Month: August 2016

Ramen has enjoyed growing popularity in Japan since the early 1900s, and the invention of instant ramen by Momofuku Ando in 1958 gave it even more momentum.   There are over 35,000 ramen restaurants in Japan and in order to survive, they have to offer exceptional broth usually flavored with salt, pork bone, soy sauce, or miso.  The toppings can include egg, fish or meat, and vegetables. Different regions in Japan have their own specialties.

You may like the 1985 movie Tampopo (with English subtitles) to see how a widow enlists the help of a milk truck driver and his friend to transform her noodle restaurant to the best in town.

Stop Signs

Tomare, 止まれ

From July 24 through August 9, 2020, the Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan, and Japan is already making plans to make the country more tourist friendly. One of their plans is to change all the stop signs in Japan from the triangle sign to the more common octagonal sign to help foreign drivers, but Americans may want to think twice before planning to rent a car. The Japanese drive on the left side of the road which is also common in India, Australia, England and former British colonies and a few other countries. Japanese roads are narrow and often congested. The availability of roadside parking is rare. Driving in rural and less populated areas may make travelling in a rental car easy, but in and around Tokyo a driver will be subjecting himself to enormous stress. Americans have been known to be issued tickets because when the speed limit on the expressway was posted as 80 km., Americans thought they could drive 80 mph. Eighty kilometers is approximately 50 miles.

Japan has the best train system in the world; trains are invariably on time and are clean and comfortable. Travel guides and agents will usually mention this fact when discussing transportation options to a tourist destination, and they usually recommend trains or the subway. Taxis are great if you are sharing the ride and the cost, and will travel a short distance, but the price of the ride is prohibitive for longer distances. As an example, a cab ride from the Kansai Airport to your hotel in Osaka could cost the equivalent of $140 compared to a train ride to a station in Osaka that would cost less than $10. In addition, when there is a toll charge for the use of the expressway, the passenger has to pay, not to mention suffering through traffic delays due to accidents and construction. Trains are definitely a better way to travel.

Rush hour in Japan

If at all possible, avoid the morning and evening rush hours in Tokyo. Those who have seen the videos and the professional people pushers wonder why they can’t add more trains. As my friend Koji explained, trains in Tokyo run every three minutes; in Osaka they may run every seven minutes. Adding more trains would jeopardize public safety. Areas outside of metropolitan Tokyo are less congested.

The good news is that by the time of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan will be ready to welcome more than 20 million visitors and tourists will have researched all the aspects of travelling in Japan, including, perhaps, learning travelers’ Japanese.