Two crazy ways to wake up

 

This is a new(ish?) green tea blend from Asahi. It's called Morning Blend. Know  what's so morning about it? It's zero caffeine. You know, just what you want in the morning. What?! I hope you've noticed that I don't like to be all "Whoa, Japan's k-k-krazy," but this defies explanation. What's the point?

Okay, I promised two crazy things, but this second is actually totally reasonable in comparison: breakfast ramen. I wrote about this "asa-ramen" for pulse. Tokyo Walker, a magazine that has a bit of a tendency to cry Trend! called it a trend. Actually, they called it a "boom."  I would want to see a line around every ramen shop on every corner to feel comfortable going with "boom," but there do seem to be more ramen shops open at dawn now than a few years ago, so I don't mind saying "an increasing number." (See how boring it is inside my head?)

Please check out the story. It has a photo of a big, greasy bowl of ramen at the top. If you're on the breakfast side of the world and that doesn't sound appetizing, you can come back at lunch time.

I've never had ramen for breakfast, but I would. I got used to savory breakfast (fish, rice, miso soup, pickles, leftover sushi) the first time I was here. No different than a slice of cold pizza for breakfast, really. And we all like that, don't we?