I visited the renovated cafeteria of my alma mater!

Hi, everyone. Happy new year!

This is Umino.

I’m sure I’m the only one who is still wishing people a Happy New Year in February (lol).

I had actually planned to write a blog during January, but somehow, I just didn’t have the motivation (oy!). January just came to an end (sweat).

So, more than a month into the year 2024, how is everyone doing?

This year started off tragically with a major earthquake in Niigata on New Year’s Day (even the area around Lake Biwa, where I live, was shaken up quite a bit), and with events such as those in the entertainment industry also causing tremors, I am a little worried about what is going to happen in the future.

Umino is the ‘New Year’s Man’ this year, and I really want to make it a better year than the last few years, but it has been an ominous start to the year with a succession of legal events in the Umino family area, so I just hope the ‘dragon’ doesn’t get any more violent (sweat).

In mid-December 2023, when I had no idea that it would be the start of such a year, I went to ‘Otani University’, my alma mater, which I mentioned in this blog before, for the first time in several years with a man I had become friends with there!

The purpose was to go to the cafeteria, which was renovated in September 2016, as mentioned in the previous blog (‘Memories at Umino’s alma mater, Otani University (2)), to eat ‘alumni udon’ (70 yen per bowl) and ‘vegetable kakiage’, two of my most memorable flavors.

We met up with the friends around 13:00 in front of the university entrance (actually, before that we were hanging out at the also renovated ‘Aeon Mall Kitaoji’ lol) and took the nostalgic lift to the basement where the cafeteria is located, which we hadn’t been to in a while.

As soon as I arrived, I chose a seat, put my luggage there and went straight to the ticket machine with only my wallet.

I checked the ticket machine and found …. There was one! Alumni Udon! In the midst of the recent price rises, we are very grateful for the unchanged 70 yen – a very good price!

And when I looked at the bottom right of it, I saw a ‘Men-Tomo’ button that wasn’t there before, and above it, the words ‘Today is ika-ten’ written about it…

What? What does it mean?

At first, I chose “Alumni Udon” and also its “Men-Tomo” because I was somewhat worried, and went to the counter with the meal ticket that came out…

The kakiage, my loved kakiage is not there!(My own exaggerated …. Lol.)

When I used to go there, there were several different kinds of tempura to put on the noodles and we could choose freely, but apparently this has changed to only one kind of tempura being served on different days.

So, unfortunately, I didn’t get to eat my favorite, beloved kakiage (cries).

But the ‘ika-ten’ I had instead was also very tasty (lol).
The Udon noodles also tasted unchanged and were a relief, resulting in a very good lunch!

Incidentally, there was also ‘ice cream’, which was not available before, and although I did not eat it, it piqued my interest.

The cafeteria is open to the general public, so it may be a little difficult to get in, but why not try it and feel like a student (even Umino, who is a complete old man, was a student again for a while lol).

There was a guide to using the school cafeteria, so I’ll put the URL here~.

https://www.otani.ac.jp/buildup_plan/nab3mq000004odx5-att/nab3mq000004oe7p.pdf

Thank you for reading this article to the end. Well, see you next time!

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Author

海野さざなみ(Umino Sazanami)
A "Awamijin" (Shiga Prefecture resident) suddenly appeared on the "Kyoto People's Blog.
He is a man in his 30s with a shaved head and glasses. His hobbies include reading, creative writing (novels), and cooking.