Slurp Ramen for a real taste of Japan

Including Ramen in a culinary backpacking tour of Japan will help you fully immerse yourself within the culture; Through Ramen you can begin to really understand Japan and her people. Your average Tokyoite can locate almost anything his heart desires within a few hundred metres of his house, be it the latest in gadgetry, or a pair of panties that have been pre-worn by a pretty school girl (so I’m told *blushes). But what your everyday resident of a city like Tokyo actually desires, more than anything else, is to savour a nice, big, hot bowl of Ramen.



Factually speaking Ramen is traditional dish of China, brought across the sea to Japan by traders in 1872 (Jacob, 2003). Ramen is a great example of Japanese innovation and nowadays you wouldn’t find anything in China remotely resembling the steamy bowl of noodles now served to millions of people across Japan everyday. In 1958 Momofuku Andou Japan-ized the traditional Chinese dish when he flash-fried some noodles in his back shed and created the world’s first Instant Ramen. Now a local hero, Andou has a museum, honouring the the dish which is a stable for university students across the globe, named after him. Morihito Oomiya was another Japanese national who was awarded hero status and a museum, when he added some miso paste to a broth and created the worlds first Miso Ramen. That’s how important this dish is to the people of Japan, you do something that enhances the flavour and your a national hero. They even publish magazines, blogs and have TV shows dedicated to the search for the best Ramen.

Ask anyone who’s spent any time in Japan, and they will tell you that no matter how long you live or stay in the country a Gaijin (foreigner) will never truly understand Japan or any of its 127,078,679 people. While on the whole I believe this to be true, in my experience, sitting at the bench of a small Ramen shop, fumbling your order to the chef and rubbing shoulders with a salary man on his lunch break, gives you a pretty good taste for the real Japan. No-one speaks, there is only the sound of communal slurping. Ramen helps break down communication barriers; there is not need to speak a common tongue when you understand its taste.