Posted on 07/14/2007 4:28:17 PM PDT by DancesWithCats
The Japanese love their noodles so much that some of them are literally ready to dive in to their bowl of ramen.
A Japanese spa on Saturday opened special baths meant to resemble ramen, complete with bath salt shaped like the dangling delicacy, a giant pair of chopsticks overhead and water the aroma of pepper.
"The aroma of pepper is said to have the effects of refreshing your mind, warming your burned-out heart and inflaming your passion," explained a statement by spa complex Hakone Kowakien Yunessun in Hakone, one of Japan's most popular hot spring resorts.
Ramen lovers in bathing suits turned into ingredients in the broth, jumping into the three tubs shaped like ramen bowls underneath noodle decorations hanging over their heads.
"Customers may have been puzzled first, but I think they enjoyed it ... because the hot water smells good, like pepper," said Yusuke Sato, a spa employee who poured in the noodle-looking salt.
Hakone Kowakien Yunessun has offered a variety of creative baths including some filled with wine and coffee. Last year it came up with one resembling curry.
"I want to think of more ideas that surprise people," Sato said.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
I still have dinner in my stomach. This article wasn’t helpful.
This reminds me of old Twilight Zone episode. To Serve Man.
Re-read the article ...No REAL noodles or REAL sauce ...
People are starving and this bunch is dancing amongst gallons of noodles and sauce for the fun of it.
I don’t think it’s really ramen. The article talks about the spas “resembling” different foods.
“...underneath noodle decorations hanging over their heads.”
Right ...Kind of wacky , yes ...But the Japanese can be very eccentric ...The love gimmicky stuff like this . Fads come and go with the change of the weather . Harmless stuff ...
If you are in the right place at the right time, you can engineer one of these “booms” and then, make a lot of money off of such a “boom”.
As I read it, no actual ramen noodles were harmed in the preparation of these baths.
Was it Japan that did the theme restaurant based on the NAZI Concentration Camps, complete with Swastika flags?
I’m pretty sure it was an Asian country. There was enough of an outcry that the owner closed it down.
The U.S. isn’t much better. There was an S&M/Bondage themed restaurant in New York. I don’t know if it’s still open.
Look at the photo again. Everyone is just havin' a great big fun time. It's a three day weekend here in Japan for pete's sake. Mom, Dad, the little ones, Aunt Hiroko, in that big, huge, fun tub, all just having a fun time, bothering nobody.
Oh, and it would also help to read the article again in detail, Francis.
That was in South Korea (Pusan), as well as one briefly called “Hitler” was in Bombay, Korea, too (but it shut down).
Bombay, and in Korea as well....
Thanks! I’ll give the Koreans some slack and assume they really didn’t understand what they were doing. Even though they most likely did.
I watched a video of it and they were squishing noodles by the bucketload in their hands and sprinkling the sauce all over them ... Frankie.
I remember that episode! LOL Ended with a close-up of a cookbook with that title! LOL
And now that AmericanInTokyo has helped us regain our composures a bit, I'd like to mention a recurring item out of Asia that really does sicken me regarding frivolous waste while fellow citizens starve and use railroad tracks as toilets.
I have seen numerous reports of lavish Indian weddings that almost defy belief. We are talking here of affairs costing in excess of $100 million. One, that was reported on CNN some time back, had hired the Versailles Palace for the starry-eyed young couple. (I hadn't known that it was for hire.) Typically, these gay celebrations involve chartering of jumbo jets to bring friends and relatives from around the world.
I gotcha, but even so...that Twilight Zone episode was the first thought that entered my mind as well. It’s funny and it does looks like fun, but on one level the idea of sitting in a giant Cup O’Noodles filled with warm water is still mildly unnerving to me. I mean, can you imagine looking out the window and seeing Godzilla holding a pair of chopsticks?
That might be a more appropriate target, if one wants to indulge in that. Considering the abject, widespread poverty in India, for starte—that make an illegal alien flophouse in suburban Nashville look like a Brunei palace.
Good point...I meant to mention that, as far as I know, no one in Japan is going to bed hungry because they can't afford a bowl of noodles. This is about as serious as a fraternity doing some stunt with a big tub of jello.
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