100 Yen Soba Day

I knew that 100 Yen Soba Day was coming up on Tuesday, but also that I didn't have classes until 5 PM, and probably wouldn't get out of the apartment until everything was long over (the idea is that you get a small bowl of plain soba noodles for 100 yen (90 cents USD), and can buy toppings for extra. Sales start at 10 AM, and continue until 6 PM or when supplies run out.



I was walking home from the school at 8 PM Monday night, and decided I should take a couple pre-event photos for contrast, and "just in case."


(Sign in front of 1-2-3 Soba in Tenmonkan, promoting "the power of soba." History, cooking methods, and health benefits.)

Tuesday afternoon, I ended up bypassing Tenmonkan on my way in to the school, and missed seeing the tail end of the event (I was in kind of a hurry to reach the school, and took a shortcut along the western edge of the shopping arcade). When I got back out, the space in front of Lotteria was already cleared out.



1-2-3 Soba is a restaurant in Tenmonkan close to the Wicky's House bar. They're the ones that ran the tables above in the space in front of Lotteria. They were also prepared Monday night to sell 100 yen soba.  And, the table was abandoned and dark when I got out of the school that night at 9:30 PM. Based on what I saw last year for Soba Day, sales were probably brisk.

Note that this is another Japanese word play. Oct. 8 is 十八 which can also be read as "to + paa". With a little bit of twisting, you can turn it into "soba". This is like the 29th of the month (ni + juu + kyuu) being turned into "ni + ku" = niku (meat) for Meat Day.