Sapporo’s other culinary claim to fame is, of course, ramen... and to ensure that my research was as thorough as possible, I ate almost nothing but ramen during my stay (something I don’t recommend doing if you want to live very long). This is Ramen Yoko-cho, so named because it’s a tiny alley that cuts horizontally through a small section of Sapporo’s very un-Japanese-like rigid grid-like structure of streets. To find the best shops, I used the same system that’s worked for me in the past with restaurants: I asked every local person I met what their favorite ramen shop was. For some reason everybody comes up with different names, but for some reason the recommendations always seem to be great. Normally before answering the interviewee would first ask which type of ramen I preferred: “shio” (salt) or “miso” ramen - I like both but prefer the latter.

Here you see the interior of a shop in Ramen Yokocho. This particular shop offered free boiled eggs (usually they cost extra).