[Youden]

My ramen experiences in Japan are very different to the ones abroad. In Japan, ramen is meant to be pretty quick, taking "fast food" to a whole other level: you go in, order and pay, sit down, eat, then leave. The eating environment is often either a tiny table, a seat at a bar or a small booth. It's usually not a place for social get togethers.

In Europe on the other hand, they're usually normal sit down restaurants. You have to go through the normal dance of waiting to be seated, ordering with the server, waiting 10-15 mins for your food then trying to get somebody's attention to pay when you're done.