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Ramen!

02 Feb 2025 01:34

I studied ramen at two ramen schools in Japan

About a year and a half ago I started researching where I could study ramen in Japan. It is an itch that just would not go away. I studied Japanese in university and lived there for 2 years in my early 20s, so I was cautiously optimistic I could suffer through a course in both english and Japanese. So the search began.

This is a long post and I am not a writer, so please don't fall alseep on me. ;-) I want to be as detailed as I can because these classes are a big investment in time, money, and energy. I wish I had someone to share this with me when I chose. I did not so I made the big investment of time, money, and intestinal fortitude for future learners. If you wanna follow my instagram I would not complain though! Kokumi Mendoza

Ok, back on track-

I found three main schools: Yamato Noodle, Shoku no Doko (Tokyo Ramen Academy), and Rajuku. I contacted all three, but I quickly steered away from Yamato because the person I spoke with didn't want to answer any questions. They were like "are you coming yes or no" after one email, so I was a no. That doesn't mean it is not a great school. It just means it wasn't my school, so please don't evaluate them off of this tiny experience of mine.

That left me with two options **Shoku no Dojo** and **Rajuku**

I will talk about Shoku no Dojo (SnD) first. I reserved SnD first because I wanted to study for two weeks in Japanese. I worked with Hashimoto Sensei to work out the time and what I wanted to learn. As a noob I makase'd everything to him (let him decide). He speaks english, so we did a mix of the two languages in the class. He got his english time and I got my Japanese time, so it was a win win. He is the only person who speaks English, but they are all nice.

Narita-san can help you order anything you need to get started from a tiny bowl or spoon to their large noodle machine. She is an expert in that.

Boss-san is the head teacher and he will pop in and out and teach you some cool recipes like Jira ramen and some spicy noodles.

Narita-san is another teacher who is very kind and I got to watch and listen to him teaching a few other Japanese students. SnD is a one on one teaching environment. It will be you and whomever your sensei is.

The school is in Yachiyo, Japan about an hour by train from Tokyo in Chiba-ken. I walked to school each day along the river, past lots of farms, and through a cemetary and a trail I call the obake (ghost) trail cause I had to walk through it at night and I have a vivid imagination. Yachiyo has a large amount of shrines there and there is a tourist thing you can do to visit 7 or 8 temples and receive stamps from them. I did it because I am a nerd, but to each their own.

Here was the plan:

1. Chicken Chintan
2. Pork Chintan
3. Chicken Paitan
4. Tonkotsu (Buta Paitan but nobody says that)
5. Tsukemen and Mazesoba (a few variations, but you will have basic rules)
6. Vegan

\--optional izakaya and gyoza class (I am a gyoza snob so I signed up for this one. I did not sign up for the izakaya class)

Sensei was not going to teach me how to make the eggs, so I requested it and he taught me with no issues.

There is a 1 week and 2 week course. Foreigners typically take the 1 week because the second week is practice and prepping for opening a tiny restaurant around back of the school and you need Japanese to engage with the customers, but this is always subject to change so don't be afraid if you do not speak Japanese. If you do not ask the answer will be no. If you do ask, it might be a yes.

SnD is 8am until 5 or 6pm each day with no days off for the weekends. I did the 14 day class so that I could open up a restaurant by myself for two days (about 30 people per day came).

When you study with Hashimoto sensei I recommend that you have a notebook and write down everything that he says and send yourself audio notes. You cannot take videos and I think