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Food

This Ramen Spot Offers a Virtual Date for Your Lonely Ass to Eat Noodles With

Just as any person with lingering attachment to their sanity would do, we’ll simply ignore the fact that they’ve decided to use hamburger-themed idols for the ramen tie-in.
Screengrab via YouTube user ra-men sasayama

As any bona fide otaku can confirm, there are few earthly pleasures that can rival devouring a bowl of tsukemen while your anime waifu lets out a high-pitched squeal of approval and lovingly stares at you through her flower-shaped pupils.

Should you happen to agree with the poignant worldview expressed above, you're in for some damn good news, because an Osaka-based ramen chain just announced a promotion that allows diners to eat a meal "alongside" a virtual version of a girl group idol. That's right, ramen chain Sasayama is offering a special experience at its Amerikamura (American Village) and Tenjinbashi branches.

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There, you will be given a card with a QR code on it, which entitles you to access to one of five videos starring a lovely young lady from the idol group Hamburgirls Z, who will virtually eat ramen with you. While there are sure to be plenty who have no objection to the service, others might be turned off by how closely it resembles a virtual form of compensated dating, which happens to be disturbingly popular in Japan.

READ MORE: Japan Now Has a Hamburger-Themed Girl Group and It's Glorious

Just in case you happen to be the sort of ignominious charlatan who has never been graced with the beefy stylings of Hamburgirl Z, they happen to be a 15-person hamburger-themed girl group that is produced by the chairman of the West Japan Hamburger Association. As we reported previously, each of the 15 girls is meant to represent a hamburger topping, although there seem to be some repeats, considering that not one, but two of the girls represent onions. The others range from the mundane—like lettuce and tomatoes—to the ridiculous—like Awaji Island Fish and Awaji Island Chicken.

Just as any person with lingering attachment to their sanity would do, we'll simply ignore the fact that they've decided to use hamburger-themed idols for the ramen tie-in.

Then again, if you really think about it, the glamorous and kawaii world of idols is very big business in Japan and we see no reason why it shouldn't awkwardly spill over into the world of dining in the most obtrusive of ways.

After all—whether or not you would enjoy eating with a doe-eyed idol who is happy to act as if she is wholly enamored with you—we can all agree on how much actual people can suck IRL. A faux, hamburger-themed, noodle-inspired love fest may be just what the doctor ordered.