
Tampopo
Except Nissin Cup Noodle and its variety of instant noodles in plastic packs, this movie must be one of the most influential driving forces to spread the word of "Ramen" all over the world and make it a universal vocabulary. Different from the instant ramen which have mislead many to believe Ramen is synonymous to instant, the movie Tampopo well depicted ramen in multidimensional aspects, like how Japanese loved Ramen, how each ramen shops compete each other, and how difficult attractive ramen is cooked.
[Story] A truck driver named Goro drops by a shabby ramen shop where he meets the mistress named Tampopo (Dandelion) whose husband passed away several years ago. Her ramen is not worth praise at all, since her husband's sudden death made her cook ramen on her own way. Upon her entreaty, Goro coaches Tampopo to be the beat ramen cook in the town. Along with the story in quest of best ramen, this movie isintertwined with random comic vignettes featuring other Japanese citizens who also have obsessive relationships with food, including: a couple who seem unable to have sex without food involved, a class of girls trying to learn the proper way to eat noodles, Western style, and a wife/mother who is loyal that she prepares dinner for her family while on her deathbed.
[Director] Juzo Itami [Starring] Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Kouji Yakusho, Ken Watanabe
This movie is full of mouthwatering pictures. After watching it, you cannot defeat your appetite. When watching Tampopo, get ready for food or get your stomach filled!


As well as Ramen, comics are another treasure which Japan has produced and spreaded all over the world. In some countries, comics are considered to be child readings, but the situation in the advanced county of comics, Japan, is different. In this county, comics are read by adults, too. So the contents are reflecting real world to satisfy adult readers. Ramen has been the main theme of some of the comics.The golden combination of Ramen and comics are here.
Ramen Hakkenden (Story of discovering the truth of ramen) ※English title is translated by BON for temporary use.
[Story] A young salaried worker of a trading company, named Fujimoto, is considered to be good for nothing within the office. No wonder! Because this guy does not pour his energy to his assigned job, dozing during office hours and never working over hours. His energy is concentrated on his side business, Ramen stall. After leaving the office at 6:00pm, this guy is secretly running his own Ramen stall with the dream of establishing his own ramen shop in the future. To explore the very best ramen recipe, he is training himself. Fujimoto is knowledgeable and skillful in ramen cooking, but his naive passion for making very best ramen is attacked by a renowned ramen shop owner, Serizawa, who considers ramen solely as his tool to make money. Serizawa's severe pointing-out from the professional's standpoint often scores off Fujimoto. One day, his new boss with the idea of setting up restaurant chain appointed Fujimoto to be in charge of developing Ramen menus for that chain. Hesitantly though, Fujimoto displayed his knowledge and ability in developing menus. Fujimoto's fight against Serizawa continues in developing Ramen menus for that restaurant chain and somewhere, as well as his exploration of the very best ramen recipe..
	[BON's impression] This comic is quite interesting in that it is introducing many episodes based on events happened in real world. The episodes are showing not only the ramen shops' back ground, but also customers' side stoty. It is quite real!
[Script]Rokuro Kube [Drawing] Tan Kawai [Publisher]Shougakukan ※Only Japanese copy is available.


Kenka Ramen (Fighting ramen) ※English title is translated by BON for temporary use.
[Story]A motorcycle gang, Yoshitsune, a son of stone-headed ramen chef whose shop is renowned among ramen lovers had no intention to succeed to his Dad's shop. But accidentally and unwillingly, Yoshitsune were forced in the situatinon to cook ramen because of his Dad's injury, and severely criticized by a famous ramen critic. This incident urged this young guy to start devoting himself to ramen cooking, and soon became to cook ramen which can satisfy customers. Puffed-up Yoshitsune gets pointed out by a shop's regular that he was just tracing his Dad's recipe and had never gone beyond his Dad. Then Yoshitsune started his journey throughout Japan, in which he battled with numbers of ramen craftsmen who boast their skill, to seek for his own recipe to exceed his Dad.
	[BON's impression] The story and the setting are unrealistic and outrageous, so the readers will learn nothing but get entertained.
[Script&Drawing]Shigeru Tsuchiyama [Publisher]Nihon Bungeisha ※Only Japanese copy is available.



Even among variation of snacks, ramen are existing. Below are the example, potato chips! There are two flavors, Shio Ramen & Spicy Miso Ramen.(See the left pictures below)

Taste? Mmm...Potato chips!