What Owning a Ramen Restaurant in Japan is Like

I am Kunimoto, the owner of Mengokoro Kunimoto. Have you ever dreamed of opening your own

ramen

shop? Although most

ramen

kitchens are open to the public, you'd be surprised how much work goes into running a shop like this. The ticket, please. Please wait. Ramen Shio Although ramen is Japanese fast food, it is not a quick process. It requires time, dedication, a lot of work and knowledge. Although he buys fresh noodles at a men-ya (noodle shop), he prepares almost everything himself. Thanks for waiting. Ready. Thanks for waiting. Ready How many hours do you work? From 8 in the morning to 11:30 at night, six days a week.

It doesn't mean that I just leave the house, from 8 am to 11:30 pm, I work hard although I take small breaks. This is tedious and continuous work, from the moment you enter the store until the moment you leave. If you do the math, like I do, that means 93 hours a week! My father owns a ramen

restaurant

. At first he was a worker, but then he opened his own

restaurant

. When he was a teenager he helped at the restaurant. At that time, making ramen was not

what

he wanted in my life. He just helped, it was a part-time job.

I wanted to go out into the world, so I started working as a salesperson, but it wasn't for me and I realized that I wanted to create and make people happy. This is

what

I wanted to do. I start work every day at 8:00, I prepare the fish soup. While I make the soup, I also prepare the eggs. Menya Musashi, the number one restaurant in Japan, came to mind, so I called and asked them to accept me as a student. I started working at Menya Musashi Shinjuku, I worked there for 4 and a half years. Kunimoto's restaurant has 4 main dishes.

Of course, they all contain ramen noodles, but they are not all the same thickness or prepared the same way. This is the usual ramen. Each restaurant prepares it differently. Kunimoto's version has a delicious fatty pork soup. This is Shio ramen (shio means salt). It has a light soup and pork. The noodles are thinner than regular ramen. - Ramen Shio, big, ready. - Thanks for waiting. This is Noukou ramen. It has a thick shoulder and you can really taste the fish. There are also many onions. The last dish is Tsukemen. The soup and pasta are divided into two different containers.

The flavor is similar to regular ramen, but the soup is thicker. The pasta is cooled and the water is squeezed out. The pasta is served cold, while the soup is served hot. So do you take a short break from 15:30 to 17:00? I... I don't take a break. Constantly cook soup and do some other work. I don't really rest, maybe 15 minutes, if I can. From 9:00 a.m. an assistant works here until 3:30 p.m. Starting at 3:30 p.m. I start getting ready. I was looking for a worker. I can't find anyone. Now my parents help me. I feel really bad for asking them to work for me.

If you expect others to work as hard as you, it may be too much for them, they don't own it. Training others like you is very difficult... Menya Musashi's colleagues have their own restaurants. Everyone works crazy hours. More than me. Some work from 5:00. It's a difficult job. Since I work for myself and am not employed by anyone, this is my only option. I won't have another chance like this. When I opened this restaurant, with my younger brother, for the first time, I dedicated my life to it. Can I make ends meet?...Yes, I can. What do you like least about

owning

a ramen restaurant?

There is nothing I don't like. -Good job. - Yes, good job. One by one, as much as I can, I do the best I can in every dish I make. With ramen, out of every 100 customers, not everyone will like the food. How can I say it... As much as I can, with everything I have, I try to do the best in every bowl of ramen. And when someone says it's delicious, that's the best feeling. When you think about being the owner, you think you're the boss of everyone, and of course you are, in a way... but what you may not know is that you own the store.

And instead of a boss, you have all the customers you have to please. If you think you're going to avoid dirty jobs, you'll find that you may find yourself doing them. From washing dishes, walls and cleaning the floor. I asked him, if there was another worker-owner he wouldn't have to work so much. I can't believe his answer, he would help the student open a second restaurant. - There wasn't much work today, that's why I finished early. -Oh! I usually finish around this time (11:30 p.m.), but not today. Kunimoto is the first to enter and the last to leave the store.

Kids, this is what it's like to have your own ramen restaurant. Thank you! -Thank you! -Thank you! Oh hello! Are you still watching? If you are Kunimoto-san, thank you for letting me take over your restaurant for a few days. I was going to say keep up the good work, but I don't need to say this. A special thanks to all those on Patreon who support these little documentaries. It means a lot to me. And thanks to my wife, who helped me with the translation and worked with me to cut 5 hours of footage into 10 minutes. Peace!