She was affiliated with AKB48, Japan’s biggest idol group, but now ramen fans are the ones singing about her superb noodles.
There’s a stereotypical image of a ramen restaurant proprietor in Japan. A middle-aged man, often with a somewhat gruff or world-weary aura, acquired from his days working as a salaryman or in some sort of blue-collar job, until he saved up enough cash to open his ramen joint.
Some of those story beats additionally apply to Yagumo, a ramen restaurant that opened in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward two years in the past.
▼ Yagumo
But Yagumo’s proprietor didn’t get into the ramen enterprise after working as an accountant or a truck driver, however as an idol singer.
Yagumo founder/proprietor Mayuka Umezawa wasn’t affiliated with just any idol group, either. No, she was connected to AKB48, Japan’s number-one idol juggernaut.
▼ Umezawa at her outdated job…
▼ …and at her new one.
So how did Umezawa make this unusual transition? We stopped by Yagumo to find out, and in addition, in fact, to strive her ramen, which the 22-12 months-previous restauranteur personally prepared and served to us.
Let’s begin with the food. Yagumo provides a number of various ramen varieties, including soy broth, salty broth, and butter broth. The most popular, though, and in addition Umezawa’s private favorite, it the miso ramen, so we ordered a bowl of it for 800 yen (US$7.40).
Miso ramen can generally have a dark, murky look to its broth, however Yagumo’s is vivid and comparatively clear.
As you might anticipate from a chef with the skillful footwork of a trained dancer, the thickness of the noodles is perfectly balanced, as is their texture, which is pleasantly agency and chewy however with no mushy or gooey feeling.
The noodles have a outstanding tasty wheaty taste to them, and so they go completely with the broth, which is rich and flavorful with a clear end, devoid of the oily aftertaste that plagues sub-par miso ramen. The chashu can be glorious. This is no paper-skinny, half-melted strip of pork, however a correct meaty slice of protein.
Put it all collectively, and Umezawa’s miso ramen was so good we’d eaten the whole thing before we realized it.
▼ See?
With the lunch rush over and the restaurant closed until the dinner crowds present up, Umezawa got here and sat with us to talk about her experiences as an idol and ramen chef. Her foray into the idol life came in 2014, when AKB48 put out a job listing on the lookout for « part-time idols » to joint the group on an initially temporary basis. Over 10,000 women utilized, and out of them 50 have been hired, considered one of whom was Umezawa.
« It was a very…concentrated time, » she recalls. « I’d all the time watched idols working so laborious on Tv, but then I used to be right alongside them, training dancing and singing, and even being up on stage with them. I’d simply graduated from highschool, and nonetheless had so much to learn, so it was a very busy, significant half yr for me. »
Having joined the group as a part-time idol, Umezawa wasn’t taking up the center position in video shoots and 太子 ラーメン stage shows. She regularly appeared on-stage with the high-profile superstars on the AKB48 Theater in Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood, filling the role of a backup dancer. She also acted as a stand-in for senior idols during rehearsals, and took part in fan meet-and-greet occasions.
When we requested which different member left the most important impressions on her, Umezawa gushes about Minami Takahashi. « She was similar to I anticipated her to be: A frontrunner who carries everybody else along, and who’s at all times the primary to understand what needs to be finished and gets people organized. » She also had nice things to say about Rina Kawaei. « At the AKB Theater, I used to be in charge of making announcement on the P.A. system earlier than the concerts started, and I used to be feeling really nervous. Then [Kawaei] got here as much as me and said ‘Don’t fear, you’re going to do high-quality.’ It made me really feel so much better! », although she adds that the entire idols she labored with have been variety and useful.
However, when the concerts completed and the stage lights have been turned off, Umezawa didn’t call it day. Concurrent with her idol actions, she’d begun studying up on the right way to make ramen in books and on the internet. « After every concert on the AKB48 Theater, I’d go dwelling and head straight into the kitchen to observe, » she says.
Umezawa’s contract with AKB48 was for a six-month stint, and even after she graduated from the group (to use the parlance of the idol trade), she threw herself into enhancing her ramen skills. « After I graduated from my half-time position with AKB48, I kept trying to make different sorts of ramen, and in 2017 I lastly could make ramen that I thought tasted adequate to serve to customers. ‘This is something folks would probably really feel glad about eating’ I assumed…and so I opened Yagumo in September of 2017. »
After discovering success with Yagumo’s initial location, she opened a second branch final year, and the current addition of two franchise locations brings the chain’s restaurant depend up to four. Umezawa stays a fingers-on restaurateur, although. « Every day I’m at one branch or one other. It’s important to have direct interaction with your customers, so I take their orders, cook their ramen, serve them their meals, and even carry them their bills and give them their change. I spend pretty much each morning, from 4 to 7 a.m., making the day’s noodles. »
It’s at this point we had to remind ourselves that this tough-working ramen boss is 22 years-previous, an age when most people aren’t practically so industrious. « Don’t you ever feel tempted to stay the relaxed, care-free life that lots of people do of their early 20s? » we asked, to which she replied « For me, right now, the thing that makes me glad is making scrumptious ramen, and that ramen making people smile. That’s what I find enjoyable. »
We additionally questioned if Umezawa felt any sadness or frustration over not becoming a full-time idol, since that had as soon as been her dream. « Right after I graduated from AKB48, yeah, I did have some regrets, » she admits. « But as I was attempting to make it as an idol, I realized I used to be coming to love ramen even more. »
« I’ve all the time been the type of one that likes to concentrate on one thing. If I attempt to divide my psychological power up a lot, I run out of it.
