RAAMEN tabetai Hitori de tabetai Atsui no tabetai RAAMEN tabetai Umai no tabetai Ima sugu tabetai CHAASHUU wa iranai Naru to mo iranai Zeitaku iwanai Kedo kedo... Negi wa irete ne Ninniku mo irete Yamamori irete Otoko mo tsurai kedo onna mo tsurai no yo Tomodachi ni naretara ii no ni Kutabireru mainichi hanashi ga shitai kara Omoikiri ookina ji no tegami yonde ne Tonari ni suwaru Koibito-tachi ni wa Me mo kurezu taberu Watashi wa watashi no RAAMEN taberu Sekinin motte taberu Kondo kuru tokya Minna de kuru wa Baa-chan motsurete kuru Kedo kedo... Ima wa hitori de Hitori de tabetai RAAMEN tabetai Otoko mo tsurai kedo onna mo tsurai no yo Tomodachi ni naretara ii no ni Akirametakunai no nakitaku naru keredo Watashi no koto douzo omoidashite ne RAAMEN tabetai Hitori de tabetai Atsui no tabetai RAAMEN tabetai Umai no tabetai Ima sugu tabetai RAAMEN tabetai
So, based on the authour of kayokyokuplus (a great blog, check it out if you didn't already); ''Although there was no official gender segregation when it came to ramen restaurants or any of the Japanese fast food places such as gyudon joints, back around the time that Yano had written this song, it was hard for women to enter ramen joints by themselves. There was a heavy feeling that such places were only for men, and I think Yano wanted to say (perhaps in a tongue-in-cheek way) that she also wanted to break through the Noodle Ceiling to get her chance to slurp down a bowlful of the good stuff by herself without feeling intimidated.'' which is quite interesting
A user called 丙午 said it well (six months before I got here). Translating it here for you: 人間の食欲のうた。 A song about feeling hungry. と思いきや I think... やっぱり男と女の食欲のうた。 No, after all, this is a song about the hunger of men and women. なのか？ Maybe? シンプル。 Simple. I'd add on: On one level, ramen is a basic comfort food. In this song, I think it also stands for idea that a lot of life is driven by biological/emotional need (or "desire"). The narrator keeps her desires simple, turning down the add-ins like pork belly or fish cakes. She still asks for heaps of onion and garlic (which would be free to pile on, at most ramen shops). Interestingly, shojin-ryori (like several other Buddhist traditions) explicitly forbids eating onion and garlic because they relate to/awaken human desires. The song begins by building an image of a strong person who knows herself, and fearlessly seeks out what she wants. But then, she acknowledges that life is tough-for both men and women-and laments that having normal friendships (or becoming friends with a particular person?) seems out of reach. Next, she pretends like she doesn't notice the lovers next to her at the ramen bar. But she is currently singing about them, so she clearly noticed them. Similarly, she claims (repeatedly) that she wants to eat alone. Although it's true that part of her wants to eat alone, it's clear that another part of her longs to have a friend, a lover, a family, to come and share the experience with her. So it's a song about the longing for a place to be, and people to belong with. Also, it's a song about wanting to eat some ramen.
