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Consider the following page from Kiniro Mosaic. ![page from
KinMoza](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RwDTH.png)

Some context, in case you don't know the series: The three girls are in high
school. Karen is the blonde, Aya is the girl with black twin-tails, and Youko
is the girl with short light hair. Karen is half-British, has never lived in
Japan before, and still has some trouble with the language and culture. That's
why she says "It might be something normal for you two Japanese people, but
for someone like me, it was a big adventure."

It was shown earlier that Karen is pretty outgoing, but the joke here seems to
be that Karen thinks going to a ramen shop is something that's only a big deal
to her because she's foreign, and it turns out that it's also a big deal to
natives Aya and Youko. But why do Aya and Youko consider this "amazing" and
"grown-up"? Youko's line about fast food restaurants suggests there's some
cultural reference concerning ramen shops that I'm missing.


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2014-09-05T08:04:08.967
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question
culture kiniro-mosaic
Why do Aya and Youko consider going to a ramen shop alone so amazing?


Shall I assume that these characters are in high school or younger? In that
case, yes, it not so common for high schoolers to hang out at a ramen
restaurant compared to a fast food place like McDonald's or a family
restaurant like Jonythan's where they can stay for a long time using the drink
bar (all-you-can-drink soft drinks/juice/coffee/tea), study there, chat with
friends, etc. Ramen restaurants are generally not upscale and, as you can see
in the illustration, strangers may sit next to each other at bar-like seating,
so this makes it convenient for middle-aged salarymen to eat lunch there alone
(again, this is shown in the illustration). Ramen shops are not very conducive
for having conversations, hanging out, and staying past when you empty your
bowl. Thus, it's not a place that usually has a family or young people vibe.

If these characters are university students, it is less likely that the
Japanese girls would consider Karen fearless, because university students tend
to want to eat cheap and quick food, so ramen joints work for that, but it is
still that case that many female college students wouldn't go to a ramen shop
alone, and possibly wouldn't even go there in a group unless that group
includes a male friend, because they will assume that the place will be full
of college guys and older men. It's more common for Japanese university girls
to eat at regular restaurants and cute cafés.


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2014-09-05T09:45:23.737
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answer


I think that's the joke. Aya and Yoko are acting excited because Karen said
"You could at least sound interested", so there taking the advice and are now
interested in the conversation (over-the-top interested mind you).


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answer