There’s a roast beef bowl place in Akihabara where people line up to eat. Roast beef bowls are all the rage in Japan these days, and I’d wanted to try one somewhere, so I figured I might as well go to a place that’s doing well.

This is the roast beef bowl

It’s a bit pricey, but once you see what comes out, it makes sense. I’d assumed roast beef would mean something Western, but with the onion sauce, the cooked cabbage and so on, it’s been nicely adapted Japanese-style. A very well-put-together donburi.

The set looks like this

Not just an egg, but butter too, and horseradish as well. It’s fun getting to enjoy so many different flavors in a single bowl of roast beef. You can tell a lot of thought went into it.

Inside the shop

Cramped but tidy. Places that live on turnover are all like this, really.

After going, I think I get why roast beef bowls are trending these days. I’d go often if it weren’t for the line, but I don’t know when my next visit will be.

Bunka Hoso (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting) on the way home

In front of Hamamatsucho Station there’s an idol broadcast every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and a huge crowd gathers. Japan’s idol culture feels like it’s on a whole other level. It’s so woven into everyday life, I guess. Not that I can compare directly, since I never did the idol-fan thing back in Korea.

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