A new trend is treating us to vistas of soup rarely seen by humans, whether we like it or not.

I always feel the sign of good art is something that changes my perspective on things, providing new ideas and imagery to stimulate the soul. A new field of photography among ramen otaku called “dorosha“ certainly fits that criteria.

Dorosha is the result of the words “doron” (drone) and “dorodoro” (thick, as in a cream or soup) getting mashed together with “shashin” (photo) for the sake of convenience and ambiguous punning around. The word describes the act of flying a drone inside a ramen restaurant to take an aerial picture of soup. At least it would, if you could afford a drone and find a ramen shop owner tolerant enough to let you fly it inside.

That’s understandably rare, so most, if not all, people just stick their smartphones high in the air to simulate a bird’s eye view.

https://twitter.com/majingabacho/status/832130625498779649 https://twitter.com/majingabacho/status/836082396214636544

Works of dorosha have been getting posted to Twitter at an increasing rate through March and April, but the earliest example seems to belong to a Twitter user and prolific doronsha photographer called Majingabacho to accompany his ramen reviews in December of last year.

https://twitter.com/majingabacho/status/811922822817660928

When viewed at just below the ceiling, it’s as if you’re a ghost longing for the earthly delight of ramen. Or, when looking at the three-step series of images pioneered by Majingabacho, it’s as if the deliciousness of the soup triggers an out-of-body experience.

▼ Majingabacho even dorosha’ed the legendary Jiro Ramen

https://twitter.com/majingabacho/status/848896110412177410

Despite the rising popularity of doronsha photography, it has been largely condemned by the general public.

“I don’t get it…”
“The act of taking pictures of ramen is pretty pointless to begin with.”
“Why would anyone want to do this?”
“Ramen shops better start banning this crap. Seriously.”
“Is this what drones are used for?”
“They better not be standing on the chairs with their dirty feet to take these photos.”
“They just want to stand out from other ramen otaku. Nothing but posturing.”
“I’m confused, are these actually drones? Why is any of this happening?”

Although dorosha isn’t winning over everyone, businesses aren’t likely to heed the one comment’s advice and ban the practice and the free promotion that comes with it. Kobushi Ramen in Tokyo tweeted a statement regarding their views on dorosha.

▼ “‘Is “dorosha” popular now? If it doesn’t bother the other customers then it’s fine, but we hope you pay attention to your surroundings.”

So it would seem that as long as dorosha photographers are mindful of their surroundings and not getting out of hand by climbing on chairs or scattering their dandruff and lint into other people’s bowls, the photo-fest will continue.

And while quite a large majority of people either hate or are confused by dorosha, I rather like it. Then again, I also like black velvet paintings and eggplant crafts so I’ll leave you all to judge it for yourselves.

Source: Twitter/ドロ写, Kinisoku
Top image: Twitter/@majingabacho