Ai Otsuka -- Ramen San-pun Cooking（ラーメン3分クッキング）

 

Officially, the high temperature was supposed to hit the heady heights of 15 degrees Celsius. Well, thanks to the winds whipping up something fierce this morning, it sure didn't feel like 15...more like 5 lonely ones. Fortunately, I was out today to meet up with a couple of friends who are fellow translators at a central branch of Santouka for lunch.

But of course, ramen was on the menu so I tucked myself into a savory bowl of spicy miso ramen (although the picture above is that of a similar bowl at Raijin that I took last December). That bowl sure came in handy for bringing back some warmth. I also noticed that there will be a new branch of rival ramen restaurant Sansotei opening up just up the street in a few months so with two other ramen places in the immediate area, that Yonge-Eglinton neighbourhood is certainly looking like Toronto's ramen yokocho.

Buoyed by my taste experience today, I have been inspired to search for yet another ramen-based kayo or J-Pop tune to start this week's KKP songs. Well, it didn't take too long to find one to join Akiko Yano's（矢野顕子）smoky and tongue-in-cheek "Ramen Tabetai"（ラーメン食べたい）. Cheerful singer-songwriter Ai Otsuka（大塚愛）whipped up her bowl of fun called "Ramen San-pun Cooking" (3-Minute Ramen Cooking) as a track on her third original album "Love Cook" from December 2005 (great month to give a musical shoutout to ramen).

The above recording though actually comes from Otsuka's "LOVE POP TOUR 2022" DVD + CD set. Regardless, "Ramen San-pun Cooking" is an interesting mix of light synthpop, echoes of 70s Motown R&B and fun delivery by Otsuka and company as they sing and wax philosophically on the three minutes of waiting time between the pouring of the hot water and the time that their instant cup ramen is ready to go. Apparently, Otsuka also likes her miso ramen, too.

The original recording of "Ramen San-pun Cooking" in "Love Cook" actually fit into three minutes exactly. The above video has her doing the song at twice the speed so dare I say it, it took exactly one minute and thirty seconds. Incidentally, "Love Cook" reached No. 1 on Oricon and became the 10th-ranked album for 2006.