Herrine Ro: Oh, and that's good ramen.
Yume Wo Katare has a line out the door every day,
and I am very curious to see
what the concept's about,
what the ramen tastes like,
and what this whole hype is.
So, let's go find out.
Yume Wo Katare doesn't
consider itself a restaurant.
Rather, it's a dream workshop
where diners not only come for the ramen
but also to share something personal
before they leave.
Sara Brande: You come in
by yourself or with friends.
We serve you a huge bowl of ramen,
and you challenge yourself to finish that entire bowl.
And if you can finish everything in that bowl,
you have the power to achieve your dreams.
And at the end of the meal, once you finish your ramen,
you share your dream with the room
and everybody cheers and supports you
to achieve your dream.
Customer: So, first of all, it's the best food,
you know, you can find.
But second of all, like, it's really transformed my life.
Like, it's a lifestyle as well as an incredible cuisine.
Yume is sort of... it's a community,
and it's a group of people that's about,
you know, sort of making food a part of aspirations
and so there's a whole bunch of us.
We come all the time.
We love it.
We hang out with the staff,
and it helps us achieve our dreams.
Herrine: Before opening Yume Wo Katare in 2006,
Tsuyoshi Nishioka worked at restaurants in Kyoto
to support his dream of
becoming a successful comedian.
However, upon discovering Jiro-style ramen
at a shop in Japan, Nishioka pivoted
from his work as a comedian and began
to focus entirely on cooking ramen.
After opening his first ramen restaurant,
Nishioka's former comedy partner
came into the shop to show his support.
Nishioka later found out his partner
took his own life the following day.
From that point forward, Nishioka made it
his life's mission
to help others accomplish their dreams,
using a delicious bowl of ramen as the catalyst.
Sara: That experience kind of showed him that,
you know, even some people
who lose their dream,
some people who lose their passion,
you know, they feel like there's no hope for them,
and so he wanted to stop that.
He wanted to create a space
where everybody feels
like there's hope and there's always something to live for.
Herrine: Yume Wo Katare's one and only specialty
is its tonkotsu shoyu pork ramen.
The ramen at Yume Wo Katare is made
from a pork bone broth that cooks for 14 hours,
which gives it an incredibly rich, fatty pork flavor,
and is combined with a soy-sauce broth.
Yume Wo Katare makes its ramen noodles by hand.
The ramen is topped with chopped cabbage,
bean sprouts, chopped garlic,
and either three or five slices
of roasted chashu pork.
But prospective diners should strive to order
no more than what they think they can finish,
as finishing the ramen at Yume Wo Katare
is no simple feat.
Jake Vo: So, we want you to
imagine this big
bowl of ramen
as one of your dreams.
The strategies that you
use to finish it
would be the same
strategies you use
to accomplish your dreams.
Herrine: So, just don't be half-a--ed about it.
Jake: Yes.
Herrine: It's important to note
that leftovers are discouraged
at Yume Wo Katare.
In fact, Yume Wo Katare has a rating system
for diners' ramen completion.
If you finish everything in the bowl,
you receive a "perfect" chant from the dining room.
Employee: In the third row we have another perfect!
Diners: Perfect!
Herrine: On the other hand,
if you finish the pork and noodles
but leave some of the broth in the bowl,
you receive a "good job."
Employee: All right, in the first row,
we have another good job!
Diners: Good job!
Herrine: I am so inspired by the other people around me
who have gotten "good jobs" and "perfects,"
which, I don't know if I'll ever be able
to achieve a "perfect," like, at least,
like, this first time around.
Not only did I feel intimidated
by that huge bowl of ramen,
but I also felt nervous
at the thought of sharing my dream
with a group of total strangers.
Throughout the course of eating this,
I'm going to be reflective and think
really think hard on, like, what my goal is.
And hopefully by the end, even if I don't finish this,
I will have a better understanding
of what I want to achieve.
Knowing the weight that finishing a bowl
of Yume Wo Katare ramen carries,
both figuratively and literally,
I put my dream into the forefront of my mind
and began strategizing how
I was going to finish the ramen.
Hey, Karen, can you do it?
Yay.
It's not every day someone
asks you to tell them your dream,
especially in front of nearly two dozen strangers.
Customer: I came here three years ago
on a first date with him,
and I didn't share my dream 'cause I was shy,
but my dream was to actually be with him,
and now we have a family,
so my dream did come true.
Herrine: As I worked my way through the ramen,
I was inspired by diners
around me sharing their dreams,
and so I pushed myself to keep going.
Employee: Hello everyone, if I can have your attention
for just a moment, we have a dreamer in this front row.
Herrine: I always want to find stories like this
that are very inspirational
and have a cultural significance,
so my dream is to find more places
with enriching backgrounds like this
and share it with the rest of the world.
Employee: All right, fantastic.
In the second row, we have a good job!
Diners: Good job!