トントンマン
I have been a die-hard Hiroshima Carp fan since I was a child, but this season (or every season?) has been very disappointing. The hopes of making it to the Climax Series, which seemed quite possible towards the end, were dashed in a game that epitomized this season (a big comeback loss due to the middle relief collapsing). I have been pointing out the issues with the pitching staff, especially the middle relief, since the beginning of the season, and it turned out just as I feared. There were also many games lost due to managerial mistakes. While there may be a hindsight perspective, in the world of competition, results are everything, so accountability should be taken. Just the day before yesterday, Manager Sasaki announced his resignation, which seems tough but expected. The newly appointed Manager Arai also raises a lot of concerns... I was born and raised in Tokyo, so even though I am a Carp fan, I have had no connection to Hiroshima since my college days, until my work in Okayama from April 2013 to March 2014. During that time, I had many opportunities to visit Hiroshima. I enjoyed Hiroshima specialties such as oysters and soup-less tantan noodles, but the most memorable was Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. While I was familiar with Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, having a famous restaurant in the Kanda area near my workplace in Tokyo (like Carp and Big Pig), eating it in its hometown was a whole different experience. Okayama, where I lived, had its own version of okonomiyaki, and the city was known for its okonomiyaki culture with many okonomiyaki restaurants like Osaka's takoyaki shops. I also enjoyed the local delicacy of Mame Tama-don in Tokushima during my business trips, so my year in Okayama was closely tied to okonomiyaki. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say that it was closely tied to both okonomiyaki and Sanuki udon... For lunch on this day, I chose a restaurant that mainly serves Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, with the catchphrase "Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki." The restaurant, which opened in January 2022, was a new establishment, but it was a highly rated restaurant that was selected for the Okonomiyaki Top 100 in 2019. The owner, Y, was born in Tokyo but grew up in Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and was a passionate fan of "Tanoku Sohonten" in Saeki-ku, Hiroshima City. With that experience, when he decided to start his own okonomiyaki restaurant, he trained for two and a half years at "Tanoku" before opening his own restaurant in Hatagaya. The "Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki" in the restaurant's name is the same as the one used by Tanoku, so it is not called "Hiroshima (okonomi) yaki" or "Hiroshima-style." The name "Hide" in the restaurant's name is not Y's name but his father's name. The restaurant is located on the second floor of a building where Daikichi, a buying and selling specialist, is located on the first floor. As a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant, there is a popular restaurant called "Hiroshima Okonomiyaki Kai" in Palm 2 of Palm, which also operates on the second floor. The restaurant seemed to be in direct competition with that one. The restaurant is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m., and I visited around 11:45 a.m. on this day. When you go up a few steps at the entrance, there is a door, and when you open it, there are more stairs inside. The dining area is at the top, and the restaurant is much larger than expected from the outside. There are 6 counter seats and 45 seats in total, including 9 iron table seats for 39 tables, but the interior is quite messy for a new restaurant, perhaps due to using the furnishings from the previous location or the move. It is not very clean for a new store.