JOURNEY ACROSS JAPAN | Day 3 | We Nearly Died Eating Japan’s Spiciest Ramen 🍜

Well guys, it’s our third day on the road and we almost ruined our tastebuds indefinitely.

At risk of wasting away on this trip, we got up at an ungodly hour to visit the ramen shrine of Kitakata, AKA ‘Ramen Town’.

And despite Natsuki paying tribute to the ramen Gods, they certainly weren’t kind, as we received the formidable challenge of the day; ‘Eat at least 3 different types of ramen in a day’.

Kicking off the day, we visited Ramen Ippei for their morning ramen (literally Asa-ra). While all the restaurants in Kitakawa have their own take on the dish, they share some similarities including curly noodles in a thick, hearty broth.

Jito-Jito ramen, a dish containing heaps of pork fat, was originally designed for the local factory workers to set them up for the long, cold day ahead.

Despite our full stomachs we pressed on to order two bowls at Ajian Shokudo, a small restaurant absolutely rammed for lunch. The wasabi ramen beckoned and I took the liberty of ordering the 10/10 spicy red pepper ramen for Natsuki. Because I’m a good friend. The best friend you’ll ever have.

Natsuki took a mouthful and immediately nearly died.

The ramen was hotter than the gates of hell - perhaps the intense red colour should have served as a warning to us! I also had a mouthful and for the next 20 minutes my eyes were watering non-stop. Credit where it’s due to Natsuki he made a valiant effort but eventually conceded defeat.

If you visit Kitakawa, you can opt for more sensible options, such as miso ramen - a lighter, less dangerous option or hell, get the wasabi ramen. It was bloody good!

(Ellen our driver, ate the healthier Jiro ramen topped with beansprouts).

The last ramen of the day - thank God - was Tori Soba, chicken ramen. The broth itself is chicken based but don’t you worry, you still get several slices of braised pork.

Kitakawa has truly embraced the cult of ramen and put their own spin on the dish. Whilst I wouldn’t recommend eating ramen for every meal, it certainly wasn’t the worst challenge. Honestly, it was probably my favourite day of the trip so far!

To top it all off, we sampled some ramen ice cream - Natsuki loved it. I wasn’t so impressed. It just tasted like someone dunked a bottle of soy sauce on some vanilla ice cream.

Sadly, all good things come to an end, as our erstwhile companion Natsuki must head off back to Yamagata - his tastebuds undeniably obliterated along the way.

But don’t worry he’ll be back sooner than you think! And on the horizon, the spectre of Ryotaro looms.

The upcoming episode will see us head to the Fukushima exclusion zone, where I’ll be travelling solo to meet the people who call it home and to discover how the area has recovered after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. Especially in the last four years since our documentary.

We’ve decided to take an extra day on this edit, to ensure that we do the episode justice, given we're trying to essentially produce a mini-documentary in 48 hours! And so the next episode comes out on Tuesday before continuing daily throughout the week.

Thanks guys and hope you enjoy today's episode when it drops in a few hours!

Chris