My Wonderful Weekend in October Part I

This man is a skilled ramen-chef and also a showman. He would take his ramen-paddle and throw noodles behind his back, catch them all, and them throw them back to his front with great ease. Then, as he would slide the ramen noodles into a bowl he would stare at someone sitting at his table, or at a few people, and he would make his eyes big and his mouth twitch like he was Charlie Chaplin. He made everyone at his table laugh, and during our 2 hour yakitori and ramen dinner we all laughed several times.

Earlier this month my distant cousins, Koki and Kazue, came from Tokyo to visit me in Fukuoka City. There Koki's friend from work, Taki-san, along with his wife and son Futa, gave us a tour of the city for a day, and a tour of the countryside of Kyushu the next day. I'll explain more of our trip to the countryside in my next entry, but first I have to describe what happened to us at this ramen-hut dinner.

If you can see what looks like a UFO on the upper edge, middle-right part of this photo, you are looking at a small pile of ramen, sailing over the ramen hut on the right side the picture. The chef asked me to stand up and go into the street with a ramen-paddle, and hold it out. Then, he took a pile of ramen and heaved it clear over the hut for me to catch. I was quite nervous at first, and the look of sheer concentration on my face, with my chin-out and my neck strained, should say a little about how much I wanted to succeed. People from other ramen-huts came over (we were on a street lined full with them) to check out the show. Well, when the ramen came down, I let it slip from the paddle and hit the dirty street. The chef quickly ran into the street, looked around, and grabbed the ramen to hurry it back to his hut. Then, he tossed a second pile over the hut. This time I caught a small amount in the paddle. Meanwhile, more people were gathering around and more photos were being taken of the foreigner with the ramen-paddle. The chef hucked his last pile of ramen, and on the third throw I caught most of the noodles. At this point the ramen- heavy odor in the air was accompanied by true excitement. I was being cheered on, especially by my family and friends.

Triumphant me.

From left to right: Kazue, me, Futa, Koki, and Taki-san.