千代作

Branching off at a funny angle from Takadanobaba station is Sakae dori. You should go there to eat. I did, with fellow ramen blogger Nate during my 2 hour break from teaching High School girls the wonders of my native language.

For the day’s lesson, I was teaching them how to sing “We Are the World”.

Is this a shop that Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen might frequent? A real relaxed shop here, with hundreds of manga comic books and magazines along the wall. We were actually having a random conversation about yakuza when, lo and behold, a pile of yakuza magazines.

On the radio was some good tunes, old school hip hop and modern rock.

Any bit of wall space that isn’t covered with books is covered with photogrpahs, mostly of bands eating some late night ramen. It turns out that this shop is near some live houses, and has become a sort of instutution for late night rocker chow. Being Japan, live shows end at 11pm (just in time to catch your last train home). What to do after? Eat ramen seems logical. That’s just how we are living the rock star dream.

Seriously, all the walls were covered.

The owner matched the scene. A friendly guy who made sure we were able to manage the ticket machine at the door. After noticing our interest in taking photos, he gave us a couple RC/DC stickers. That’s Ramen Chiyosaku TakaDanobaba 3 Chome. Cool.

Do my eyes deceive me?!?

Score. I used to drink Dr. Pepper by the gallon in the States. But I’ve been on a sort of diet for the last 3 years, and sugar soda is out. Oh, this was nice.

The ramen here is Yokohama style pork soup. You can spot Yokohama style by the 3 sheets of seaweed and the addition of spinach. Last time I had Yokohama style wasn’t the best.

This time was prefect. Yokohama style seems to be a bit saltier than others, which goe good with the vegetables and extra oil. I also had a first at this shop, un-deskinned (is that a word?) sesame seeds.

I passed on the garlic and spicy miso toppings, with respect to my student who I would see in an hour. The garlic here was pungent, anytime someone opened the top, it would hit me from across the room. That’s some proper hardcore business.

Shop Info Here

Ramen Adventures

Ramen Shop Reviews from Japan and Abroad

千代作 (Chiyosaku in Takadanobaba)

千石自慢 (Sengoku Jiman in Sengoku)

光醤 (Hikarihishio in Shibuya)

たいよう食堂 (Taiyo Shokudo in Nakano)

千代作 (Chiyosaku in Takadanobaba)

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千石自慢 (Sengoku Jiman in Sengoku)

光醤 (Hikarihishio in Shibuya)

たいよう食堂 (Taiyo Shokudo in Nakano)