$4 Giant Katsu Sandwich in Japan! 70-Year-Old Couple Works 37 Years No Breaks

$4 Giant Katsu Sandwich in Japan! 70-Year-Old Couple Works 37 Years No Breaks

I can just barely finish a half-size. I’ve been doing it 365 days a year. I’ll keep at it until I’m 80! Good morning. Good morning. They’re here. Come on in. Thanks for coming. It’s hard work, starting so early. (On weekends they start prep around 6 a.m.) It’s been just the two of us for 40 years. Wait, not exactly. We had someone for a while. Back then we hired a part-timer. About seven years. We’re old now. So we take it slow, just the two of us. You have to fuss over people when you hire them. So we went back to just the two of us to avoid that. Impressive, right? The plastic models. My husband makes these. They piled up at home. So I said, “Just sell them or something.” How’s it going over there? The noodles? About to start? Good. Noodles! Noodles! That chewy texture is irresistible. The big shops all do it by machine. We don’t need to install machines. At our age… These are our noodles for champon. We use the same for ramen too. We make them by hand. The noodles you buy weren’t good. So we decided to make tasty ones ourselves. If it’s no good when we make it ourselves, we can accept it. If you pay for what others made and it isn’t good, you know? What’s the point. In the morning we make the dough, let it rest a day, then make noodles. Let them rest one more day before selling. About the third day after making them is when they taste best. I don’t do the cooking, you know. I just watch. All I can do is chat with the customers. He’s the one we rely on. If he goes down, that’s the end. I also wanted to run a bookstore. Because I love books. A food shop, a bookstore, and a toy shop. I love plastic models. My childhood dream has come true just like that. Next one, please. Alright! OK! Now we’re making the sauce for the katsu sandwiches. The taste has changed since the beginning, bit by bit to suit our customers. People’s tastes have changed nowadays. Back then kids didn’t eat spicy food. Now even little kids eat spicy. Tastes keep changing, so you have to keep up with the times. Or you get left behind. Best is to ask the customers about taste. Now the spices go in. When we get home, we’re so tired we can only rest. Starting next month, the katsu sandwich goes up by 50 yen. It’s a shame, but… We finally went into the red. From pushing ourselves too hard. Sales and expenses are about the same. No pocket money this month at all. So next month we’ll raise it a little. We prep about thirty pieces. At least fifteen servings will sell. Sorry, I’m going to take my medicine. One for the eyes and vitamins, and zinc, so my sense of taste doesn’t change. It’s 72% cacao chocolate. For my memory to prevent decline. I ate five pieces and the nutritionist scolded me, so I cut it to one. We’ve never taken a sick day. How many years since you opened the shop? Thirty-seven years. We opened in 1988. I’ll be 70 next year. In eight more years, the youngest grandchild will be an adult. I’d like to keep the shop running until then. I’d like to keep going that long. Those celebration gifts cost a lot. We can’t skip the youngest, either. As long as our spirit and strength hold. If we go down, we’ll go down leaning forward. (Open for business.) Alright! OK! (Hours: 9:30–16:00, last order 15:30) We use this as a little mat and set the water on it. People get surprised when they’re filmed. It’s for the SDGs, so we reuse everything. Welcome. Hello. (Chicken katsu sandwich $4 / 650 yen) The katsu sandwich? Yes, here you are. Wow, amazing! It’s my first time here. We heard about it and came from Kobe. Amazing. Delicious. Amazing. Really amazing. Sorry, but can I take the rest to go? Sure, I’ll wrap it up. Did you like it? It’s delicious, but I’m full. This portion was set by a 17-year-old from Takanabe High School’s rugby team, so if you can finish it, you’re 17. But that was 30 years ago. When I turned 47, in my forties I couldn’t finish it anymore, even though I’m the one who set it. People asked me to make a half-size, so we made a half-size. It’s 350 yen($2). We use cuts that help with fatigue recovery. And the oil isn’t greasy, right? It’s not. It’s soybean oil, so it doesn’t sit heavy. I’ll clear this and wrap it up. Thanks for waiting. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. That was delicious. (Champon $4 / 600 yen) (Chashu ramen $5 / 800 yen) (Champon set $5 / 800 yen) Welcome! Your reserved seat is open. Thanks for waiting. Here you are. Half-size. My house is just over there. I’ve been coming since grade school—about 30 years. This katsu sandwich is delicious. It used to be smaller back in the day. Now it’s a super big size, but it’s delicious. The roast pork in this chashu ramen is great. I’ve brought my daughter here since she was little. It’s really good. I can just barely finish a half-size. True. Did you finish your homework? I’m in trouble. That bad? It’s okay! Dad will teach you. Not me. I can’t. Thank you very much. The high schoolers who ate katsu sandwiches here go out of the prefecture for jobs or school, then call when they come back, and say, “Auntie, I’m only home on Jan 1 and 2, so please open.” I get that a lot. So we open on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and ended up opening 365 days a year. When they say, “I’m back in Miyazaki,” and talk like that, we can’t stay closed. We want to open for them. By staying open, I get to talk with all kinds of people, get information from folks from many countries, and though I haven’t traveled in 40 years, it feels like I’ve traveled. That’s a half-size katsu sandwich. Huge! Huge! The bread isn’t the main thing here. The bread’s almost like a bonus. It’s so hot it’s like holding your breath. I can’t breathe. Let the rice rest for 30 minutes. Once the burner’s on, it’s too hot to bear. This is homemade curry. (Chicken katsu curry $5 / 700 yen) (Nanban set meal $5 / 700 yen) Sorry to keep you. Here’s the nanban set meal. If you pour this on, it gets milder. I’ll add the side dishes. This one too. Excuse me. Thanks for waiting. How was everything? It was delicious. Sorry I couldn’t finish it. That’s fine, that’s fine. Where did you come from? Okayama. Okayama Prefecture? Thanks for coming from so far. It was so good that next time I want to come back and finish it. Next time I want to clean my plate. Thank you very much. Take care. Thank you for the meal. Let’s eat. Let’s eat. When it comes to cooking, my husband is the expert, so I just do as he says. I’d never presume to advise him. Even the first reason we started dating… the reason I thought we could be together, he won me over through my stomach. Because he cooks delicious food. She came as a part-time worker where I worked, and she was the cutest of them all. She turned me down. About ten times. I’m blood type A , so I thought someone blood type O would be a better match. He’s blood type A, so I turned him down. We ended up marrying without even giving an answer. Because she’s wonderful. No, no. He’s gentle, you can tell, right? We’ve never had a fight. We have two kids, and neither has ever seen us argue, so even now that they’re married themselves, they don’t know how to fight. Right, because they never saw it. We try to say “I love you, you’re cute” at least once a day. It seems that’s really important. If he says it, I can’t help but say it back. We’re together about 20 hours a day, but that doesn’t mean we understand everything about each other, so I’m always asking, “Is this okay? Is this okay?” Words of love are for when we’re alone. If we hold hands at our age, it looks like someone caught a wandering old man, like, “Grandpa, let’s get you home.” It feels like I’m getting tugged. Yeah, that’s the problem with this. Thanks for waiting! Here’s your katsu sandwich. I’m just keeping this clean. Oil gets on it, and it helps prevent infection, too. Cleanup is done. We walk both to and from everywhere, usually 30 to 40 minutes. If we go far to shop, it takes over an hour. We make ourselves walk for our health. The fans are off, off, off, OK. I got the key. Two old folks, walking, walking, walking. Everyone who comes to our place is kind. Whatever it is. Welcome, welcome. For our health, to add some load, we intentionally cross the overpass and take the stairs. We’re short on muscle strength. At our age your strength falls off. The sun is scorching today. The heat reflecting off the ground is brutal. My eyes sting from sweat. The reason we’ve been able to keep going is because it’s fun. Seeing customers happy or surprised, and hearing words of encouragement, it all gives us joy, and lets us keep going. We do it to make a living too, but if it weren’t fun, we’d have quit. That’s right. It’s been fun. 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This countryside diner run by a couple for 37 years with zero days off serves up an amazing Katsu Sandwich and they plan on running it well into their 80’s as they never fight and serve delicious meals to all their customers. We wish them continued happiness and health!

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🏠 Shop Name:チャンポンハウス たつや(チキンかつサンド)
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