Ramen is one of the most popular Japanese cuisines in the world just now. However, the origin is not Japan. It’s China. Every Japanese knows that, and Japan has been strongly affected by China since ancient times, not only foods but also language, religion, manners etc.
Every Japanese knows that Ramen has come from China. On the other hand, almost all Japanese don’t know when Ramen has come and how long we eat it.
This time, here you can learn that.
The oldest evidence of Ramen in Japan was revealed in 2017. According to the official diary of the temple Roku-on-in in Kyoto, Kei-tai-men(経帯麺) was served for the visitors.
In 1854, the period of isolation finally ended. After that, many foreign cultures came to Japan and spreaded. The first restaurant that served Ramen was advertised in the newspaper but there was no evidence except for the ad.
Before isolation ended, there was some evidence of Ramen. Tools for cooking Ramen were recorded in 1659, and Ramen was served to someone in 1697.
Like this, Ramen has been existing before the isolation, but this Ramen culture continues to today had just begun after the end of isolation.
After the end of isolation, Ramen started to spread from Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki and Hakodate. These ports were opened in response to the ending isolation.
The first Ramen restaurant in Japan was Rairaiken in Asakusa, Tokyo. It was closed in 1976. But the chef who worked at Rairaiken in the past has an existing Ramen shop named Shinraiken.
The oldest Ramen shop still alive opened 1914 in Tokyo, its name is Taishoken.
After 8 years, far north from Tokyo, Takeya Shokudo opened in Sapporo Hokkaido. At first, they served so oily and salty Ramen for international students from China. Few years later, Takeya Shokudo completed creating Ramen localized for Japanese. That was the traditional Ramen that had soy sauce based soup and sliced meat, green onions, seaweed sheet and bamboo shoots as a topping. Almost at the same time, similar style Ramen was also born in Tokyo and Yokohama. As history shows again and again, invention occurred at the same time in multiple areas despite the fact that they didn’t have any relationships.
Huge earthquake called “Kanto’s Great Earthquake” and WWII prevented Ramen culture from evolving, but after that, it just began.
WWII ended in 1945 and Japan started to come back again. Ramen cultures also like that.
1954 Ganso Nagahamaya(Originator of the Kaedama), 1960 Ichiran(the most well known Ramen restaurant by “foreigners”), 1968 Ramen Jirow(Jirolien forms unique culture and are the craziest followers), 1971 Tenkaippin(well know by the thickest soup and was born in Kyoto), 1974 Yoshimuraya(legendary E-A-kay Ramen) opened. It’s said that Tsukemen was born in 1955 and cup noodles was born in 1958. Ramen restarted to breathe and spread after WWII ended.
After WWII, Ramen culture met dramatic evolutions year by year. Ramen became a soul food, got a position in Japanese food habits and is loved by every Japanese.
Recently, Ramen has been getting complex, interesting and wider variations.
Especially after the 1990s’, Ramen culture changed in many ways. These are the most important and hard to catch up. So, I believe you can get it from Ramen Times.