18 again...

Day 1149:

10 hours, 9 transfers, Kobe here I come!

Seishun 18 Kippu

Sure I could have saved a lot of time going by Shinkansen, but this is a lot more fun. And a lot cheaper.

Mt. Fuji!!

On my way I stopped in Shizuoka for lunch at Menya Tsubame (麺屋 燕) in Shimada. This may look like an ordinary house from the outside...

But it's actually the most popular ramen shop in the area. And this is peak lunch hour.

Tsubame Shoyu Ramen (燕ラーメン しょうゆ).

There's something eerily familiar about this ramen. I just can't pinpoint it. Anyway, it was pretty good except for a slight bitterness coming from the chicken soup.

Back on the road. You know you're not in Tokyo anymore when the sidewalks are also rivers.

Snow! It didn't last long.

So I made it. A little over 11 hours and a little drama with one train losing power and being stranded but I made it. Hello Kobe!! Hello Shoki Ramen House in Kobe!!!

Time to unwind.

Otsukaresama!

Gyoza.

Oden.

Yudofu.

Handmade Udon!

Thank you Ueyama-san!! Looking forward to the soft-open tomorrow!!!

And now it's time to study...Kansai ramen!

I know just where I'm going for breakfast.

A Shizuoka day trip...

Day 980:

Shichisai!! I've always wanted to try their Tantanmen.

Okay I won't want to try that again. I'll stick to the shoyu from now on.

Is it just me or do the noodles look fatter? I think someone pressed them too hard.

富士山だ！

Last night while hanging out with So, he told me to go check out Tanukitei (たぬき亭), his favorite ramen shop in Shizuoka.

Ahhh...

My kind of shoyu ramen!

Thanks for the rec So!

And back to Tokyo I go.

Mexican food!!

Trouble...

Peach!

Exacta...

Day 693:

The only thing better than waking up to this...is waking up and jumping into this.

Yo Paul, you need to bring Sarah to one of these!

Breakfast was...

lavish...

But all good things come to an end to get replaced by other good things.

We had a pretty tight schedule to follow and I spent over an hour trying to figure out how to fit a ramen shop in on our way home. When we arrived in Atami I had about 20 min to spare so I ran to Amakara Honpo (雨風本舗) and downed a bowl in 5.

The shop was small with only 7 I'm-almost-sitting-on-the-next-guys-lap seats and the master was hard at work cranking out bowl after bowl.

The Shoyu Ramen was dark, deep, and effing good. Just the way I like it.

I couldn't confirm if the noodles were homemade but they sure tasted like it. There's gotta be some Shirakawa roots here.

Anyway, we made it back to Tokyo just in time. いいね！Can you believe this billboard in Ginza? (fyi, the likes are supposed to represent what the girls are wearing and not the actual girls.)

Dinner with the president! Kumamoto-style!

Ba...sa...shi...

The chicken wings and satsuma-age were my fave.

And you know we had to close things off with noodles.

As always, thank you mister president.

Onsen in Izukogen...

Day 692:

Without a typhoon in sight, the assistant and I headed back to Izu for a day at the onsen. But first we needed to fuel up.

Wontonmen!

Then we got to ride on the coolest train ever.

But I still couldn't figure out why everyone was taking my picture.

Haha, jk. Doraemon train!!

Four hours later we finally made it to Izukogen and our ryokan was only a short taxi ride away.

At check-in, we were greeted with some fresh green tea.

And then...we melted.

I cannot walk in these.

For dinner there was a 14-course meal awaiting.

Here are some of the highlights.

Time for bed.

Scratch that...time to get drunk in the hot tub onsen!