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15 Nov 09
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Rahmen Academy/MusashiurawaRahmen Academy/武蔵浦和 The Saitama-ken Musashiurawa Rahmen Academy is open from 11 to midnight every day of the week except Sunday, when they are only open until 10 PM. Some shops may be open shorter or longer times than that. It's located right... |
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09 Nov 09
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Motoishi/Kandaもといし/神田 Motoishi is a an example of something that I have seen occasionally recently, a "mensakaba" or "noodle and sake place". (麺酒場). In Motoishi's case they refer to it as "sakemen". Places like this pose as ramen shops during t... |
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08 Nov 09
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Tokyo Tori Soba Tomo/Higashi OiTOKYO 鶏そば TOMO/東大井 A new (or at least uncommon) idea in ramen - chicken soup, and a pretty good one too. Better than Ramen Zero, in my opinion. This ramen shop Tokyo Tori Soba Tomo specializes in only one kind of broth - chicken. Note that I said chicken, not shio.... |
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08 Nov 09
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Buta Ko Mugi/Gotanda豚とこむぎ/五反田 Another Jiro clone (name means "pig and barley/wheat"), this time near JR Gotanda station. Very friendly woman with powerful lungs outside guiding people into the shop. The background music was the Beatles. Broth was a bit weak, not like a real Jiro... |
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08 Nov 09
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Mutekiya/Ikebukero無敵家/南池袋 Mutekiya (literally "no-enemies shop" or "shop without rivals") is located in Ikebukero on Meiji Dori south of the east entrance(s) to JR Ikebukero Station, and further south of some of the Seibu stores and Muji. It had fairly long lines... |
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07 Nov 09
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Tokyo Ramen Street/Rokurinsha Omiyage Unboxing東京ラーメンストリート/六厘舎 お土産 In JR Tokyo Station there is a special (and long) hallway with numerous shops and restaurants called the "Tokyo Eki Ichi Ban Gai". This is one of several shopping areas under Tokyo Station. One special section of this hall was... |
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10 Oct 09
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Strongest Ramen Legends Show on TV Tokyo Last Friday night TV Tokyo had a "Strongest Ramen Legends" show on, with rankings three categories ("Ruling Ramen", "New Wave" and "Around Here"). The usual band of sketchy ramen luminaries was on, including Yamagishi-san, Sanno-san, Ishigami-san, etc.... |
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29 Aug 09
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Gyoku/Kawasaki Cityぎょく/玉 Gyoku (the on-yomi for "tama", as in "tama negi", see their logo?) is another winner for tonkotsu gyokai in the fair state of Kanagawa-ken. Richer taste than most, and the pork was grilled on the outside and cut more thickly, and had less fat. The... |
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29 Aug 09
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Tomita/Matsudoとみ田/浅草 With a score of 99.532 as I write this, Tomita is the #1 ramen shop in Japan according to Supleks Database. If you also want to make the argument that Japanese ramen is the best in the world, then I guess the logical conclusion is that this is... |
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29 Aug 09
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Sagamihara Liberty Gourmet Plaza/Sagamihara相模原 リバティグルメプラザ/相模原 ;nbsp;This place used to have a larger number of ramen shops in it, but it looks like it has seen better days. There are a number of decent-looking places down the street though, including a number of Nagahama ramen places, Nagahama ramen is more-or-less... |
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29 Aug 09
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Ramen Tokyo Maps - Recommended Shops Here is a map of all Ramen Tokyo "Recommended shops" in Tokyo, this map is now up to date with all 94 of our recommendations. Click on any map pin to bring up the name of that shop and a link back to the associated Ramen Tokyo page. Click on the Ramen... |
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28 Aug 09
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Abemen/Yoyogiあ～べ～めん/代々木 Making abura soba or maze soba isn't just a simple as putting a bunch of stuff in a bowl, so it seems. Abemen (ah-bay-men) does just that, but it seems to come up a bit flat on the taste, to me. This is the only abura soba place in the close area... |
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28 Aug 09
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Tonchin/Kawasaki City屯ちん/川崎市 The Kawasaki City Tonchin is on the 7th floor of the Moas Building, right across from the various bus stops near the station. Note that in a future review where I cover Gyoku, I will tall you how to take the bus from one of these stations... |
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28 Aug 09
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Setagaya/Shinagawaせたが屋/品川 Technically this store is in Takanawa, in Minato-ku, however I list it with the location of Shinagawa above since that is what many people will search on. The Shinatatsu Ramen Street is located just south of JR Shinagawa Station's Takanawa... |
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28 Aug 09
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Shoujin Kadofuji/Kashiwa City匠神角ふじ/柏市 Kadofuji is a member of the Kouji Dream group of shops - this also includes Tomita (next review, currently the #1 shop in Japan), a couple of Taishokens, and 25-3- other shops in the Kanto area. Kadofuji has been on television a few times and the... |
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27 Aug 09
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Ramen Jiro/Moriyaラーメン二郎/守谷 Second to last Jiro today. I was on vacation this week and the week was leading up to this. If you have to wait on line outside for 30-60 mins, I figured today was the day. Weather has been unseasonably comfortable and not humid the last... |
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26 Aug 09
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Fuji Yoshida Udon/Ebara富士吉田うどん まるなが/荏原 Yes, I do know that I am only supposed to be writing about ramen on this blog. However I sincerely feel that as far as udon shops go, this deserves a special mention here. This is the first udon shop that I have ever written about. I had a hankering... |
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26 Aug 09
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Ebisu Hanten/Ebisu恵比寿飯店/恵比寿 Standard basic ramen and chinese food place near JR Ebisu Station. Decent quality, larger than average portions for the price, the taste is decent but nothing special. Mostly caters to similarly larger-than-average salarymen at lunch time. I had the... |
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26 Aug 09
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Ryoka/Tamachiりょう華/田町 Literally only 3 minutes walk from JR Tamachi Station is the little shop Ryoka, situated on a corner right off of the Daiichi Keihin. This is a small shop with a 6-7 seat counter and one table. This place has an excellent Shanghai sui-gyoza and... |
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18 Aug 09
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Kamachi/Ebisu框/恵比寿 On our way to our usual 500 yen ketchi cheapskate lunch at Ebisu Sakura Suisan one day (no laughing please - I happen to like that place...), my coworkers and I saw the sign for Kamachi out on the road near the station. Being the daring... |
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18 Aug 09
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Chin Chin Tei/Musashi Sakai珍々亭/武蔵境 Chin Chin Tei serves one of the best abura soba (油そば) dishes in Tokyo. Basically a cheap, tiny cafeteria-like room in a nondescript building about 15 mins walk from Musashi Sakai station on the JR Chuo line, it always has a... |
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20 Jul 09
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Ryuzan/Ojima龍山/大島 So far this is the best suratanmen in Tokyo, in my opinion, and this place has the awards and plaudits to prove it. Ryuzan (dragon mountain?) is out east in Koto-ku on the Toei Shinjuku line. Definitely better... |
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06 Jul 09
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Mita Seimen Sho/Ebisu三田製麺所/恵比寿 This is the third branch of Mita Seimen Sho, a fairly accurate knock-off of Rokurinsha, basically the same taste, quite good, there is frequently a line here at lunch time, whereas there rarely was one when the place was Misomaru. The pork is better... |
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05 Jul 09
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Xi'an/ShinjukuXi'an/新宿 Across from the Shinjuku station Yodobashi Nishi Guchi Tokei Kan (watch store) - where I was getting my wife's watch battery replaced, is Xi'an. It has some of the hottest and most flavorful toshoumen anywhere. It's in the fourth floor in one... |
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05 Jul 09
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Ramen Jiro/Senjuohashiラーメン二郎/千住大橋 First Ramen Jiro east of the loop that I have been to in a while. The reason for the delay on this one is that I saw a number of scary pictures of lines 40-50 people long for a while, right after it opened (in April IIRC). Take the Keisei line... |
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30 Jun 09
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Ramen Jiro/Omiyaラーメン二郎/大宮 Much of the area around JR Omiya Station seems a bit on the seedy side. If I never came back here again it would be too soon. A fair bit of garbage, odd-looking people walking around. On both sides of the Omiya Ramen Jiro there were love hotels.... |
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30 May 09
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Ramen Tokyo Maps - Tokyo Here is a map of all Ramen Tokyo "Recommended shops" in Tokyo, we are adding all the locations and links this weekend. Click on any map pin to bring up the name of that shop and a link back to the associated Ramen Tokyo page. Click on the Ramen Tokyo Maps... |
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30 May 09
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Using the Supleks Ramen Database The Supleks Ramen Database is the largest and most comprehensive guide to ramen shops in Japan. Unfortunately, like many web sites of its type here, it is only in Japanese and therefore is inaccessible to non-Japanese speakers. Until now that is - we have... |
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28 May 09
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Tokyo Ramen Show 2009 This coming weekend the Tokyo Ramen Show 2009 will be held at the Chuo Hiroba in Komazawa Koen in Setagaya-ku. It will be held from 10 AM to 8 PM on Friday the 29th and Saturday the 30th, and until 5 PM on Sunday the 31st. There is no entrance fee, but... |
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10 May 09
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Jintan/Rokakkubashi仁鍛/六角橋 Better than Rokurinsha. Outstanding. This place has the same Rokurinsha taste, but even more richness. It should, it was started by a ramen chef who worked at Rokurinsha for a while. Very thick noodles done perfectly, and the soup tastes... |
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07 May 09
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Tsukemen at Ippudo/Ebisu一風堂/恵比寿 Wonder of wonders - Ippudo now has tsukemen, at least the one in Ebisu does. What they call Hakata Tsukemen is really just tonkotsu gyoukai. But it was quite good. The default noodle size is 200g and you can get omori 300g for +100yen. Takes... |
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06 May 09
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Ippo/Sotokandaつけめん専門店 一歩/外神田 Decent noodles, decent pork, decent broth, very crowded, very tight seats. Bathrooms in the back. They don't really seem to specialize in anything despite the name since they have a lot of stuff on the menu, including spicy tsukemen, shio and miso.... |
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06 May 09
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Ganso Ebisu Ramen/Asakusa元祖恵比寿ラーメン/浅草 For good pictures of Ganso Ebisu Ramen click here.Ganso Ebisu Ramen is actually not in Ebisu, it is in Sensoku in Taito-ku, about 5-10 mins walk directly north from Asakusa Station on the Tsukuba Express line from Akihabara. I managed to forget my keitai... |
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05 May 09
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Ginshirou/Kamata銀四郎/鎌田 Another day, another Rokurinsha clone. This one finds us on the 6th floor of the Higashi Kan of the GRANDUO building in Kamata, part of JR Kamata station, not Tokyu Kamata station. We went to Kamata today to stop by Indo Bazaar. This may well become... |
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05 May 09
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Mita Seimen Tokoro/Shinjuku三田製麺所/新宿 Picture of outside of shopTechnically this one is in Kabukicho but I am going to list it in Shinjuku, just be aware of where it is, if you are not familar with Kabukicho then look it up on Wikipedia first. This is the Shinjuku branch of the... |
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05 May 09
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Shinkawa Taishoken/Shinkawa新川大勝軒/新川 This place does not appear to be all that well-known, at least not outside of this area, however it was recently featured in an issue of Otona No Shumatsu. It's located in an out-of-the-way area in Shinkawa, near Kayabacho station on the Hibiya-sen.... |
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04 May 09
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Aun/Shimotakaidoらーめん 響/下高井戸 Sichuan noodle place - excellent dan-dan men and a special "tsuyu-nashi" dan-dan men. If you are into dan-dan men then I would say this place is a must for you. They serve a special dan-dan men with just a very light spicy sauce (no full... |
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04 May 09
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Ramen Hibiki/Shimotakaidoらーめん 響/下高井戸 Hibiki means "echo" or "reverbation", however what is interesting is that if you look at the kanji for hibiki, one of the components of the character is the "rou" or "郎" in Ramen Jiro:響(For you kanji-expert types the base rad... |
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03 May 09
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Yojinbo/Jinbocho用心棒/神田神保町 Yojinbo loosely means "bodyguard" (the "jinbo" is a different set of kanji from the ones in Jinbocho though) and was the name of a famous Akira Kurosawa film. This shop opened approximately 8 weeks ago, in early March 2009. Many Jiro and Jiro-like... |
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02 May 09
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Takechan Niboshi Ramen/Yoyogiたけちゃんにぼしラーメン/代々木 I would say that Takechan is decent but average, not spectacular. High 50s on Supleks though. There were very few people in the place when I stopped in last Sunday after walking around in Yoyogi a bit. The Yoyogi branch (there are only two branches,... |
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30 Apr 09
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Fuunji/Yoyogi風雲児/代々木 This place was very popular on a Saturday afternoon, the line at 2 PM was 8 people outside, stretching almost out to the little flower garden across the street, and another 10 inside. If you are close to 6' or higher then watch your head... |
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29 Apr 09
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Ramen Jiro (ラーメン二郎) Golden Week 2009 Schedule Is here:http://www4.atpages.jp/~jirou/vacation/vacation2009spring.htmlThe above page translates fairly well using Google Translate or similar. Happy slurping. にんにく入れますか？ |
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29 Apr 09
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Mitsuyado Seimen/Musashi Koyama三ツ矢堂製麺/武蔵小山 Mitsuyado merged with Fujiyama Seimen some time last year. The four locations for this combined chain are now in Nakameguro, Takadanobaba (right near Menya Sou), Musashi Koyama and Kawagoe City in Saitama. This chain is an excellent place for... |
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29 Apr 09
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Shiokan/Ebisu函館らーめん しお貫/恵比寿 There are not too many ramen shops in this area of Ebisu, going directly east torwards Shirokane. If you continue along in this direction you hit a branch of Kookai at the intersection but that's about it. You can easily walk to or from Hiroo or... |
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27 Apr 09
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Tsubomi/Oimachi蕾/大井町 Tsubomi, meaning "flower bud", is a small shop of < 10 seats in Oimachi, going southwest from the station. The broth in this place is a combination of chicken, tonkotsu and shoyu and has an abundance of small onions floating in it. However it has a... |
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26 Apr 09
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Naoji/Meguroなおじ/目黒 The shop Naoji was in, was formerly a tonkotsu-ramen-only specialty place - down the street going west from JR Meguro station, on the northern branch, past the K-Port drug store and about half-way between Youshu Shonin and Ikeda Tsukemen. Naoji has... |
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24 Apr 09
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Bloomberg Ramen Article Rocky Swift at Bloomberg Tokyo wrote a great article on Tokyo ramen, including visits to Ramen Jiro (Mita), Ivan Ramen and Fujimaki Gekijou.Quest for Tokyo’s Best Ramen Leads to ‘Noodle Nazi’ |
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10 Mar 09
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Rokurinsha in the Supermarket? The famed Rokurinsha in Oosaki has apparently Sold Out to The Man:http://www.nissinfoods-chilled.co.jp/news/news_release.html?nid=1552This information was also spotted on the inside cover of the March issue (３月号) of Ram... |
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22 Feb 09
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Toshoumen Seian Hansou/Gotanda刀削麺 西安飯荘/五反田 In Gotanda, down the street next to the Mitsubishi MUFJ bank across from the west exit (the one with the Seijo Ishii) of Gotanda station, is Toshoumen Seian Hanso. I will submit that this is the best toshoumen place on the lower left side of the loop.... |
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18 Feb 09
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Ramen Zero/ShimoMeguroラーメンゼロ/下目黒 The early February 2009 meeting of the Ramen Lovers Club convened at the relatively new Ramen Zero, about 3-4 mins walk north of Tokyu Fudomae Station, or about 15 mins walk west from JR Meguro Station, if you take this path past the Meguro Gajoen then be... |
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