The Best Ramen Shops in Japan

Iekei

Iekei ramen comes from Yokohama and goes back to the shop Yoshimura-ya. The bowl is a pork bone and soy sauce broth with chicken oil and medium-thick noodles, and customers can choose how firm, how strong and how oily they want it. Sugitaya in Yokohama, Sugitaya Chiba and Atsugiya in Atsugi are run as direct branches of Yoshimura-ya, and Ramen Suehiroya descends from it. Smoked char siu is common to all four, and both Sugitaya shops open at 5 AM.

Jiro-style

Jiro-style shops follow the Tokyo chain Ramen Jiro: thick noodles in a pork and soy broth under a heap of bean sprouts and cabbage. Before the bowl is handed over, staff ask about garlic, and the customer answers with the free extras wanted. Ramen Yoshitomi in Chiba explains this call to first-timers. A small bowl there holds 300g of noodles, and Akahige Ramen in Yokohama keeps a 150g size for people new to the style.

Ticket machines

In most shops the order goes through a ticket machine by the entrance, and many machines take cash only. The sequence differs by shop: at Ramen Suehiroya the ticket comes first and the line second, while at Atsugiya people queue on the stairs before buying. Tonkotsu Ramen Gin in Kiryu has no machine and takes cash after the meal, Men-ya Takakura Nijo in Kyoto uses a tablet and accepts no cash, and Tomita in Matsudo seats by reservation only.

Kyoto and Osaka

In Kyoto, Ramen Katamuki is in a renovated old house where diners take off their shoes and sit on tatami, and 66tantan is a seven-seat counter down an alley in Gion. In Osaka several counters are run by one person who cooks and serves alone, among them Ninjomenya Gyukotsuo and Men-ya Ren to Rin to Jin, where diners pay into a box by the door.