Ramentary: Koshien Ramen!!! Fure, fure, fure, fure~~ (that’s hooray in Japanese)
Like so many other Hyogo (and Osaka, and Kyoto, and even SHIGA I hear) JETs, I was dismayed when the huge behemoth of an event that was the Tigers baseball game was canceled due to rain last month. Seriously crushed. While I wasn’t one of the people shelling out for shinkansen tickets, it was a good long drive down before Mother Nature eventually spoiled everything.
Nevertheless, we pressed on. From being down in the dumps, chugging beers in front of Koshien Stadium, we decided to enjoy the day as best we could. While “enjoy†would come to include the consumption of massive amounts of food and drink of all kinds, we started with an economical and convenient choice: Koshien Ramen.
Located within the shadows of the overpass that seems to graze the side of the stadium itself, Koshien Ramen is a mere hop and step from the gates of the hallowed Tigers playground. The rain which had caused the game to be cancelled also ensured that customers weren’t flooding into this place. Dressed in our Tigers best, and looking a bit worse for wet wear, we were looked upon sympathetically by the Hanshin-themed restaurant’s owners. A round of beers and each face looked a bit brighter. Orders of gyoza and ramen were placed and spirits were lifted. The owner took the time to show us signed memorabilia he’d collected from over the years, even letting yours truly take a couple of (very careful) hacks in the restaurant.
The ramen was great. The gyoza was great. The beer was great. And while I won’t deny that much of my newfound fondness for this humble ramenya is based on anything BUT the taste of their offerings, make no mistake, it’s pretty darn good.
The moral of the story here is if you have a chance to get to a Tigers game, do it. If you have a little bit of time before that game to eat some ramen, do it at Koshien Ramen. It’s WAY better than the slop they attempt to pass of as ramen inside the stadium. And if you see a chubby Asian guy wearing a Kanemoto jersey, well, it might be me, but hell, there’s a ton of those kinds of guys in the area on game days.
