I drove hard down the Nagasaki expressway toward Kumamoto, but maybe because it was Golden Week, there were a few kilometers of traffic jams along the way. I ended up more than an hour behind schedule, and since the car I was driving gets terrible mileage at low speeds, I was running low on gas too. I finally arrived at 8 p.m., and Kokutei, the popular local place I’d originally planned to go to, would be closing by the time I got there, so I headed to the hotel first.
My luck with the hotel in Kumamoto was bad too -_- I could only get one a bit away from the city center, so I blew a fair bit on taxis… I never stayed anywhere decent this whole trip, and I really think for Golden Week you have to book at least two weeks ahead.
The entrance..
It looks small from the outside, but it’s roomy inside. There were more people drinking beer with some simple snacks than people just eating a bowl of ramen.
Taro-men (braised pork belly ramen)
I’d guess this is the shop’s most famous dish. It’s a standard Kumamoto ramen. That said, it didn’t taste much different from the one I had in Shinjuku -_-;;.
Thick noodles
When I first tried this ramen, I figured it was only that salty because the kitchen was having an off day and the broth came out too strong, but after eating it at the main store, it seems this is simply the concept of Kumamoto ramen. People around here like bold, punchy flavors, so they probably make it salty on purpose. Kind of like Gyeongsang-do food back in Korea. It’s definitely not to my taste, but well… what can you do..
The arcade
After having ramen as a snack ^_^ I strolled along the shopping arcade for a bit to let it settle. Surprisingly, lots of people were out and about late into the night. At this point you could call it a big city at the heart of Kyushu rather than a small provincial town. The young people were a bit unfashionable, but seeing them so full of energy made me feel Kumamoto has a bright future. I guess that’s the kind of place that produced a work like Jotei (The Empress). There are things you can only understand by actually going there, which is why I can’t stop traveling regularly..
Kumamoto Castle at night
The photo came out a bit clumsy, but the castle is seriously imposing. I’ve seen quite a few castles, and I think this one deserves to be called number one. Kato Kiyomasa was its lord, so you could maybe say it has at least some connection to Korea. Well… he was so powerful that he could build a castle this imposing, I suppose.