Brittany Murphy in The Ramen Girl: Self-Love and Noodles
A few years ago, I had just left my agency job and looking for work. In the long-term, I wanted to work remotely, so I was avoiding full-time desk jobs. I reached out to various local businesses pitching myself and got a response from a local ramen shop.
So for almost six weeks during my transition to remote work, I was a ramen girl. To clarify: I never made ramen. I swept floors, took orders, bussed tables, and dabbled in some marketing and website work for them. But it was a blissful period in my life where I tried something new and different.
As a writer and self-proclaimed flaneur, I have a deep appreciation for stories where women find strength in the unknown. I love risks. I love adventure. I love the journey, both outward and inward. That’s why The Ramen Girl is one of my favorite movies.
The premise of The Ramen Girl is simple. Girl meets boy. Girl moves to Tokyo, Japan after boy gets a job there. Boy dumps girl and leaves her in Tokyo. Abby, played by the delightful, late Brittany Murphy, is stranded in a strange city. She doesn’t speak Japanese, she’s working in an entry-level role at a law firm, and besides two people she met through her ex, she doesn’t have any friends.
One night, she wanders into a local ramen shop and befriends the grumpy owner. Unbeknownst…
