RAINY DAYS; BEST EVER RAMEN.

Since the first day of touring Japan was essentially filled with us gorging ourselves on bento and running about in the sunshine – we thought a good contrast would be to wander about in some super-shiny shops and some oppressively hot rain (the latter was unintentional, but running about in the rain did indeed happen).

As we weren’t quite used to the public transport system yet (it was far too efficient for our laid-back Australian sensitivities), we haunted the nearer parts of Shinjuku (新宿区)– thus lending towards some boredom on everybody’s part. We stayed mainly around the massive Takashimaya Times Square shopping complex – slightly shuffling our feet along – as we knew outside raged serious rain down-pour and were hesitant to get ourselves completely and utterly soaked (understandably).

Eventually we gave in and “Man-ed Up”, taking a few cautious steps outside to find something to gorge ourselves on. What we found was a crumbling, itsy bitsy noodle house – where no-one spoke any English and smoking was permitted indoors. So, crowded into a minuscule space alongside an ancient moustachioed smoker, we yummed down possibly THE TASTIEST RAMEN I have ever consumed in my existence. Full of tasty tasty ramen flavour, I nearly swallowed the bowl in my anticipation. Despite my total disgust in smoking as a whole, everything became background to the full flavours of the ramen sitting in the bowl, undulating innocently about in the chipped ceramic.

From that point onwards, I decided, that this ramen was to my stomach like what the sea is to pirates, like what hot water bottles is to PMS-y women, like what Starcraft is to Koreans.

THIS RAMEN WAS OBVIOUSLY SENT FROM HEAVEN.

The TASTIEST RAMEN I have ever had the opportunity to yum on. THE. TASTIEST. NOMOMOMOM. Also, the “hazard” cones in Japan are GREEN. Seriously, GREEN! Man, that is so cool.

For the duration of the rest of our Tokyo-visit, I never ventured back to Shinjuku (although my parents did) – I found out rather belatedly, that to truly explore Shinjuku, the PROTIP was to hit the streets and wander about, camera (in my case, cameras) in hand and yen flapping zealously.

I think I’ll keep that one up my sleeve for my next visit.

Wilted flowers on the doorstep of a Shinjuku resident. The colours were so vibrant against the building’s bland white-tiled exterior.

Kapibara-San! I was going to buy even more of these Kapibara-San items, but I tragically forgot! This little guy was dangling in the window of one of the train station convenience stores.

The view down into the street from the Shinjuku Train Station overpass that leads right over into the Takashimaya Times Square shopping centre. ALSO: “FOR ONE-SEVEN” instead of “FOUR ONE-SEVEN”. Tee hee hee!