Ramen Hunt

Shibuya: a place familiar to many a young Tokyoite. The district boasts towering department stores carrying the latest fashions, a booming nightlife due in part to the high concentration of izakaya and restaurants, and more two-story televisions than anywhere else in the world. Yet, I didn't arrive at Shibuya Station, brave the hectic scramble crossing, and remain glued to my phone's GPS just for an evening of shopping. I was on a mission: a hunt for a particular bowl of shoyu ramen.

Many of my fellow Buffalonians may have heard me lament from time to time about the lack of a decent bowl of ramen in the Buffalo-Niagara region. To say that I love ramen is a bit of an understatement; it's more of an obsession, one that slowly came into existence throughout my time studying abroad two years ago. I've gone as far as to spend afternoons in Toronto, a city with a developing ramen scene, with the sole purpose of slurping up some of that wonderful noodley goodness. After over half an hour navigating the sketchy, love hotel ridden streets of Dogenzaka, I found what I was looking for: Kiraku. I admittedly passed by the small ramen shop twice, as there was little in terms of signage to distinguish it from the surrounding businesses.

After a several minute wait, I finally found myself walking up a flight of stairs to the second floor where a lone, vacant seat awaited me. I wasted no time and immediately placed my order, to the surprise of the waitress who had attempted to hand me an English menu. After several minutes of agonizing anticipation, the waitress took out a piping hot bowl of ramen from the nearby dumbwaiter and placed it in front of me. The pile of perfectly chewy noodles sat in a pool of rich, soy sauce infused broth. Topped with bean sprouts, generous slices of chashu (pork), and a soy sauce seasoned soft boiled egg, the flavor-packed ramen was easily the best meal of the trip thus far!

Feeling completely refreshed after that delicious meal, I decided to check out a few of the department stores before heading back to Sendagi for the night. Uniqlo, my favorite Japanese clothing brand, has a flagship store in Shibuya (where I will most likely splurge my remaining travel money on new clothes at the end of my trip). One of their current displays featured a t-shirt collaboration with popular messaging app LINE which I found very amusing.

I made my way back to the Shibuya scramble crossing, glowing buildings towering over me as I snaked my way through the crowds. Like clockwork, the pedestrian lights scattered throughout the crossing simultaneously turned green, signaling everyone in wait to immediately begin scurrying across.

Upon reaching the station, I immediately headed to the upper levels. The large glass windows at the Keio-Inokashira Line entrance overlook the scramble crossing, providing a perfect view of Shibuya's brightly-lit urban scenery.

With such a wonderful vantage point, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to test out a slow-shutter photography app I had recently downloaded. I held my phone up against the window, holding my breath to keep a steady hand for several seconds, and...

Tokyo never ceases to amaze me.