
A Guide to the Regional Ramen of Japan - jasonmp85
http://luckypeach.com/a-guide-to-the-regional-ramen-of-japan/
======
jpatokal
While this is a pretty epic listing (well done!), it's still not even close to
complete. My personal pet peeve omission is Okinawa soba, which despite the
name is very much in the ramen family:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_soba](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_soba)

And if the god of ramen is Hakata-style tonkotsu, its temple is Ichiran:

[http://blog.gaijinpot.com/ichiran-ramen-without-
word/](http://blog.gaijinpot.com/ichiran-ramen-without-word/)

And while it's a tourist trap, Yokohama's Ramen Museum is still a good way to
sample many of these:

[http://www.raumen.co.jp/english/](http://www.raumen.co.jp/english/)

~~~
actcutemonster
There's also the momofuku instant ramen museum in Ikeda, (Osaka) where you can
design and create your own instant cup ramen. Loads of tourists and local
families with kids, but worth visiting if you have 2 hours to kill.

------
twoy
I like ramen, but I am careful about frequency of eating ramen. It is known
among Japanese that extreme ramen freaks have short life. We Japanese maybe
tend to be salt addicted. So careful people eat soup moderately.

~~~
mahouse
It is about the salt only, or is there something else? I'm curious because
ramen sounds like something that should be healthy.

~~~
oska
2014 study [1], press release [2], and interpretive article [3]:

Instant noodle intake and dietary patterns are associated with distinct
cardiometabolic risk factors in Korea

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24966409](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24966409)

[2]
[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140812121642.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140812121642.htm)

[3] [http://www.care2.com/causes/did-you-know-instant-ramen-
noodl...](http://www.care2.com/causes/did-you-know-instant-ramen-noodles-were-
this-bad-for-you.html)

~~~
justincormack
Instant ramen is potentially rather different from freshly prepared ramen
though, eg in terms of salt content, additives etc.

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siliconc0w
There used to be a chain in LA called "Chin-ma-ya" that served a variety
called "tantanmen" that I haven't found elsewhere. Both the torrance and
little tokyo location closed and now I only have vague memories of their
terrible looping music to satiate me. You can get tankotsu anywhere but only
they had the delicious tantanmen with the golden fried shrimp and the curry-
side-dish-thingy. I barely appreciated them when they were here and now I
crave what I cannot have.

~~~
greggman
> You can get tankotsu anywhere

First it's tonkotsu(豚骨). not trying to be snarky. Just passing on info. But
second, at least in my experience, all tonkotsu in LA sucks except Tsujita.
And even Tsujita sucks unless you get their tsukemen or as they call them
"dipping noodles".

Or course everything in food is subjective. I like extremely rich flavorful
noodles. Some people like light flavors.

As for tantanmen, apparently real tantanmen (if you can call any food real) is
the Chinese kind where there's a thick oily spice sauce at the bottom of the
bowl and you have to stir it up. In other words there's no soup.

In Japan there's another style of tantanmen which is has a soup broth. As
usual there's a wide variety from light to heavy. The light stuff is not for
me but the heavy stuff is AMAZING!!!!

[http://i.imgur.com/NzBzAdN.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/NzBzAdN.jpg)

This is from a chain called 万豚記 (wan-zhu-ji) (memory of ten thousand pigs).
It's owned by a corporation that has a zillion restaurants in Japan.

[http://kiwa-group.co.jp/brand_search.php](http://kiwa-
group.co.jp/brand_search.php)

many of them carry this style of heavy tantanmen which I love

~~~
amyjess
> As for tantanmen, apparently real tantanmen (if you can call any food real)
> is the Chinese kind where there's a thick oily spice sauce at the bottom of
> the bowl and you have to stir it up. In other words there's no soup.

Oh, yes. The Chinese word is _dandanmian_ , though, and most English-language
menus will write it as "dan dan noodles" (and I've seen it written as "dong
dong noodles", too).

Where I live (Dallas suburbs), there's one really amazing authentic Sichuan
place -- Royal Sichuan -- which serves actual, authentic _dandanmian_ , and
it's some of the best food I've ever had in my life. I can't get enough of it.

~~~
greggman
I haven't had dandanmian in Dallas but I have had it throughout the SF Bay
Area and Los Angeles (Monterey Park, Alhambra, the places where many claim the
best Chinese food in the USA is). While I like it I don't crave it the way I
crave the Japanese style so if you get a chance please come to Japan and try
it here. I think you'll like it. Just make sure you pick a good one. There's
also plenty of bad ones here too.

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smegel
I remember being in Fukuoka and visiting the so called "ramen stadium" at the
top of some shopping complex. More varieties than you could poke a stick at,
and all purchasable via ticket machine only. I ended up getting some random
thing that had pork, and what appeared to be quail eggs in a black broth. I
can see why they like their ramen.

~~~
nulltype
There's a similar one in Kyoto at the JR Rail station that is very nice with 8
styles of ramen, all in different little sit down restaurants with ticket
machines: [http://www.insidekyoto.com/kyoto-ramen-
koji](http://www.insidekyoto.com/kyoto-ramen-koji)

~~~
Keats
I remember going to both and getting lost in the sea of choices. A bit like
the food courts in Singapore/HK.

Fukuoka also has food stalls with plenty of good ramen if someone is heading
there

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actcutemonster
What about instant ramen? While it's not entirely a fair comparison to freshly
made ones, the Japs have certainly pioneered and mastered the skill of
churning out instant ramen that has "fresh" pork/seafood in it. Personally, I
prefer the dry soba to the soupy ones.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
> the Japs

In the United States, "Jap" is an ethnic slur. You might want to use another
word.

~~~
tosseraccount
But it's okay to call the English "Brits".

~~~
Figs
It's a legacy from WWII. See:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap)

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fmax30
I really want to try ramen, but i don't like meat. Is there any Vegetarian
friendly ramen?

~~~
WaxProlix
It's pretty rare, and most so in the more traditional places. Even if there's
no meat in the ramen, the broth is generally pork (occasionally chicken)
based.

~~~
patio11
Funny story time: in my late and unlamented career as a translator, I was
attached to a pair of US artists visiting Gifu's international arts and crafts
fair. Both were vegans and expressed a desire to have vegan ramen.

I explained this to the ramen shop proprietor. He came out with a bowl of
ramen with chashu (pork) on top of it. When I pointed out that pork does in
fact count as a meat product, he plucked it off with chopsticks. I then said
"Excuse me, I don't mean to be a bother about this, but I can't help but
notice that you poured the broth from a pan marked Pig. Is there, I don't
know, pork in the broth?" "Oh you read Japanese!" "Yep, literacy is a handy
quality in a translator." "Do your guests read Japanese?" "No." "Then as far
as they know it's hearty vegetable broth now isn't it!"

~~~
douche
Haha, the real question is, did they notice the difference? Or did they just
say, "Damn, that was the best vegetable broth I've ever had!"

~~~
patio11
We ate elsewhere, after a round of apologies to all concerned.

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mrdmnd
This is a great write-up. I had the fortune of visiting a national Ramen
festival in Japan (and the privilege of being on national Japanese television
as the novel white-person!) and I really enjoyed sampling the various regional
varieties all in one place. There's an astounding degree of variation that I
wouldn't have predicted, a priori.

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ExcitedByNoise
I didn't see it mentioned, but if you're not subscribed to the Lucky Peach,
it's a really great publication. I happened upon Issue 1 (the Ramen issue) in
a grocery store a few years ago and I've subscribed ever since.

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archagon
I'm a bit saddened that we don't seem to have too many of these kinds of
"multiple ingredient, endless variation" style foods here in the US. Most
regional fare (pizza, BBQ) is comparatively simple. Or is it just me?

~~~
chipsy
The US has lots of sandwich variants. Sometimes we use dipping sauces or soup
sides, sometimes the ingredients are unusual, there are various styles of
bread, toasted vs. untoasted, etc. This is a food genre that is shared with
Europe and the Commonwealth, of course, but original variants abound here.

~~~
archagon
True, I was just thinking about that! But on the other hand, it's hard to
compare a sandwich — something that usually takes no more than an hour of
cooking, total — with ramen, whose broth can take several days to make, and
whose flavorants alone have rich traditions and endless varieties.

EDIT: But I suppose it becomes a lot more true if you factor in the bread, and
include things like bagels.

~~~
mmanfrin
I think you're looking at the other side of the fence with too rosy of
glasses. Is not bread for those sandwiches labor intensive? The fillings too
-- all sorts of roasts and vegetables and pickles and meats that can each take
a while to make. Why is it that 'broth' is allowed to add to the time of Ramen
when these things arent allowed to add to the time of a sandwich?

Not to mention BBQ is something that _does_ take a lot of time -- 2, 4, 8, 24
hours of BBQing, even multiple days if you sous vide it.

~~~
archagon
Yes, you're right. I thought of Katz's right after I posted that!

As for BBQ, I am not saying that it's an unworthy food in any way. It's just
that ramen seems to have a lot more variations on account of all the different
combinations of ingredients. (Broth, base, fillings, noodles.) Same with pasta
in Italy. That's what I mean by "simple". (Though, yes, I suppose there are a
whole lot of sauces and rubs, too.)

~~~
CocaKoala
Broth, base, fillings, noodles for ramen.

Sauce, rub, wood and smoke, cuts of meat for bbq.

~~~
jdmichal
I think people who aren't heavy BBQ fans don't fully appreciate the number of
decisions that goes into a well-made BBQ. The sauces and rubs alone show a
huge amount of variation that can make or break the entire thing.

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thewhizkid
Missing my favorite! "Tori pai tan" from Kagari in Tokyo. Literally "white
chicken soup."
[http://i.imgur.com/e4vS59N.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/e4vS59N.jpg)

~~~
sdrothrock
I can't tell from the picture on my phone -- is that a clear chicken soup or a
fatty chicken soup?

Daikichi in Yushima, Tokyo also has a very good (clear) chicken soup -- it's
not uncommon to see people lining up before it even opens.

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xerophyte12932
Is there any type of Ramen that doesn't use Pork?? I wouldn't want to miss out
on Ramen just because i dont eat Pork.

~~~
greggman
There's many kinds of ramen. Pork is one of the most common. There's chicken
ramen. There's salt ramen. There's soy sauce ramen. There's miso ramen. And
there's every combination. Soy+Miso+Chicken, Chicken+Pork, Pork+Sardine+Miso,
Salt+Shrimp+Pork, Tomato, Cheese :P

You will find it hard to know for sure if there's no pork though because even
if it's labeled salt-ramen if you look at the details it might say made with
pork as well.

~~~
Mifuyuu
You forgot the seafood based combinations! They have pure seafood bases too,
though. My Japanese friend brought me to a shop in Tokyo that apparently
specialised in a 100% seafood base/stock. It was light compared to the meat-
based stock but equally good.

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TazeTSchnitzel
[http://youtu.be/RosUc9UVuos](http://youtu.be/RosUc9UVuos)

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amitlan
I love Ippudo's spiciest on the menu, here in Tokyo. Supposed to be Hakata-
style. Like to top it with gyoza.

------
contingencies
Historical and geographical context of Japanese _ramen_ from a Chinese
cultural perspective: _ra_ part is derived from 拉 (Mandarin _la_ ) which means
pulled and refers to the process of making the noodles, the _men_ part is
derived from 麺 (Mandarin _mian_ ) which is the traditional Chinese character
for noodles (面 is the simplified form). In modern China, this 麺/面 normally
describes long-form wheat noodles however other types of wheat noodles (such
as knife-cut noodles), egg noodles, various bean noodles and rice noodles are
also popular and some of them are described with the same character. However,
many are produced using alternate methods such as squashing through a press or
manually slicing a large, pancake-like, thin, often doubled-over piece of
noodle material in to noodle-like strands, or by cutting chunks off a block of
dough. China has a lot of noodle traditions, probably (logically for its size
and population) far more than Japan. Personally I'm a fan of 米干 or _mi gan_
which is a Tai-style broad flat fresh rice noodle normally prepared in the
southwest and 刀削面 ( _dao xue mian_ ) or knife-cut noodles which hail from
north-western China. Modern mainland China's instant noodle tradition,
probably partly re-inspired by Japan's (possibly via Hong Kong) is known as
方便面 ( _fangbian mian_ ) or 'convenience noodles'. A Taiwanese academic take on
this whole thing would be interesting.

Note that the Wikipedia page for Ramen[1] is laughable in claiming the origin
of ramen is unclear. It's clearly Chinese. Interestingly however, it claims
the Japanese only began to use the term _ramen_ after the 1950s, ie. after
they invaded China, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam (all but Korea being huge noodle
consumers). Previously the Japanese used other terms which directly attributed
the tradition to China. While there is apparently no clear evidence, one could
reliably assume that Buddhist monks and other travelers around the Nara
period[2] would have brought knowledge of Chinese and Central Asian foodstuffs
back to Japan from post Silk Road China.

As a postscript to be fair (borrowing happens in many directions!), so-called
Chinese _baozi_ (包子) or steamed buns are actually Turkic in origin, as
attributed by surviving Yuan Dynasty cookbooks (see also Jewish, Polish,
Russian, Tibetan traditions). The same sources include an early recipe for
_baklavah_ which has since died out in China... probably in the anti-foreign
repression following the Mongol Yuan Dynasty at the dawn of the Ming, which
incidentally was when Zhenghe sailed his great Chinese fleet to Southeast Asia
and Africa. Also, some people claim Italy's noodle tradition is a post-Marco
Polo thing (who, some credible evidence attests, was actually from the now
Croatian island of Dubrovnik, under the sway of the piratical Venetian empire
but not 'Italian' per-se).

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen#History](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen#History)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanto_Rikush%C5%AB](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanto_Rikush%C5%AB)

~~~
jpatokal
Wikipedia (and you) conflate two different things here: the origin of _ramen_
the food as we know it today, which is quite arguably Japan (although
admittedly it's a fuzzy line to draw); and the origin of _ramen_ the name,
which I agree is almost certainly from Chinese 拉麺. However, Japanese ramen
doesn't taste at all like Chinese 拉麺, they've become entirely different
dishes.

Also, you're spinning the name change as Japan somehow attempting to claim
credit, while it's actually more the other way around: the term 支那 _shina_
became pejorative, so they stopped using it. This also predates Japan
exporting instant noodles to the world (c. 1971), much less the term "ramen"
being adopted into English to mean them (1990s?).

~~~
contingencies
You're right there is an etymology question (the term _ramen_ is clearly
Chinese in etymological origin, the other names clearly refer to China) and
the historical origin of noodles in Japan generally. I think given the
etymological evidence of all terms ( _ramen_ and pre- _ramen_ ) combined with
geographic proximity it would be exceptionally hard to argue that's not China
as well.

As far as putting words in to my mouth or motivations in to other people's
brains when discussing history, please don't do that, it doesn't lead to
constructive conversation.

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crimsonalucard
Funny how this is related to hacking. I guess a lot of devs love this stuff.

~~~
norman784
Yeah, everybody likes food. And oriental food are better IMO than our fast
food (more vegetables and less fat)

~~~
amyjess
Ramen is, like, pure carbs, though.

