With more than 1000 ramen restaurants Sapporo can be called the town of ramen.

You can see theラーメン(ramen in Japanese alphabet) signs in different places as you can find areas where many little ramen shops are close to each other as in Sapporo Ramen Alley.

There are hundreds of famous ramen restaurants in Sapporo but above all what is popular in Sapporo right now is the ramen with a thick soup, as served at "Junren" or "Ramen Tetsuya".However, in these restaurants the ramen is a little different from the “traditional Sapporo ramen” we envision. Speaking of "Sapporo Ramen", there are also many people who remember the taste of old shops such as the still open "Aji no Sanpei" or the recently closed "Ryuho" (dragon phoenix in Japanese).

But what is exactly the "Sapporo Ramen"?

Everything started from a ramen stall

Sapporo ramen roots lie in the food stalls where ramen was served soon after the war (1946/47). One of the first entrepreneurs was Kanshichi Matsuda who would later open “Ryuho” restaurant. Together with his wife he prepared noodles as well as pork bones soup. The taste of their ramen was soy sauce based as it was the one Japanese people used to like most. The store is said to have become very popular. Nishiyama Senji`s “Darumaken” and Morito Omiya's s “Aji no Sanpei', where miso ramen was first created, used to be food stalls at that time.

The birth of Sapporo Ramen

Omiya Morito is the man who studied ramen making techniques at Kanshichi Matsuda`s restaurant and then opened his own shop called "Aji no Sanpei". At the time almost all the soups were made from pork bones. However the creative mind of Omiya developed the first miso ramen menu (there were only soy sauce and salt versions until then). Also, concerned about calories he decide to put vegetables in ramen soup to absorb better the oil. Takayuki Nishiyama, who has took over “Darumaken”noodle-production section, began collaboration with various ramen shops creating thick yellow egg noodles with good taste and appearance. Here after the ramen culture bloomed changing the generic name of ramen from Sapporo into the specific “Sapporo Ramen” between the 40es and the 50es.

Towards a new "Sapporo Ramen" era

Although Sapporo was considered the town of ramen with the beginning of Heisei era in 1990 the situation changed. First of all was inaugurated the shop “Heiseiken” which served Asahikawa style ramen with noodles thinner than the traditional Sapporo ramen ones and a soup made by both pork and fish stock. This "Asahikawa ramen", that differs from "Sapporo Ramen”, became popular rising the attention of media as well. After that, Asahikawa ramen shops such as "Gojoken" and "Santoka", which are currently popular and reported in various magazines, were opened one after another attracting many customers.

At the same time, ramen from all over Japan flows into Sapporo, and the number of stores increased dramatically. As Tokyo, Sapporo transformed in a city with a wide choice of ramen.

The future challenges of Sapporo Ramen

Sapporo is now facing a competition with different ramen from all over Japan. In addition to the old Ramen Alley and new Ramen Alley, also in Kotoni area there are many shops pursuing original ramen, as "Kuwana".

Then, inside the new Ramen Alley or the Tanukikoji Shopping Street various ramen such as the thick soup Kyushu-style ramen or the light Tokyo style ramen are prepared as well.

"Every ingredient, whatever is its taste, if cooked in Hokkaido water and climate, it will become “made in Sapporo”. When every ramen prepared here tastes delicious it will be Sapporo Ramen."
Sapporo will be the ramen town forever.

（Honorific names avoided)