This article is about the Japanese noodle dish. Ramen has its roots in Chinese noodle dishes. Ramen black shin, historian Barak Kushner argues that this borrowing occurred retroactively and that various independent Japanese corruptions of Chinese words had already led to Japanese people calling this Chinese noodle dish “ramen”.
According to historians, the more plausible theory is that ramen was introduced to Japan in the late 19th or early 20th centuries by Chinese immigrants living in Yokohama Chinatown. Asakusa, Tokyo, where the Japanese owner employed twelve Cantonese cooks from Yokohama’s Chinatown and served the ramen arranged for Japanese customers. By 1900, restaurants serving Chinese cuisine from Guangzhou and Shanghai offered a simple dish of noodles, a few toppings, and a broth flavored with salt and pork bones. Many Chinese living in Japan also pulled portable food stalls, selling ramen and gyōza dumplings to workers. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, the American military occupied the country from 1945 to 1952.
