‘Hardcore noodle shop’ in Tokyo received an invitation to rock out in the U.S. — or did they?

Men Yard Fight is a popular ramen shop in Yokohama. It’s known for its self-professed ‘Ramen Jiro-inspired’ menu, and includes some pretty interesting bowls like this tapioca ramen topping (sadly, this was for a limited time only in Fall 2019, although we’ve got our fingers crossed that it gets put back on the menu!)

Coincidentally, here’s a picture of Boston hardcore punk band Ten Yard Fight.

You may have spotted a slight resemblance between the band name and the shop name. Ten Yard Fight noticed it too, and sent Men Yard Fight a message –

“When are you guys going to fly us in to play a show? Or send us some T-shirts?”

▼ Yes, you can get your own ramen shop T-shirt.

Men Yard Fight posted this in response on Twitter:

“Looks like we’ve finally been discovered by hardcore band Ten Yard Fight in Boston, and we’ve even had an inquiry about a mail order for goods. They seem to have mistaken us for a hardcore rock band and asked us to come and play in the United States, but we are a RAMEN SHOP. We’ll send some shirts via cash on delivery, lol.”

It looks like someone at Men Yard Fight was dozing off in English class, as they seem to have slightly misinterpreted the message, with the main culprit being the word us. While U.S. is a well-known abbreviation for the United States, in this case it appears that the ramen shop misread Ten Yard Fight’s playful joke as an actual invitation to come and play a gig in the United States, as opposed to the other way around.

But did Men Yard Fight really get their name inspiration from the Boston rockers? A cursory Google search for ‘Ten Yard Fight’ not only brings up the band but also a 1993 NES American football game, so there’s the possibility that Men Yard Fight got their name from that. However, after taking a closer look at the ramen shop’s logo, you might be inclined reach a different conclusion…

▼ The noodle shop logo has the Japanese character ‘men’, which means noodles.

▼ The band logo has an X in the background, symbolising the ‘ten’ in Ten Yard Fight.

And while there is a strong case for forgery here, it seems that the band themselves aren’t too bothered. Plus, Men Yard Fight are clearly big fans of the band and have even named one of their dishes ‘Hardcore Pride‘, after one of Ten Yard Fight’s hits. Order a Hardcore Pride and you’ll receive every single topping that the store offers, including cheese, quail eggs and bonito flakes.

“We’re bringing back the ‘Hardcore Pride’ (which is ‘all toppings at once’) in commemoration of being discovered by the real Ten Yard Fight. Our logo is a rip off of the band’s logo. We’ll be playing Ten Yard Fight on endless repeat in the evenings.”

And who knows? If the people at Men Yard Fight actually follow through and send the band a T-shirt, what possibilities would it unfold? An unintentional Battle of the Bands? An official collaboration between the band and the shop? Or, even more excitingly, the return of the tapioca topping?! We can only hope.

Restaurant information 
MEN YARD FIGHT
Address: Kanagawa-ken, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ku, Tanmachi 3-23-14
神奈川県 横浜市神奈川区 反町 3-23-14
Open: 11:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.; 6:00p.m.-9:00 p.m. (Mon-Fri)
Closed: Weekends

Source: Twitter@MenYardFight
Featured image: Twitter@MenYardFight
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[ Read in Japanese ]