Ramen Oyaji in Machida and the invisible 5-story Daiso

Quieter sunday.  No tours planned.  I found out the exact directions to the 5 story Daiso AND I wanted to eat at another ramen restaurant on this list.  I realize that you guys are most likely reading this backwards.

So, I got onto the Yokosuka Chuo station, transferred to Yokohama by way of the Keikyu line, then transferred onto the JR Yokohama to land myself in Machida.  This was where I visited the Round 1 the first time.

Walking towards the ramen place I was held at an intersection where we had to wait for the trains to pass.  This was an odd experience because everyone was kind of just frozen in this weird state.  It was like standing on an elevator but not on an elevator.  Usually when my car is stopped at the train tracks it opens up the possibility of picking my nose or scratching my butt, but not not being able to do that here was just...weird.

And here we are, Ramen Oyaji.  1-19-1 Nakamachi, Machida-shi, Tokyo.

The specialty here is their miso ramen, which is supposed to have originated from their location in Sapporo.  If you are a ramen fan, you will note something different about the ramen I pictured below.

IT'S NOT FUCKING MISO.  I ORDERED THE WRONG THING, ARRRGHHHHH.

I read that the thing to order was the Oyaji set, which runs 1000yen and includes gyoza.  The menu didn't have pictures, and there were only two items that were 1000yen, so I figured the topmost one would be it.  I WAS WRRRRROONNNNGGGG.

Even though I got the wrong one, I ended up with the shoyu (I think), and it was still very good.  But, it's only as good as shoyu will allow it to be.  I just don't think that there's as much depth with shoyu broth.  There aren't any little fat gibblets floating in the soup, none of the heavier miso broth, aye!  It's ok, at least it was good.  It just wasn't mind-blowing miso good.

It's normally not that big a deal, but the problem is that there's nothing else to see in Machida, and I've already been out there twice already, so I don't have much else of a reason to head back.  It takes about an hour and about 14 bucks just for travel, so I don't think I can justify another trip back.  Maybe.  We'll see.  FUUCKKKKKKKK.

And practically everywhere you go are pachinko parlors.  They're like a combination of a slot machine and a pinball machine.  You load in all these little metal balls and depending on where they fall you get to spin the reels.  At least how I think it works.  The music coming out of the machines was deafening, I couldn't hear myself cough.  It was as loud as a rock concert, no lie.

I've seen a lot of these, but this particular one caught my attention because of the special promotion.

How do people not slip and fall, these bearing balls HAVE to get get loose every once in a while...

And it seems that the Daiso has really REALLY closed down.  Even with the exact directions it was nowhere to be found =(

On the way back home I decided to take a video of how fast these local trains run.  I don't remember them moving this quickly in NYC.

I had some to-go curry for dinner, but it was nothing crazy special, so no pictures.  And that concludes this quiet sunday.