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 love noodle dishes. Got nothin' against noodles.
I've got a problem with the 'we've got ours, scr*w you' mentality of wanton waste. (no pun intended! LOL)
Also not an activity that I admire. It's just wasteful and I can't condone it, no matter what country or the foodstuffs involved. If you have the kind of money that it takes to buy a boatload of any sort of foodstuff, good lord, GIVE it to someone who needs it instead of putting on your shorts and rolling in it for the yucks. It just doesn't sit well with me. The world has far too many examples of suffering for some of the most fortunate among us to skip amongst the tulips and do what they will with the banner held high of 'it's my money'. Good timing with Bastille Day and all yesterday ... this topic.
Yea, I noticed the link mentioned France24, which I watch all the time (although the immediate source was AFP). I regard the French, whom I know something about, and the Japanese, whom I am very interested in but know very little about, to be the two tribes on this earth that have been most obsessed with style and its cousin, art, the Japanese being the clear champions.
The Japanese are so elegant and refined and yet, at the same time, the dark side of their culture is so very dark. The lesson that I take from it all is that human beings need to maintain a connection to nature, to food production, to child rearing, to sweaty work and things of this nature.
When they become too detached from those things and obsessed with extravagances of style and art, they lose their minds. Next thing you know, they are jumping into bowls of (simulated?) ramen noodles or exploring even sillier -- sicker/cruel/perverse -- realms of "aesthetic" experience.
I like to see what others think about things that raise my hackles. I like debate. Now when it comes to this particular example, I haven't changed my mind any but I find it interesting that others defend it, even if it does involve real food. I can't understand that viewpoint. I've never been much on 'art' of any kind, though I like nice things around me in my home and have purchased quite a few things that would qualify as 'art' ... so I can't knock art altogether. But when art and behavior mix, I don't care too much for it (puts me in mind of Yoko Ono and her weird screaming naked fits! LOL)
Now that scary ROFL
“Ramen Noodles is PEOPLE!!!”
how many peed in the water yuck.......
how many peed in the water yuck.......
Don't forget their planned bio-war attacks on the US.
College kids of the world, unite!
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