is a Japanese-Chinese fusion noodle dish. It includes served in several flavors of hot broth. Common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), lacto-fermented bamboo shoots (menma), narutomaki, and scallions. Nearly every region in Japan has its own variation of ramen, such as the tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen of Kyushu and the miso ramen of Hokkaido.
The origins of ramen can be traced back to Yokohama Chinatown in the late 19th century. While the word "ramen" is a Japanese borrowing of the Chinese word lāmiàn (), meaning "pulled noodles", the ramen does not actually derive from any lamian dishes. Lamian is a part of northern Chinese cuisine, whereas the ramen evolved from southern Chinese noodle dishes from regions such as Guangdong, reflecting the demographics of Chinese immigrants in Yokohama. Ramen was largely confined to the Chinese community in Japan and was never popular nationwide until after World War II (specifically the Second Sino-Japanese War), following increased wheat consumption due to rice shortages and the return of millions of Japanese colonizers from China. In 1958, instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando, further popularizing the dish.
Ramen was originally looked down upon by the Japanese due to racial discrimination against the Chinese and its status as an inexpensive food associated with the working class. Today, ramen is considered a national dish of Japan, with many regional varieties and a wide range of toppings. Examples include Sapporo's rich miso ramen, Hakodate's salt-flavored ramen, Kitakata's thick, flat noodles in pork-and-niboshi broth, Tokyo-style ramen with soy-flavored chicken broth, Yokohama's Iekei ramen with soy-flavored pork broth, Wakayama's soy sauce and pork bone broth, and Hakata's milky tonkotsu (pork bone) broth. Ramen is offered in various establishments and locations, with the best quality usually found in specialist ramen shops called rāmen'ya ().
Ramen's popularity has spread outside of Japan, becoming a cultural icon representing the country worldwide. In Korea, ramen is known both by its original name "ramen" () as well as ramyeon (), a local variation on the dish. In China, ramen is called rìshì lāmiàn (/ "Japanese-style lamian"). Ramen has also made its way into Western restaurant chains. Instant ramen was exported from Japan in 1971 and has since gained international recognition. The global popularity of ramen has sometimes led to the term being misused in the Anglosphere as a catch-all for any noodle soup dish.
Etymology
The word ramen is a Japanese borrowing of the Mandarin Chinese lamian (, 'pulled noodles'). A common misconception is that ramen is a Japanese adaptation of lamian, but the two dishes have no direct relation, and how ramen came to adopt its name from lamian remains unclear. Ramen evolved from southern Chinese noodle dishes, primarily Cantonese, as opposed to northern Chinese noodle dishes that may feature lamian.
The word first appeared in Japan in Seiichi Yoshida's How to Prepare Delicious and Economical Chinese Dishes (1928). In the book, Yoshida describes how to make ramen using flour and kansui, kneading it by hand, and stretching it with an illustration. He also states that ramen is better suited for soup or cold noodles than for baked noodles. In this case, however, ramen refers to actual lamian (hand-pulled noodles), not the noodle soup dish.
There are various theories on how the dish came to be named "ramen", but the most plausible is that the term was misapplied by Japanese colonizers. After the end of World War II in 1945, millions of Japanese settler colonists were repatriated to Japan from China. They may have labeled the southern Chinese noodle dishes in Japan "ramen", based on their superficial resemblance to lamian dishes they had encountered in northern China, particularly in the Japanese-backed puppet state of Manchukuo.Ayao, Okumura. "Japan's Ramen Romance." Japan Quarterly 48.3 (2001): 66. ProQuest Asian Business & Reference Some cookbooks from this time period include ramen, such as Hatsuko Kuroda's Enjoyable Home Cooking (1947).
Chinese immigrants in Japan initially served a wide variety of Chinese noodle soup dishes, and referred to them by their specific names. However, they were collectively referred to as by the Japanese. Nankinmachi (Nanjing Town) was the common Japanese term for areas where Chinese people settled, and the Japanese used the term "Nankin" to describe newly imported Chinese things. For example, in 1903, in Yokohama Chinatown, then known as Nankinmachi, there was a .
The dish was renamed in 1910 by Kan'ichi Ozaki, the founder of the first specialized ramen shop. The Japanese regarded Chinese civilization as inferior and this name change reflected broader imperialist attitudes within Japanese society towards China. The word washoku was used for Japanese cuisine, yoshoku symbolized Western cuisine, and Chinese cuisine was called shina ryori. In the decades following, would be the most commonly used name for ramen.
After World War II, the word shina (, meaning 'China') acquired a pejorative connotation through its association with anti-Chinese racism and Japanese imperialism. The word shina was replaced with chūka across various terms in the Japanese language. Chūka is derived from the Japanese reading of , an official name used by the two governments claiming sovereignty over China, the Republic of China () and People's Republic of China (). Shina ryōri was changed to chūka ryōri, and likewise, the term replaced shina soba.
The Nissin Chikin Ramen, created by Momofuku Ando, was released in 1958, and the name () began to spread across the country. Today is the most popular name, but remains prevalent in areas such as Takayama. The two terms can be used interchangeably, though is also often used to refer to more "classic" styles of ramen.
History Origin
Ramen is a Japanese adaptation of Chinese wheat noodle soups.NHK World. Japanology Plus: Ramen. 2014. Accessed 2015-03-08. It is first recorded to have appeared in Yokohama Chinatown in the early 20th century. However, the dishes ancestral to ramen already existed in Japan within the Chinese community since the 1880s. Although ramen takes its name from lamian, it did not originate from the hand-pulled lamian noodles of northern China, since the noodles used in ramen are cut, not pulled. Rather, ramen is largely derived from southern Chinese noodle dishes, particularly those from Cantonese cuisine. This is reflective of Yokohama Chinatown's demographics, as the majority of Chinese settlers there were Cantonese, followed by Shanghainese.
Sōmen is another type of noodle of Chinese origin made from wheat flour, but in Japan it is distinguished from the noodles used in ramen. The noodles used for ramen today are called and are made with kansui (, alkaline salt water).
The official diary of Shōkoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, , mentions eating , noodles with kansui, in 1488. Jīngdàimiàn is the noodle of the Yuan dynasty. This is the earliest record of kansui noodles being eaten in Japan.
One theory says that ramen was introduced to Japan during the 1660s by the neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Shunsui, who served as an advisor to Tokugawa Mitsukuni after he became a refugee in Japan to escape Manchu rule. Mitsukuni became the first Japanese person to eat ramen. However, the noodles Mitsukuni ate were a combination of starch made from lotus root and wheat flour, which is different from chūkamen with kansui.
According to historians, the more plausible theory is that ramen was introduced to Japan in the late 19thShin-Yokohama Raumen Museum century by Chinese immigrants living in Yokohama Chinatown. By 1884, Chinese noodle soups had grown popular in Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, and Hakodate, however, this popularity was mostly concentrated among Chinese immigrants. The Chinese served a variety of noodle soup dishes and referred to them by their specific names, such as char siu tang mian (roast pork noodle soup) and rousi tang mian (sliced pork noodle soup). The Japanese referred to all these noodle soup dishes as Nankin soba ('Nanjing noodles'). These noodle soups were particularly in high demand among Chinese students, who missed the cuisine of their homelands and found Japanese food bland in comparison.
The Japanese government passed a law in 1899 allowing resident aliens to own businesses outside their designated settlements. This development, in addition to increased labor demands, led to a spread of Chinese immigrants throughout Japan. By 1900, restaurants serving Chinese cuisine from Guangzhou and Shanghai offered a simple dish of noodles, a few toppings, and a broth flavored with salt and pork bones. Many Chinese living in Japan also pulled portable food stalls, selling ramen. By the mid-1900s, these stalls used a type of a musical horn called a charumera (, from the Portuguese ) to advertise their presence, a practice some vendors still retain via a loudspeaker and a looped recording.
First store
According to ramen expert Hiroshi Osaki, the first specialized ramen shop was (), which opened in 1910 in Asakusa, Tokyo. The Japanese founder, Kan'ichi Ozaki (尾崎貫一), employed twelve Cantonese cooks from Yokohama's Chinatown and served the ramen arranged for Japanese customers.Japanese ramen secret history "Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun premium series, (in Japanese). 『日本ラーメン秘史』日経プレミアムシリーズ、2011新横浜ラーメン博物館「日本のラーメンの歴史」 In contrast to most Japanese, who held prejudiced views toward Chinese cuisine, Ozaki grew up in Yokohama, where he experienced Chinese food firsthand and witnessed the popularity of noodle dishes in the city's Chinatown. Early versions of ramen were wheat noodles in broth topped with char siu. Ozaki changed the name of the noodle dishes from Nankin soba to Shina soba. The store also served standard Cantonese fare like wontons and shumai, and is sometimes regarded as the origin of Japanese-Chinese fusion dishes like chūkadon and tenshindon.
Rairaikens original store closed in 1976, but related stores with the same name currently exist in other places, and have connections to the first store.
In 1925, a Chinese traveller named Fan Qinxing from Zhejiang province opened a ramen shop called Genraiken in Kitakata as an homage to the popular Rairaiken.
In 1933, Fu Xinglei (傅興雷), one of the twelve original chefs, opened a second Rairaiken in Yūtenji, Meguro Ward, Tokyo.
In 1968, one of Kan'ichi Ozaki's apprentices opened a store named Shinraiken ("New Raiken") in Chiba Prefecture.
In 2020, Ozaki's grandson and great-great-grandson re-opened the original Rairaiken as a store inside Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Museum. The popup closed at September 2025.
In 2026, the great-great-grandson of Kan'ichi Ozaki, Yusaka Takahashi, reopened the original Rairaiken in Asakusa after his 92 year old grandfather wanted to eat the original again.
Popularization and modernization
After Japan's defeat in World War II, the American military occupied the country from 1945 to 1952. In December 1945, Japan recorded its worst rice harvest in 42 years, which caused food shortages as Japan had drastically reduced rice production during the war as production shifted to colonies in China and Formosa island. The US flooded the market with cheap wheat flour to deal with food shortages.