She was once affiliated with AKB48, Japan’s biggest idol group, but now ramen followers are those 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 type of blue-collar job, till he saved up enough cash to open his ramen joint.
A few of those story beats also apply to Yagumo, a ramen restaurant that opened in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward two years ago.
▼ Yagumo
But Yagumo’s owner didn’t get into the ramen business after working as an accountant or a truck driver, but as an idol singer.
Yagumo founder/proprietor Mayuka Umezawa wasn’t affiliated with simply any idol group, either. No, she was connected to AKB48, Japan’s number-one idol juggernaut.
▼ Umezawa at her previous job…
▼ …and at her new one.
So how did Umezawa make this unusual transition? We stopped by Yagumo to seek out out, and in addition, in fact, to strive her ramen, which the 22-yr-old restauranteur personally ready and served to us.
Let’s begin with the food. Yagumo provides a quantity of various ramen varieties, together with soy broth, salty broth, 太子 家系ラーメン and butter broth. The preferred, though, and also Umezawa’s private favorite, it the miso ramen, so we ordered a bowl of it for 800 yen (US$7.40).
Miso ramen can typically have a darkish, murky look to its broth, but Yagumo’s is brilliant and comparatively clear.
As you may count on from a chef with the skillful footwork of a skilled dancer, the thickness of the noodles is completely balanced, as is their texture, which is pleasantly firm and chewy however with no mushy or gooey feeling.
The noodles have a remarkable tasty wheaty flavor to them, they usually go completely with the broth, which is rich and flavorful with a clean finish, devoid of the oily aftertaste that plagues sub-par miso ramen. The chashu can be glorious. This is no paper-thin, half-melted strip of pork, but a proper meaty slice of protein.
Put all of it together, 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 till the dinner crowds show 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 got here in 2014, when AKB48 put out a job listing looking for « part-time idols » to joint the group on an initially temporary foundation. Over 10,000 women applied, and out of them 50 had been employed, one in all whom was Umezawa.
« It was a very…concentrated time, » she recalls. « I’d always watched idols working so exhausting on Tv, however 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 high school, and still had a lot to learn, so it was a very busy, meaningful half yr for me. »
Having joined the group as a part-time idol, Umezawa wasn’t taking over the center place in video shoots and stage shows. She regularly appeared on-stage with the excessive-profile superstars at the AKB48 Theater in Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood, filling the function of a backup dancer. She additionally acted as a stand-in for senior idols during rehearsals, and took half in fan meet-and-greet occasions.
After we requested which other member left the largest impressions on her, Umezawa gushes about Minami Takahashi. « She was identical to I expected her to be: A frontrunner who carries everybody else alongside, and who’s at all times the primary to know what needs to be achieved and gets folks organized. » She additionally had good things to say about Rina Kawaei. « At the AKB Theater, I used to be in cost of creating announcement on the P.A. system earlier than the live shows began, and I used to be feeling actually nervous. Then [Kawaei] came as much as me and said ‘Don’t worry, you’re going to do high-quality.’ It made me feel so significantly better! », although she adds that all of the idols she labored with were sort and useful.
Nonetheless, when the live shows finished and the stage lights were turned off, Umezawa didn’t name it day. Concurrent along with her idol actions, she’d begun studying up on how to make ramen in books and on the internet. « After every live performance at the AKB48 Theater, I’d go dwelling and head straight into the kitchen to follow, » 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 place with AKB48, I kept making an attempt to make different sorts of ramen, and in 2017 I lastly may make ramen that I believed tasted good enough to serve to clients. ‘This is something people would most likely really feel comfortable about eating’ I assumed…and so I opened Yagumo in September of 2017. »
After finding success with Yagumo’s preliminary location, she opened a second department final 12 months, and the current addition of two franchise locations brings the chain’s restaurant count as much as four. Umezawa remains a fingers-on restaurateur, though. « Every day I’m at one department or one other. It’s necessary to have direct interaction together with your clients, so I take their orders, cook their ramen, serve them their meals, and even bring them their bills and provides them their change. I spend just about every morning, from four to 7 a.m., making the day’s noodles. »
It’s at this point we needed to remind ourselves that this difficult-working ramen boss is 22 years-old, an age when most individuals aren’t practically so industrious. « Don’t you ever feel tempted to dwell the relaxed, care-free life that lots of people do of their early 20s? » we requested, to which she replied « For me, right now, the factor that makes me joyful is making scrumptious ramen, and that ramen making folks smile. That’s what I discover fun. »
We also questioned if Umezawa felt any sadness or frustration over not changing into a full-time idol, since that had once been her dream. « Right after I graduated from AKB48, yeah, I did have some regrets, » she admits. « But as I used to be making an attempt to make it as an idol, I realized I used to be coming to love ramen much more. »
« I’ve all the time been the kind of one who likes to focus on one factor. If I try to divide my mental power up a lot, I run out of it.
