Tonkotsu Orenchi Ramen (俺ん家らーめん) Santa Clara, California

We have no ramen shops in Southern Oregon. There are a few restaurants that sell ramen, but none of them are good. So when we get out of Southern Oregon we like to look for ramen. While in Santa Clara we decided to go to the #1-ranked ramen in the South Bay.

We had time to kill as the shop didn’t open until 5 p.m. We decided to find the place first and then browse shops nearby. However, when we got there at 4:20, there was already a line of about 30 people! I felt like I was at a popular ramen shop in Japan. We put our names on the list. By the time the shop opened 40 minutes later there were well over 100 people, and the place only holds about 50 or 60 people.

I’ve sampled dozens of bowls in Japan and about a dozen in the U.S., and this was the best ramen I have had outside of Japan. I had the tonkotsu (pork broth) bowl, pictured above, and Ellie had the shio (salt broth–photo coming soon).

The wait was well worth it. Word to the wise, if you are ever in the San Jose area, check this place out, but be sure to get there at least 20 minutes before they open. If you get there after that you probably won’t make the first seating which means you’ll likely be waiting an hour or more. Also, once they run out of soup they close so you may not get any (or your choice may be gone) if you show up after the first couple hundred people.

Posted on January 19th, 2015 under Other. Tags: california, food, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D750, ramen. Comments Off on Best ramen in the USA

five-story pagoda 仁和寺五重塔 in Kyoto, Japan

Posted on January 15th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: kyoto, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, Ninna-ji 仁和寺, pagoda. Comments Off on Ninnaji’s 5-story pagoda

rice paddies near Kofu

Summers in Japan can be brutally hot and humid. When the sun drops the temperature doesn’t decrease much, but not being in the sun anymore is a welcome relief. Such was the case when I was heading towards Kofu 甲府市 from Kai 甲斐 on this evening. I ended up eating at this udon place nearby before making it to Kofu.

Posted on January 14th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: dusk, kofu, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, photomerge, rice paddy, sunset. Comments Off on Biking around Yamanashi Ken

rock gate (sekimon or 石門) on Kofu’s Shosenkyo hike

Posted on January 13th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: hiking, kofu, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, shosenkyo. Comments Off on 昇峡谷石門

not exactly from 市川のアイリンクタウンの展望室

Following a tip I received online I took a train from central Tokyo to the city of Ichikawa to the east of Tokyo. There is a 45-story building in Ichikawa (called I-Line Town) that towers above everything around it and provides a potentially spectacular free view of Tokyo, including the Sky Tree. Unfortunately, the free observation deck is behind thick, hazy glass, and there are numerous things on the other side of the glass that obstruct the otherwise impressive view.

On the day I went it was extremely humid so I couldn’t see much of anything in Tokyo from the 展望室. For best results go in the early morning or at dusk.

The best view was the one shown in today’s photo which was from the glass elevator, not the room with the view, which looked toward a less humid portion of Tokyo (Ichikawa 市川市 actually).

The tip, by the way, came from this photo which I saw on Flickr.

Posted on January 10th, 2015 under Japan. Tags: aerial photography, mt. fuji, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600, sky tree, sunset, Tokyo. Comments Off on Tokyo from a glass elevator