Finally Tried The Ramen
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2010
1
40
102
Trip End
Dec 22, 2010
Tokyo, Kanto, Japan
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Last night we found a Denny's near our hotel and Rich wanted to go there for a late breakfast today. I did not really want to go to Denny's, I'm not a fan of their greasy food, but after the sandwich incident yesterday I agreed. They had a picture of French Toast out the front and it is his favourite.
We went in and I was somewhat surprised that they did not have the standard Denny's fare of pancakes, eggs and sausages with chipped beef or hash browns. This Denny's had a decidedly Japanese flare and even though Rich got his French toast, I decided to go with the Ramen noodles. I have been wanting to try them for a week now and we have not been able to find a ramen restaurant for the life of us. Well, I have to say this was the best meal I have had yet...at a DENNY'S of all places!!!! The ramen noodles were so good, I couldn't believe my luck. I was in a good mood for the rest of the day :)
Today we went to Ryogoku, which is where the sumo tournaments take place. Unfortunately there are none on at the moment but we were told you can tour the sumo stables where the sumo wrestlers train. Well, this was a big lie I'm afraid. We did go to the sumo stadium, saw the museum and the shop and it was interesting. We got to see a video of some sumo tournaments which helped to make up for not going to a real one a little bit. We then went for a walk around the neighbourhood to look at the sumo stables but they were not at all inviting and I don't think welcome visitors. Unless we have come at a particularly unfriendly time of year...who knows? But these places had almost no signage, the doors were closed and there were security pads out the front, suggesting that they were no welcoming visitors with open arms. We were not game enough to try and barge in. We did however see a couple of sumo's walking around in their garb and we even saw one riding a bicycle who stopped to pick up his dry cleaning! Kind of funny.
After being completely unsuccessful with the sumo, we went to the Edo-Toyko museum. Edo was the name of Tokyo before it became a megatropolis in the 17th and 18th centuries. This museum charts the history from Edo to Tokyo and had some interesting stuff in there.
I have been debating about buying a new camera, so we stopped at Electric Town on the way back home and spent way more time there than anticipated. Unfortunately today our camera battery also died, so photo's are from my iPhone. I still haven't decided if I want to fork over money for a new camera, but we ended up eating in Akihabara again, this time at ...wait for it...a ramen restaurant! Yes, we found one and yes I had ramen for the second meal in a row. This time I went for a dish called painful ramen. I had to have it just from the name, but it looked delicious in the picture and I was not disappointed. I finally had a fantastic meal in Japan! This one was great. Rich did not enjoy his as much but h, he still liked his ramen in soy broth.
Back to the hotel and up early tomorrow as we go to the fish market. Then we are off into the mountains to check out the snow monkeys at the hot springs.
Comments
Hope you both are enjoying your trip. We''re in the middle of the Mediterrean and the water is rough. Will write you soon. Stay well.
Great to see you are enjoying your trip and getting adventurous with the Japanese cuisine! Let me know when you try blowfish or horse sashimi!