I've lived at the back-end of Yoyogi Uehara for 5+ years, a couple of minutes walk from a Jiro. Walking past, on the other side of the street, I'd get that ramen stench plus huge hits of garlic. And always there was a line. And this isn't close to any station. It looked run down, dirty, smelly, every time I walked by, and could never understand why it was so popular. Even this last year in covid times, there is a line, and every seat a the counter is full, no matter what the time of day. Now I know why. And I also know why it is in such a remote location, close to Tokyo Univ. My life is richer. Maybe not as rich as Jiro's soup, but richer. Thank you RB. - Casey
Jiro is fucking gross, but I really enjoyed the writing in this post and you've almost convinced me to go again. Almost.
I've lived at the back-end of Yoyogi Uehara for 5+ years, a couple of minutes walk from a Jiro. Walking past, on the other side of the street, I'd get that ramen stench plus huge hits of garlic. And always there was a line. And this isn't close to any station. It looked run down, dirty, smelly, every time I walked by, and could never understand why it was so popular. Even this last year in covid times, there is a line, and every seat a the counter is full, no matter what the time of day. Now I know why. And I also know why it is in such a remote location, close to Tokyo Univ. My life is richer. Maybe not as rich as Jiro's soup, but richer. Thank you RB. - Casey
So that is where Ramen Gojiro got it's inspiration from. It's surprisingly blue collar style food that I also wolf down quickly
See also for jiro-style noodles with a different/more supportive mentality: yume wo katare