Things Japanese People Wait in Line For: Nick’n Roll
(To the melody of “Do You Know the Muffin Man?”)
Do you know the Nick’n Roll?
The Nick’n Roll, the Nick’n Roll
Do you know the Nick’n Roll?
In Shimokita town
Ok, so they won’t be hiring me to write their TV jingle, if they ever make a commercial. That’s OK, I’ve got a decent day job.
NICK’N ROLL is a little take-away booth in Shimokitazawa that sells an interesting kind of onigiri, basically rice steamed inside of thin pork slices. It’s really more like a burrito with a pork tortilla, but whatever…
They taste alright, and are cheap enough, but they’re quite small and really, why the hell do people wait 20 or 30 minutes for these things?
That’s Japan, I guess.
This is about half of the line we joined to wait for our nick’n rolls.
Almost to the window…
Well, the sad fact of the matter is we were tired of waiting so long and too hungry to bother snapping a pic of the meager little things, so we just shoved them into our faces and burned the shit out of our tongues.
Note to self: Next time, poke a hole in Nick’n Roll to let steam escape before eating.
Anyway, check out the ニックンロール webpage for pictures of the puny pork balls as well as directions and contact info.
An American living in Tokyo. Can be seen bounding through Shinjuku Station most mornings, teeth gnashing, eyes bulging, a cup of cheap coffee clenched in one fist and a satchel in the other. God help those who don't see him coming.
May 8th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Waiting makes me angry.
People being late and waiting (which are related…I realize as I type) make me go ballistic.
One is by choice the other isn’t but I seem to get just as angry either way.
If I ever pass one and there’s no line….I’m in
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Billy W Reply:
May 9th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
Yep, waiting sucks ass. Especially if you work yours off for the weekend. Why waste valuable free time?
People love it here though
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May 10th, 2010 at 6:34 am
Are these are new type of Onigiri? and it costs 340yen each??? Isn’t it too much for just one onigiri? The people in the line are all young girls and boys. It is a small shop with even no space for customers to enter. Why is it so popular??????????????????????????? Fushigi…
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May 10th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
not a pork eater, do they have a chickenized version?
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May 11th, 2010 at 12:15 am
@Taeko:
Well, they are tasty… and they have more calories than a typical onigiri, so I think young college guys made them popular by having them as a small meal when down on cash. Hard to say for sure why they’re so popular, though. They’ve been featured on TV several times and celebrities visit there from time to time so…
@Jamaipanese:
I wasn’t much of a pork-eater, myself. After coming to Japan, though, I found it to be alright. Back in the States, too much nasty pork in Mexican food left me put off by it, but now… Anyway, it’s worth a try. No chicken or beef so far as I know.
Or, do you not eat pork for other reasons?
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May 13th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
You made me laugh with that remark about the hole. I had yet in mind a scene from Okuribito eiga when they were eating very hot fugu and I visualised you making the same or worst grimaces :))
The owner cannot complaint about the lack of customers. We eat a lot of pork here in Portugal. Pork and chicken are cheaper than cow or fish. For sure one of the reasons that make Nick’n Roll so popular should be the price and the taste of course.
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May 17th, 2010 at 4:26 am
@ Billy
just personal reasons not religious ones. Spent summer holidays on my aunts farm while growing up and had to help slaughter animals, from rabbits to chicken to cows to goats to pigs and there was just something disturbing about pig meat, kinda difficult to explain.
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Billy W Reply:
May 17th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Understood. My grandfather had the same kind of thing with Thanksgiving day and Christmas day turkey.
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May 20th, 2010 at 12:58 am
Tokyo is full of lines. =\
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June 10th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Interesting. I should try that the next time we are in that neighborhood.
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