[/floatr]Ivan Orkin appears to be going from strength to strength. He popped up in this thread when the overseas press gave his Minami-Karasuyama ramen shop a lot of coverage. Now he has gone retail. I just went into a Circle K Sunkus and noticed that they were selling instant Ivan Ramen. According to this Japanese press release (PDF), they started doing so a couple of weeks ago. You can buy it at stores nationwide for 250 yen a pop but stocks are limited to 200,000. If you'd asked people 20 years ago whether you'd see instant ramen, based on a recipe by a white American, being promoted in a Japanese store, with his name and face featuring prominently, I don't think many would have thought it likely. All credit to the guy for putting in the effort to make it happen.As a reminder, here's a short TV feature (no subtitles) on the man and his shop:
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As well as the links in the earlier thread, Metropolis also carried a feature on him a year ago which will help you figure out the video if your Japanese isn't up to it.
