Ramen Romance
Chinese noodles first gained popularity in Japan in 1859, when centuries of isolation ended and the port of Yokohama opened for international trade. Yokohama, a short jaunt south from Tokyo, prides itself on serving some of the country’s best ramen, and has two museums to celebrate the cheap, delicious, and filling meal.
A flavorful world of history and innovation awaits you in Yokohama
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Chinese noodles first gained popularity in Japan in 1859, when centuries of isolation ended and the port of Yokohama opened for international trade. At the same time, a nationwide ban on eating meat was lifted, bringing to the table new flavors. To a bowl of basic Chinese-style noodles, Japanese chefs added a slice of fatty chashu (braised pork belly) and unique soup stocks made with local ingredients, such as miso, kelp, bonito, and clams. And in doing so, they created a delicious umami-rich dish now famous the world over: ramen.
The Raumen Museum
Yokohama, a short jaunt south from Tokyo, prides itself on serving some of the country’s best ramen, and has two museums to celebrate the cheap, delicious, and filling meal. Minutes from Shin-Yokohama Station, the Raumen Museum (the unique spelling reflects the way the word used to be pronounced) is a great place to start your ramen reconnaissance. This food-themed amusement park opened in 1994, the brainchild of industrialist Yoji Iwaoka, who envisioned a truly distinctive museum.
It’s ¥380 to enter the museum which, despite benches shaped like ramen ingredients and a carpet decorated with narutomaki fish cake, looks at first fairly ordinary. There are displays in English and Japanese that chart the history of ramen, and several impressive exhibits that reflect regional specialties. There are even several walls of various donburi (pottery bowls) used throughout Japan. Of special charm is a reconstruction of Rairaiken, the shop that set off Japan’s first ramen boom after it opened in Asakusa in 1910. With the help of 13 Chinese cooks from Yokohama’s Nankinmachi, Rairaiken is said to have ladled out between 2,500 and 3,000 bowls of ramen a day. The first floor also has a nifty gift shop, with a wide variety of ramen-related goods, such as heat-n-serve packs, recipe books, ramen bowls, and even a curious treat called ramen chocopuffs.
What really sets the Raumen Museum apart, though, is found in the second basement. Stepping into this vast two-story section of the museum is like discovering a time portal; though you know you are inside a building, you would swear you are outside at dusk, walking the backstreets of a bygone era. A huge central court, lit by cinema posters, neon pachinko signs, and light bulbs strung from second floor living quarters, also holds half a dozen actual ramen restaurants doing brisk business. Before queuing there, though, be sure to tour the backstreets of the town, all along the periphery of the food court. You’ll find the alleyways more intricately detailed than movie sets. The humble wooden homes, speakeasies, candy store, tobacco shop, police box, and even a phone booth add up to a realistic scene you’ll swear you’ve actually been to, somewhere in Shitamachi. Attention to detail—a chalked hopscotch, children’s yukata hung out to dry, and a public bath entrance (that’s actually an elevator)—evoke an era when lives were more intimately connected, and community coalesced around a simple bowl of noodles with family and friends.
Museum founder Iwaoka’s son, Takuji explains that his father wanted to recreate a 1958 retro townscape, not just for nostalgia but also because that year marked the invention of instant noodles by Momofuku Ando, a true turning point for the internationalization of ramen.
Heading into the central square, snag tickets from a vending machine for the ramen of your choice. The shops and selections come from around Japan and change occasionally, but the important point is that you can choose regular or “mini portion” servings, which allow you to sample several of the shops’ offerings.
You might see homemade slabs of pork hanging here and there, but vegetarian ramen options are also always on offer (try Komurasaki, from Kumamoto). The variety of soups—usually in soy, miso, or salt seasonings and bases of pork bone, fish, chicken, or vegetable broth—make for infinite combinations. The museum is a great place to develop your vocabulary and taste for ramen, and the atmospheric setting might make you yearn for the good old days of Japan.
The Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama
The year immortalized by the Raumen Museum’s fantasy backstreets, 1958, is the same one in which Momofuku Ando realized his dream of making instant ramen noodles. The whole story behind Ando’s development of instant ramen is packaged beautifully at the Cup Noodles Museum, a 12-minute walk from Sakuragicho Station on the JR Yokohama Line.
The minimalistic red brick exterior of the facility, officially known as the Momofuku Ando Memorial Museum, was conceptualized by Creative Director Kashiwa Sato to express “simplicity devoid of the unnecessary” and to stimulate creative thinking. The vast clean entryway features a 24-meter-high back wall that extends up all five floors of the museum, and a white nebuta-style float made of washi paper in the shape of Nissin’s popular product.
Corporate Communications Division Manager Kazuki Tsurumaru notes that the facility “really looks like an art museum”—an impression borne out by displays on the second floor. One entire room, the Instant Noodles History Cube, has a floor-to-ceiling exhibit of every variety of fast-food noodles, from Ando’s very first pack of Chicken Ramen to the items currently on sale. There are also cup versions, some of which include flavor variations sold in other countries. Tsurumaru points out that the early packets of Chicken Ramen had little windows, “so people could see what was inside, because they didn’t know.” They sure know now.
The next exhibit, Momofuku’s Work Shed, is a faithful recreation of the place in which Ando struggled for a year to create his invention. Tsurumaru reveals that it was Ando’s wife who provided the catalyst for his breakthrough. “Ando watched her cooking tempura and realized that, when the noodles were fried in oil, the moisture was forced out, making it possible to preserve them for a long time. He also discovered that hot water poured over the noodles was absorbed through tiny cavities formed during dehydration. The water seeped into the noodles, restoring them to their original soft state.
The message here is that inspiration for inventions can come from literally anywhere and that, even in humble surroundings, it’s possible to create something extraordinary.
Each of the exhibits on the second floor underlines Ando’s thought process. An oversize cup with white noodles spilling out, for example, has words hidden in the noodles themselves, encouraging viewers to look at things carefully and from all angles. A nearby separate room helps children learn how great ideas can arise from simple tools, and that by using your noodle, so to speak, you can come up with unique inventions by understanding the needs of others.
The third floor offers two hands-on experiences. One (reservations required, tickets ¥800) involves making Chicken Ramen by hand, starting with kneading, spreading, and steaming the wheat flour and then drying it with a flash-frying method. The other (¥400 tickets sold at the entrance) is a fun experience in which you design your own Cup Noodles, from illustrating the exterior of the cup itself to choosing the soup flavors and toppings. Children will love adding the likeness of Chicken Ramen’s mascot Hiyoko-chan, made from dried fish cake, to their concoction. Staff then seal the lid, shrink-wrap your creation, and place it in an “air package” that you pump into a nifty pillow to safely tote home.
To round out the fun, the fourth floor has a fabulous playground (check for current Covid-19 restrictions) where kids “become” noodles in a factory. Nearby, the Noodles Bazaar serves up noodle dishes from eight countries, from Kazakhstan to Italy. The highlight here might be an outrageously confusing, but delicious, ramen ice cream!
Ramen Trick
After two excellent museums, you might want to sink your chopsticks into the ramen made at one of Yokohama’s independent ramen shops. If that’s the case, Yokohama Convention and Visitors Bureau Management Planning Department Manager Shisei Aoki has a recommendation: Ramen Trick, located a minute from the Blue Line’s Yoshinocho Station, Exit 3. Despite the unsettling name and the informal atmosphere of the joint, decorated with bombastic rooster illustrations, the place is the real deal. Ramen Trick was opened in 2012 by Noboru Nishigaki and his wife, Kazumi. “Before opening,” Noboru recalls, “we were working in Chinatown, above the Trick Art museum, and one day, we realized the word ‘trick’ sounded like ‘tori-ku’ (eat chicken), so we chose the name.”
Puns aside, Ramen Trick is all about chicken—no other meat products are on offer—and if you visit between hours, be prepared to see big plastic pails of chicken parts being prepped for the stock pot bubbling away in the back of the kitchen. Three kinds of fowl, including Okayama’s Sansui, Nagoya’s Cochin, and Yamanashi’s Shingen simmer away with dried tomatoes and konbu (seaweed), bringing out unique umami notes. A quick glance at the walls reveals the restaurant has prizes—including a Bib Gourmand Award from Michelin—to back up Aoki’s recommendation.
By all means, try the tokusei (special) salt-broth ramen (¥1,200). In a light golden broth, the toppings include crisp fresh spring onions, chicken meatballs, chicken chashu, a sliver of red onion, both halves of a meltingly soft ajitsuke (marinated) egg. For the salt ramen dishes, the noodles, sourced from noodle-maker Mikawa Seimen, include a bit of bran to add to the flavor and texture. Guaranteed, after tasting this ramen, the main trick will be to resist ordering a second bowl on the spot.
Learn more …
The Raumen Museum: www.raumen.co.jp/english
The Cup Noodles Museum Yokohama: www.cupnoodles-museum.jp/en/yokohama/
Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau: www.yokohamajapan.com