How Long Would You Stand in Line for a Bowl of Noodles...and Origami?

I had the chance to be the origami consultant on a commercial this past weekend; but I turned it down, having committed myself to volunteering a better use of my time, along with Pam Miike, in helping Yami entertain the masses through the joys of paperfolding at his origami booth.

It was standing room only (*Ahem*...because we were given only 3 chairs).

At the Torrance Cultural Arts Center:

Ramen fanatics and lovers of the Japanese culture will get their fix on Sept. 14-15 during the First Annual Ramen Yokocho Fest held in Torrance, Calif. 

This two-day ramen festival is sponsored by Weekly LALALA, an L.A.-based Japanese magazine. The celebration—to be held at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.—will commemorate the publication’s 10th anniversary, according to L.A. Weekly. 

This anticipated event, hyped as “the largest ramen festival in the U.S.,” will feature $8 bowls of ramen from renowned ramen specialists from around the world, including places like San Jose, Hawaii, Las Vegas and Japan. The confirmed vendors for the event include: Orenchi, Shalala, Gomaichi, Silverlake Ramen, Iroha, Ikemen, Hayatemaru, Jidaiya, Tsujita L.A. and Daikokuya. 

In addition to delicious ramen, several eateries will be serving up some of their house favorites. For example, Tsujita L.A. will provide sushi in addition to their noodles—featuring tsukemen and ramen—and Hannosuke will be featuring its signature ten-don. Not to be outdone, Jidaiya will be serving novelty ramen burgers, the current burger trend. 

Parking is free at this event, as well as entrance to attend.

Notice it says free to get in through "the entrance"; not that the ramen itself is free.

Can’t make it to Torrance this weekend? Not to worry, for a second Ramen Yokocho Festival will be held in Las Vegas on Oct. 19 (Sunday) at the city’s Rio Hotel.

I have never seen so many people standing in long lines that wrapped around the buildings throughout the entire day, just for ramen noodles.  They stood in line to get inside, stood in line for tickets, and stood in lines at noodle booths.  (Supposedly, they served 1500 people within the first hour!).  Some managed to find time to do some origami.




Before the event, I tested out launching my glider on a long trajectory arc(the longest I've thrown one that returned back to me was in a basketball court):



Instead of sending Jeremy Shafer hate mail that his super boomerang airplane (I think it's more like a magic carpet or flying french fries) doesn't fly well or return back, I practiced, practiced, practiced:





A clip of Yami teaching:



These basketball players had a difficult time coming out of their shell and being more outgoing [/sarcasm]:



They were calling me "bro'" and "Mrs. Michael" (after I told them how a 6 yr old gymnast of mine calls me "Mrs.").

Pam cut off the conversation toward the end of the video where they noticed a poster of Yami then put 2 + 2 together that Yami was sitting right in front of them.  Typically, I tell people that he's my son (and I adopted him about 10 years ago).

Pam and Yami looking suspiciously up to something; I don't know what, but something...

This boy was trying to figure out a way to carry for him and his sister all our origami leftovers we were giving him, at the end of the day:

On the way home, I stopped by Joe's house (he lives in Torrance) and picked up some giveaways for PCOC (Yes!  I am going!!!).

Photos can be viewed here.