The Best Ramen in the World - for $3

When most foreigners think of , they immediately think "Tokyo" I am about to take you away from Tokyo. In fact, the place I am about to write about, you won't find in any guidebook. It is not that I think I know inside and out. It's just that I really believe this place wouldn't garner tourists' attention.

It's a ramen restaurant, popularly known in Japanese as a ramenya, which means "house of ramen." I doubt that the concept of ramen needs introduction. Most American college students probably think it's synonymous with "instant noodles." That's not too far from the truth, considering how ramen is packaged in the , but that's not the kind of ramen I'm talking about. I'm talking about delicious hand-made noodles in steamy, mouth-watering broth free of MSG topped with boiled eggs sliced down the middle, pieces of pork, bamboo shoots, and a variety of other ingredients of your choice.

Happo, which is Japanese for "eight treasures," is the best ramen restaurant-in the world-as far as I have seen. And I've been around. I've tried ramen places in both Northern and Southern California, both the western and eastern halves of the main island in (Kansai, the western half, is where Kyoto and Osaka are; Tokyo and Yokohama are in Kantou, the eastern half; and Honshu means "main island"), and Shanghai. I've even gone to Asian places in Seoul, Paris, The Netherlands, and Brussels. Happo is unbeatable.

To begin with, the taste is unparalleled. But it's the entire package that has won over "generations" (that's literally the word in Japanese they used to describe groups of us international students). I studied abroad in a little Japanese town called Tsuru, two and a half hours west of Tokyo by train, nestled on the northern foot of Mt.Fuji. Tsuru is a town that has lots of historical value, but that's how all old, boring towns market themselves. Still, I love Tsuru for all its rustic beauty and people with whom I've shared irreplaceable memories. Plus, had I not gone to Tsuru, I would've never discovered Happo, that little ramenya sitting on the corner of a small street dominated by the Okajima supermarket.

Imagine this: savory ramen, preluded with a bowl of smooth, healthy tofu, served with all-you-can-drink barley tea, while surrounded by a family atmosphere, all starting at 400 JPY (with the yen to U.S. dollar exchange rate the way it was when I lived in Japan, that's barely $3!). Even if you get an extra large of the most expensive ramen they serve there, it's only 650 JPY (less than $6).

It's a small restaurant, no more than twelve seats, operated wholly by a middle-aged couple. The ba-chan (affectionate Japanese for "auntie," which is what I called her after a few months of being a regular at the restaurant) remembers the name of every single international student who's ever been to Happo. That's well over a hundred names! The ji-chan (affectionate Japanese for, you guessed it, "uncle," which is what I called him after, you guessed it again, a few months of being a regular at the restaurant) does all the cooking while Ba-chan chats with the guests.

It really was a warm, comfortable environment there. I don't even want to call it a restaurant. It's as if when dinnertime rolls around, and, as a fellow former international student said to me some weeks ago, "it feels like they're cooking just for us." I couldn't agree more.

The couple really is unbelievably friendly. It's also an excellent business model although it would probably never work in , since anywhere where ramen is popular enough you couldn't sustain a business by charging $3 a bowl. The couple would occasionally give us little treats like tangerines and candy just because they felt like it.

One time, they even took two of their daughters, four other international students, and me to the beach (it was a two-hour drive). We hadn't been to the beach since arriving in (the Odaiba district in Tokyo is gorgeous, but it's not really a beach). Ba-chan even asked me to marry her daughter when she was old enough (as a joke, of course, I think…).

Anyway, that's probably enough of my sentimentality. Let's be realistic for the last few sentences of this article. It seems like a bit much to get on two-and-a-half hours' worth of trains (yes, plural, there's at least one transfer usually involved) just for some ramen, even if it is Happo ramen, but don't think of like that. Think of it as on the way to Mt. Fuji and Fujikyu Highland, the best theme park in the area, with, according to Guinness World Records 2005, the longest haunted house in any amusement park in the world. Fujikyu Highland's also got your standard set of roller coasters. Just don't go there right after some Happo ramen. You don't want it all to come back out.