Ichiran

Mapache - They Don’t Know At The Beach

Nice day out with the wife. Had dinner at a place called Ichiran. It’s a chain restaurant but it’s infamy stems from eating alone in a booth. You don’t speak or interact with anyone except staff and that’s minimal too. It’s like you’re in a confession box praying to the ramen gods. Although not religion, it’s a heavenly experience. You are PRESENT with your food. No distractions.

I’d imagine that this restaurant and it’s style would grate even heavier these days with more and more people disconnected into their phones and from the now. A friend of mine was complaining about the service when he returned to the US. When being served at a check out, his server was on their phone while handling cash and chewing gum. Quite awful. In Japan it’s the extreme opposite, generally, and robotic (speaking to a server in Japan will derail them from the script and therefore enter the scary world of critical thinking and using one’s initiative). Either way, it was the fact that both parties are not “present”.

I want to go back there and really grasp time again and enjoy things slowly.