Shiina Yuika Opens a Ramen Shop Under Her Own Name in Japanese Ramen Simulator

NIJISANJI — Nijisanji’s Shiina Yuika spent a Wednesday evening running a ramen shop of her own in Japanese Ramen Simulator, a management game in which the player stocks the kitchen, cooks the bowls and serves the customers. She began by redesigning the shop’s sign and logo, and settled on a black design that she called good enough to want for herself, with a Shiina Ramen logo on it.

Service started with a single menu item, tonkotsu shoyu ramen, and she worked the shop alone: boiling noodles, building the soup, topping each bowl and washing dishes. Early customers brought complaints. One objected to something inedible in his bowl, and a hot stove that had never been lit sent out cold soup, to which she said, “Oh no, the fire isn’t on. That’s bad.” She laughed off a fallen piece of seaweed with a three-second rule, and a customer who ate it answered with the old ramen-shop line, “This is all I need.”

“Five dollars an hour isn’t enough to get them moving.” — Shiina Yuika, on her register-only part-timer

As the shop gained levels she added a poster that announced the water on offer as “raw water” and another that advertised noodle firmness left to chance. She then hired staff. In the character editor she gave one part-timer a Shiina Ramen T-shirt and a pink apron, and another, whom she hired at five dollars an hour, did nothing but work the register and dozed off when the line was long. “Five dollars an hour isn’t enough to get them moving,” she said. Once a noodle-boiling deck was unlocked, the part-timers took over the boiling and she could finally step back.

Later purchases included a beer server and trays, which she tried out on a morning-beer order, and a smaller refrigerator for the crowded kitchen. Near the end of the stream a ramen critic arrived. She took his order for special toppings, garlic and a beer, but the verdict was that the soup’s aroma was weak, and she said she would revisit the ingredients and how they were combined. A fire broke out in the kitchen soon after, and she raced to put it out with her staff in danger.

She closed by saying she would leave it there for the day. She praised the Shiina Ramen logo and said it might show up at a festival someday. Chat kept up a running commentary on the health inspectors who might be called, and one Super Chat came in at the start of the stream.