Quickly, strangle it before it starts trying to make friends!

Eating ramen in Japan can sometimes be like accidentally taking in a mouth of brine while boogeyboarding. Since being in Japan I have generally tended to stay away from alot of Japanese food due to the horrendous things they sometimes do to it - sprinkling fish-product where fish really ought not to be, mixing foods that should never be mixed (often involving fish), cruelly calling things 'dessert' and 'sweets' when they are the farthest thing from dessert that you could imagine. And involve fish. I have been a very bad internationaliser in this repect. I did however eat at the best restaurant yet the other night with some of the Sunshine 88ers. It was wonderful. I might yet venture into the land of japanese cuisine.

One of the stranger things in Japan happens in restaurants: they shout at you. And in shops too. In fact in many places. They shout at you when you arrive and they shout at you when you leave. You'd think that it might be off-putting for customers, but it really is just the Japanese version of hospitality - customer service. They're actually thanking you for coming and welcoming you/seeing you off. The Japanese, unfortunately, only have one way of doing this and it involves monotone shouting. Imagine walking into McDonalds and having the surly tenager behind the counter, the spotty teenagers at the grills, and the ugly teenager washing dishes in the back all turn around and shout "HELLLLLOTHANKYOUFORCOMINNNNNNNG!" in the loudest and screechingest voices that their pubescence will allow. And again on your way out. Imagine the librarian standing on a chair at your arrival and announcing to all "EVERYBODYLOOOOOKHEEEE'SGOING TOTHESELF-HELPSECTIONNNNN!"

Imagine it at the doctors'...