Prologue

So, as the title suggests this is a blog about eating Japanese ramen everyday for 1 month. I'll give you the ins and outs here.

So I came to Japan about 2 years ago to teach English and like any excited traveler I decided to eat everything! Of course that can lead to some unpleasant experiences, mostly at cheap sushi restaurants where the "acquired tastes" are less than high quality. But every traveler makes mistakes, and then they learn! (I advise you not to get the sea urchin at ¥100 ($1/£0.60) sushi places)

And that is when I discovered ramen, noodles in a meat soup usually with pork, green onions, and other toppings. DELICIOUS. Every area of Japan has a different ramen. For example in Sapporo they have butter ramen:

Because why not add solidified fat to your bowl of salty, fatty meat soup?

Of course like all other foods, there are also ramen chain restaurants, and there is one in my town that I frequent, at one point I was going twice a week (Oops). So the restaurant I went to is called Rairaitei or 来来亭 in kanji.

You're not exactly going to miss this restaurant by driving past it are you?

On my second visit I found they had a point card, after 20 bowls you got ¥1000 off and because of a misunderstanding with my Japanese friend translating the card I thought after 40 bowls I get a free bowl every month. I didn't realise my folly until I got my complete 40 bowls

Instead I got that gold card, please imagine it as shiny and new, I didn't take a before photo

So, instead I got a gold version of their point card, which means I needed to buy another 40 bowls. Which, if you know what this blog is about, I succeeded in doing. It also turned out that it wasn't one bowl of ramen free a month, it was one month of free ramen. A very big difference, especially if you are talking about the effects on your health!

Yup, just like that, another 40 bowls

At the point I filled my needed 80 bowls they took my name, address and photo. Then, I waited a few days and I received my free pass in the post.

I have NO idea what this all says, I will find out tomorrow

So, as you can see above, I get one free bowl of ramen everyday from the 14th October until the 13th November. And, because I'm both cheap (A free meal, every day for a month! Yes please!) and a scientist (Well, I've been teaching for 2 years but I was one), I decided to find out what would happen if I ate a bowl of ramen everyday for 1 month. And thus, this blog was born. I am currently not sure of the rules of the card, I will have my Japanese friend translate it so i know what I can do, but I will be eating at least one bowl of basic ramen everyday for this upcoming coming month. 

I'll be updating as I go,  I have decided to not change my normal behaviour other than this. Not exactly a scientific experiment but I hope it will be interesting enough. I work out weight training 2-3 times a week (don't think I'm like Schwarzenegger though, just a skinny white guy trying to bulk up a bit) and do 1.5 hrs or Karate every Wednesday (Again, I'm no Daniel-san, or if you are more of the new generation of Karate kid, Jaden Smith). Other than that, I will be doing this with no extra exercise.

Last night I went to my local onsen (Japanese public baths) and used the body fat percentage machine to check my body fat and my weight. I am currently 77kg and 18.1-21.6% fat, with a BMI of 22.6. The internet tells me that is acceptable and not unhealthy. 

My prediction is that I will gain a fair amount of weight, but I think the biggest thing that will happen is that I will be so sick of ramen that I won't want to eat it again for months. But I hope it just means sick of that ramen place, cause if you cant tell, i really love ramen. 

Wish me luck, and thanks for reading. I'm hoping this month will be interesting for us all. But chances are you wont be gaining as much fat just by reading about it, no promises though!