Standing Room Only…Restaurants?

Fried meat on a stick, SRO.

Taking the single-guy-wolfing-down-a-microwaved-burrito-over-the-sink to new levels, check out these SRO restaurants! Not uncommon, especially near train stations, these places solve a major problem for harried Japanese citizens: how do you grab a bite when you’ve got 30 minutes from office to meeting and 20 of those are going to be spent in a subway car?

Let’s review the obstacle course:

1: No eating or drinking on trains.

2: No eating or drinking while walking around.

3: No auto in which to dine while vrooming to meeting.

4: Nowhere to throw your trash if you think you can get away with furtively gobbling down a rice ball from a convenience store while hiding in a nearby alley or behind a planter.

There are several varieties of standing room only restaurants to choose from: kushiage (fried meaty bits on sticks), soba, udon or ramen (bowls of noodles), and even sushi! But all deliver the two things people working like demons need most: speed and calories!

In this restaurant, you can slurp up a bowl of noodles between trains

It’s the year 1784 and the shōgun rules with an iron fist . . . except within the walled pleasure quarter of Yoshiwara. Inside the Great Gate, samurai law does not apply, and it’s women who pull the strings

The Samurai’s Octopus…is a truly remarkable book, one that surprised and charmed me at every turn of the page. You’re in for a treat.”
James Ziskin, Anthony, Barry, and Macavity Award-winning author of the Ellie Stone mysteries

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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had

Published by Jonelle Patrick

Author of The Last Tea Bowl Thief

2 thoughts on “Standing Room Only…Restaurants?

    1. The funny thing is, I have this problem all the time, but I never think of going into these restaurants. Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen a woman in one! It’s really a guy thing.

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