6 November 2026
There is no spoon
Toyama Ramen at Toyama station
It is my last night in Toyama and I managed to have the famous local black ramen, which is actually called Chinese style black ramen.
The noodles are like Taiwanese style beef noodles, the broth is soy based, there is a lot more pork than normal ramen, and there is no spoon. I am not sure why there is no spoon, I checked and no one had a spoon, but they did have rice. A quick bit of research suggests you are supposed to eat all the noodles, and then add rice (I think), I did not get rice and there were way too many noodles in the huge serve anyway. It must be said that it was delicious, best ramen of this trip so far.
Was it raining? Yes. Did I get wet again? Yes. Do I care? No, because I did not get wet on my hike.
Tomorrow I change cities again, and I will be going to the smallest place I have ever stayed at in Japan, a place I have not been to before. I will save the surprise for tomorrow.
Bonus shotengai. I did not plan to go here but when I left my hotel it was raining hard.
It was still raining, so I walked the whole length of the main covered shopping area again, it was busier than the other night, with many more shops open.
I climbed up to the highest vantage point, like a cat.
Back at the station area now, after braving the rain, and I found the hipster food court. I am not cool enough to eat here.
Yep, still wet.
Here is my delicious ramen, highly recommended.
A lot busier in Toyama this evening.
Well, except for here, I found the station underpass. I thought it was just a bike parking area but it is actually a really long underpass. I am sorry I missed it until now.
And then since it had stopped raining, it was time to walk around the back streets, not as bright and colourful as other cities in Japan, but still a lot to see.