There’s a line forming at “Ippudo” along Route 171.
Around the end of the line↓
There were families, high school students, and also a few solo male customers. In other words, people of all ages and genders(rounyaku-nannyo ← I can’t pronounce it).
The Reason for the Line
It looks like the line formed because of Ippudo’s campaign offering free ramen.
We wrote about it once before↓
They’re giving away 340 bowls for the lunch session and 340 bowls for the evening session.
The photo is from the evening session, at around 3:50 p.m.
Apparently, numbered tickets for the free ramen were handed out starting at 4:00 p.m., which means people were already lining up before the tickets were distributed.
There are about 50 people visible in this photo alone. Overall, there were probably around 80 to 90 people.
If there’s another free campaign next time, this might give you a rough idea that even if you start lining up around the time the numbered tickets are handed out, “you might still make it.” (This is only a rough guide. Nishitsu cannot guarantee you free ramen.)
The end of the line from another angle↓
In Closing
Apparently, this is a campaign celebrating their 34th anniversary. Whether 34 is really a nice round milestone is another question, but Ippudo does run quite a few interesting campaigns.
The number 340 bowls of free ramen probably comes from the 34th anniversary too. So for their 100th anniversary, will they give away 1,000 bowls? We’ll leave that mystery to future generations.
