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Crane Ramen Is a Japanese themed restaurant in the five points area of downtown Jacksonville Florida. Ramen is a relatively cheap dish to prepare so when I was about to spend fourteen dollars on a single serving I began to pay particular attention to my surroundings. The overhead in the five points area and the refine decoration made it clear I was paying for atmosphere and location. Which I completely accepted when I tasted my ramen.

Cultural themed restaurant in America are stereotypical music, art, and names. Crane Ramen hardly fallows this trend. Arguably Crane could be a Japanese themed name but the restaurant being less than a mile north of the saint johns river the name seems to be more of reflection of the restaurants physical location. The music playing was I little to quiet for me to hear clearly but the songs I did hear were American. The walls and doorways were tastefully decorated in Japanese themed art.

The environment created inside of Crane ramen is a respectable Americanized Japanese ramen restaurant. Japanese and Chinese restraints in America are either empty of decorations entirely or loaded where every part of the building is decoration. Crane Ramen had done an excellent job at finding the middle ground and accenting it with American fine dinning decorations. The food tasted authentic to the ramen I've eaten in Japan the larger selection of beer on tap is a plus as well.

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Work place culture

When I first started working at a restaurant I was told that a kitchen is modeled after military structure. When I was 19 I joined the Marines my best friend started working in a kitchen and he would always tell me how he could relate to what I was talking about. Now I have done both and I can recognise many similarities and differences in the two work cultures. As an active duty Marine I would nod and accept what my friend was saying as a vet in a kitchen his opinion is more clear to me.

In the Marines there is a rank structure from the comander and chief down to private. A restaurant has the owner down to dishwasher. In both fields you dont have to start at the very bottom I was a private first class when I became a Marine and a dishwasher in the restaurant. I have seen men join the kitchen working food prep or taco which I had to work my way up to. The people you work with and around are from diverse backgrounds or culture's but when put in the same place a common ground is found. Sex, drugs, alcohol, hobbies such as music, art, and entertainment tend to be those grounds and how much what you're going threw sucks.

My shop in the marines had a gunnery sargent, staff sargent, multiple sargents, corporals, and lance corporals. A kitchen has a chef, sue chef, kitchen manager, line cooks, taco, and dishwasher; prep I view as a parallel position. I would not call a staff sargent or gunny for a beer I have done this with my chef and sue chef. Mixing ranks is not a concern in a kitchen. Interactions are less respectful and professional in a kitchen. In the civilian world you can't just wrestle somone when you feel like it and hazing is frowned on. It is much more common for people to talk about your flaws behind your back then addressing them in person in a kitchen as well.

A kitchen has a rank structure and diverse employees these are the only similarities I see. Even with the same four topics that any group of people can find some common ground the acceptance in depth the conversations can go limited in a kitchen and often met with discrimination. The rank stucture seems to only have clout when someone in the top positions is in a bad mood. I can honestly say that the two are nothing alike. The people in the kitchen have shown me the many different cultures of Jacksonville. The people who have lived their whole lives here in down town or the beaches to the people who've moved here from other states or countries. This collection of people have given me my first taste of Jacksonville's culture.

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Culture

I use to think culture was what you are thought. How you respond or react in situations and how you act. In the first day of my humanities class I have learned different. Culture isn't just a natural response to situations but how your surrounding in life have taught you to respond. My understanding is that culture is created by humans and our individual preferences choose which characteristics will define us from clothing style, music and art all the way to speech, posture and manners . At 28 years old my cultural experiences have changed multiple time from my youth, teens, and early twenties molding me into who I am.

For the purposes of this explanation I describe my youth as 13 and below when my parents and sibling mostly decided my culture. My parents taught me manners and to always show respect. That I should take responsibility for my actions. Raising me to be a respectable part of society. I grew up in Mt. Airy MD. A small country town where manual laber is what everyone does. Country was always on the radio, fairs were where we could run like animals. Growing up was controled and stucture by what my parents cultures have lead them to believe was right. Teaching me how to act in public compared to home. That hard work is rewarded and poor attitudes are punished.

Around 14 the reighns were loosened continuously up until 19. I was able to spend more time with my friends out in town and explore more of my local culture. I never traveled far so my experiences were limited. I learned to enjoy metal, rock, hip hop, and many other types of music. I went to highschool football games, coffee shops, skate parks seeing how people chose to express themselves some charicteristics I would adopt others weren't for me. By 17 I had found the human body to be its own work of art and began focusing on my own and those around me. Taking up photography and weight training as a way to portray and display my interest.

When I turned 19 I chose to join the Marine Corps where I was introduced to a plethera of cultures. After, of course, the Marines rewrote a lot of my cultural charicteristics to suit their needs. My manners, self respect, general respect towards others, and work ethic all greatly reinforced in my opinion. The men and woman I met for the next few years taught me about their art, music, hobbies, and other cultural aspects specific to their heritage. The aspects I enjoyed I would adopt and allow myself to become more diverse in doing so. At 25 my contract had ended and I moved to Jacksonville FL. a city in florida vastly different from anything I had experienced in the past. I have met many different people and seen a small fraction of this cities cultures.

In my life my parents and the Marine Corps have made the biggest impact on my culture. Both have taught me to be strong willed but open to new experiences. The people I have met have allowed me to grow and learn multiple culturally specific preferences that I have chosen to participate or forgo. I now enjoy more genres of music then I dont. I can appreciate all types of art even if I dont always want to participate. My culture has made me who I am today and I am excited to see what I will acquire next.