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Nostalgic Miso Ramen and Photographing the Tokyo Sakura Tram

Published 2026-01-31

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Nostalgic Miso Ramen and Photographing the Tokyo Sakura Tram

January 31 was a Saturday with nothing in particular on my schedule.

I wanted to go out and take photos, but I was also worn out from the workweek. I couldn’t get myself moving that morning and spent it lazing around at home. By noon, I was hungry and craving a slightly salty pizza.

I took my camera along in case I felt like shooting afterward and headed to Nakameguro first. What began with pizza and beer turned into a day of nostalgic miso ramen, followed by photographing trams traveling along the slope near Gakushuin-shita.

From a Lazy Morning to Nakameguro
What Reminded Me of Ezogiku in Waseda
Miso Ramen After All These Years
Waiting for the Tram on the Slope at Gakushuin-shita
Lights on the Rails After Sunset
Looking Back

From a Lazy Morning to Nakameguro

That afternoon, I went to Baird Beer Nakameguro Taproom.

I came for a salty pizza and a beer. Since I still wanted to go out and take photos afterward, I limited myself to one beer.

Freshly baked pizza topped with tomato sauce and basil — The salty, freshly baked pizza I’d been craving that day

A beer on the counter at Baird Beer Nakameguro Taproom — Just one beer, so I’d still be up for taking photos afterward

Even though I’d brought my camera, I still hadn’t settled on a destination. As I ate my pizza and drank my beer, I remembered a conversation from a little while earlier.

What Reminded Me of Ezogiku in Waseda

A little while ago, I was having drinks at Misumiya in Shibuya, where one of my high school classmates is the manager. Another classmate happened to be there, and while we were talking, they mentioned stopping by Ezogiku for the first time in years while they were in the Waseda area.

I spent both junior high and high school in the Waseda area, and I used to eat at all kinds of places nearby. Ezogiku’s miso ramen left an especially strong impression: a rich, greasy bowl with plenty of fat floating on the surface of the soup. Just thinking about it suddenly made me nostalgic.

That conversation came back to me over my beer in Nakameguro, and I decided it was time to go back myself.

Miso Ramen After All These Years

I headed to the Totsuka location of Ezogiku, near Omokagebashi.

Ezogiku's tall vertical sign beside the street — Back at Ezogiku in the Waseda area after all these years

Miso ramen topped with chashu, bean sprouts, menma, and wakame — Miso ramen piled with chashu and bean sprouts

A lemon sour and a plate of menma on the counter at Ezogiku — The lemon sour was surprisingly cheap, and I drank it while snacking on menma

The miso ramen was just plain good.

Maybe the flavor has changed in some ways over the years. Still, I suspect my memory had exaggerated just how greasy it was. I’d remembered it as such an intensely rich bowl that when I tried it again, I thought, “Wait, was it always just this good?”

And the lemon sour was incredibly cheap. I’d only come back for a nostalgic bowl of miso ramen, but that unexpected bargain surprised me too.

Waiting for the Tram on the Slope at Gakushuin-shita

Once I decided to go to Ezogiku, I also knew where I wanted to take photos afterward.

I headed to the area near the Gakushuin-shita stop on the Tokyo Sakura Tram (Toden Arakawa Line). I’d scouted the location remotely on Google Maps and knew it had straight tracks and a slope.

From near the bottom, a telephoto lens could compress the scene and emphasize the rise and fall of the street, almost like a San Francisco cable car photo. I’d been wanting to shoot there for years.

Telephoto view from near Gakushuin-shita of the Tokyo Sakura Tram tracks extending straight toward the slope — Through a telephoto lens, the changes in elevation look much closer together

Looking through the viewfinder, I could see the undulating tracks, overhead wires, and roadside buildings all compressed together. Just as I’d imagined, the density of Tokyo and the shape of the slope fit into a single frame.

A burgundy tram crossing a green bridge and approaching head-on — A burgundy tram approaching from the far end of the tracks

A blue tram crossing a green bridge, with the slope continuing beyond it — A different tram color changes the whole feel of the same composition

A blue tram running beneath overhead wires on tracks leading toward the slope — Tracks, overhead wires, the slope, and a tram all layered together at Gakushuin-shita

There wasn’t much of a sunset that day, so neither the sky nor the city turned red. Still, as the light faded, the tram lights began to stand out. It wasn’t the sunset I’d hoped for, but I still had fun photographing the light as it changed.

A yellow-and-burgundy tram passing in front of the green sign for Waseda-Bunri College of Arts & Sciences — The tram slowly passing by the lights along the street

Lights on the Rails After Sunset

After the sun went down, more lights came on at the stop and in the buildings along the street, creating a completely different scene from the daytime.

A red tram traveling through the city at night, with its lights reflected in red along the rails — The red tram’s lights stretching in thin lines along the rails

A Tokyo Sakura Tram surrounded by the lights of buildings and cars at night — A tram at night amid the lights from the stop, buildings, and cars

The tram’s lights reflected off the rails, forming thin streaks that continued around the curve. In the late afternoon, the tracks had still blended into the city. In the dark, they emerged as the main subject of the photos.

A distant tram approaching along the slope beneath a deep blue evening sky and high-rise buildings — The slope and tram while a trace of blue still remained in the sky

A tram traveling along the slope at night, with light reflecting from the curved rails — Light from the tram and the city lingering on the rails after sunset

I waited for tram after tram from late afternoon until after sunset, changing my position and timing slightly between shots. Even from the same spot, every change in the tram’s color or the surrounding light produced a different photograph.

Looking Back

I spent the morning tired and lazing around, but once I went out for pizza, the day grew into much more: a nostalgic bowl of miso ramen and the tram scene I’d wanted to photograph for years.

I got to revisit a flavor from my school days and finally capture a composition that had been in my head for several years. It was a day of nostalgia and plenty of time behind the camera.