Ma-on...

Day 622:

A typhoon was in the distance, but it was already wreaking havoc with my plans. My flight back to Tokyo, the only one that Skymark offers daily from Kitakyushu, was canceled because of it. With the next available flight from a different carrier costing three-times as much and waiting for tomorrow's flight not being an option, I chose to take the next available Shinkansen and get Ma-bullet-on!

But first, I wasn't gonna leave without another bowl. Santoku Ramen (三徳ラーメン) is one of the oldest ramen shops in Yukuhashi. Although they're not known as much for their ramen as they are for their miso oden.

Unfortunately, this original location was closed until the evening, but we still got to peek around the kitchen.

A newer, second branch of Santoku Ramen (though I've heard it's not as good) resides near the station so we decided to go check that out instead.

The place was packed--always a good sign.

And there it was...

Miso Oden. The miso is sweet and creamy, similar to the kind you'll find in Nagoya and apparently that's where this miso seems to have gotten its influence from. But instead of being covered on tonkatsu, they cover it on oden.

The ramen is a nice cloudy, tonkotsu with hints of chicken. My friend explained it to me as "a Kyushu style chuuka soba."

The noodles were flat and thin, different from those you'll find further south, and a lot more chewy also.

In 7-11's across Japan you'll find oden served mainly with mustard, but in Yukuhashi (thanks to Santoku) you'll get a packet of miso too.

Anyway, I need to get back to Tokyo before the storm hits.

Here it comes!

Made it! After 5 hours (3 of them standing up cuz the bullet train was packed), I finally made it back to Tokyo.

Boom was pumped.

And Hiroshi was here for No Reason!!

Aaah...

Okay, gotta repack!