN THINGS)
Factor: Some of us have tattoos.
collage of people’s tattoos bein stylish wow
Factest: Zebras are freakin cool.
The gaijin gang decided to pack ourselves into two kei cars and drive down to Oita to enjoy onsen in Beppu, a famous onsen resort town. Also, we went to a safari. And it was great. But honestly I’m not here to talk about that.
Here’s the thing. One afternoon we were all getting HANGRY, and we knew from experience that we could not realistically expect any restaurant OTHER THAN TANDOOR to accommodate all seven of our pasty white asses (and also Cynthia). So we did the logical thing and split the hell up. Cynthia Sarah and I made the wise decision to hit up the ゆうめタウン food court. And what happened next shocked and astounded doctors everywhere (Grocery Stores HATE Him!).
We decided on an innocuous ramen place. Upon sitting down inside we noticed that it was distinctly Hokkaido-themed. Gu-guru sensei bequeathed us a shoddily translated explanation that this ramen was based on the work of some chef dude who won a michelin star or something?
Anyway. Sarah ordered the MEAT BOWL and we’ve had conversations about it since, so I know it must have been good. I ordered the osusume, the Hokkaido Miso. IT WAS STRAIGHT UP DELIGHTFUL. Cynthia had the vegetarian, and said it was the best ramen she’s ever had.
Months pass. The ramen haunts my dreams. I pray to ramen every night, thanking it for the life I've been given. My dad hears me and calls me a faggot. I know he is only jealous of my devotion to Shrek.
I tide myself over with the knowledge that I will be attending the Sapporro Snow Festival the following February, and my heart’s desires will surely be met. Oh, how young and naive I was.
As it turns out, Hokkaido ramen is much like most other ramen in Japan; meh. Ok. Fine (but in the Western way, not the Japanese way where they think fine means genki). And honestly, this let-down was maybe one of the most devastating low points of my entire 25 years on this planet. Perhaps only surpassed by the time I woke up after a night of drinking and realized I had kissed justin on the jouch.
The lesson here is that I GUESS I’m not a big ramen person? Aside from the one exception that is the CROWNING JEWEL OF RAMEN, NAY, JAPANESE CUISINE: THE BEPPU YOUMETOWN RAMEN SHOP.
I became consumed by the need to know- can I consume this ramen anywhere else? And thus the hunt began.
I googled the youmetown, and eventually was able to find a page with its entire store list. After googling each restaurant, I narrowed it down to one final contendor. Misonoya Hokkaido-style Miso Ramen. The page even presented link to it’s website- TRAGEDY STRUCK. 403 FORBIDDEN? I DON’T HAVE PERMISSION TO ACCESS http://www.gold-planning.com/ ????? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME~
I tried to find other info, but it was all in vain. There are apparently several locations in kyuushu, but no results in chuukoku where I live. And APPARENTLY it only has a 3.25 on tablelog? UM. People are fools.
Whatever, this random dude on trip advisor agrees with me
ANyway yeah, NGL my ultimate Japan おすすめ is this random ramen restaurant in Beppu DreamTown. Head on in, here’s a map, just fucking do it for those of us who can’t right now even though they have like twenty days of nenkyuu.
Wow, and ok. Actually, I guess I just realized I totally can go to oita and eat this ramen again! It’s a dream come true. Thanks, Dreamtown Beppu! Fantastic Dream? See You.
((Edit: Corona.))
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