- Why is ramen yellow?
-
One of the ingredients is a yellow powder called vitamin B2. We use flour mixed with salted water (nerimizu). In addition to ramen, this vitamin B2 is used in curry powder and various other foods.
-
Why is ramen waving?
-
If noodles are wavy when you eat ramen, you can take a lot of soup making your bowl more delicious.
So noodles are shaped this way because of a specific cutting machine.
-
What is the weight of a single noodles portion?
-
For most of the ramen made at the Nishiyama Ramen factory is 140g. There are several other measures such as 120g, 150g and 160g.
-
How many noodles there are in one portion?
-
The weight of one ramen noodles is about 1 g. So in a 140 g portions how much will they be?! 140 noodles of course
- How much water does Nishiyama Seimen Co., Ltd. use in a day?
-
On average, we use about 200 tons of water. This is 100 times the amount of water used in home a day.
- What are the people working at Nishiyama Seimen Co., Ltd. doing?
-
Broadly speaking, there are three types of workers.
1. People who produce ramen.
2. People who sell and carry ramen.
3. Person who does office work.
- How many people work in the factory?
-
About 130 people are working.
- How much is the height of a flour tank?
-
The height of these tanks is about 15 m.
- How much ramen packs are made in a day?
-
On average,120,000 noodles packs are made every day.
Where will the ramen packs be sent?
They will be sent to all over Japan, for example Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Okinawa etc. In addition, ramen is also sent from this factory to about 30 foreign countries such as Germany, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy and Dubai.
- Wher is the ramen made at Nishiyama Co., Ltd. sent?
-
First it is distributed all around Japan to places like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Naha, Okinawa. Then it is sent in the United States, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and 20 other countries directly from the manufacture center in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
- How many meters underground the water is taken?
-
Water is pumped from about 200m underground. Deeper than twice the Big Ben height
- How many vehicles are available in Nishiyama Seimen factory?
-
There are a total of 24 vehicles, 16 trucks and 8 vans.
- What is kansui?
-
It is an alkaline white powder mixed with water. If you lick it, it will taste bitter and spicy.
In other words, it is a mixture of sodium carbonate and potassium.
It has the same characteristics of baking powder used in bread or calcium in milk and resembles mineral water.
- How many the types of ramen are?
-
There are various types differing on weight and contents. There are about 300 types.
- What time does Nishiyama Seimen Co., Ltd. work?
-
Most of Nishiyama Seimen employers work from 8 am to 5 pm.
But somebody about those appointed to production has to come from 5 am to run the machines and turn on the boiler.
- When did Nishiyama ramen production start?
-
Everything began in August 1953. Before that, ramen was sold at stalls.
Everything started about 60~70 years ago from now.
- Why noodles can stretch?
-
It is because noodles have the property of absorbing water. When you stay in a pool for a long time, your hands and feet will soften. Similarly, water softens the noodles making them more stretchable.
- How much flour is contained in the tank?
-
One tank contains 20 tons (800 bags of wheat each of 25 kg).
Because there are four tanks, the total amount of flour is 80 tons.
- Are ramen sent also overseas?
-
Yes, ramen is also sent to about 30 foreign countries such as Germany, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy and Dubai.
- How many ramen shops are there in Sapporo?
-
There are about 2500 to 3000. Among them, about 1000 use Nishiyama ramen.
- How many degrees is the refrigerator set up?
-
The refrigerator containing raw noodles is kept at 10 ° C to 15 ° C.
Boiled udon and boiled soba kept in the refrigerator are below 5 ° C
There is another room called a freezer, which is set to be at -30 ° C.
- What do you do if the noodles strips get cut?
-
In this case the machine is stopped and after the part is reattached the operation starts again.
- How far in Sapporo do you directly deliver?
-
The most far cities in which we deliver are those of Otaru, Tomakomai and Iwamizawa.
- What month is the busiest one?
-
It is December. We produce 200,000 meals a day at about 1.5 times the monthly average.
- How many machines are there at Nishiyama Seimen factory?
-
Ramen manufacture 7 lines
Udon, soba manufacture 1 line
Dough manufacture 1 line
Gyoza dumplings manufacture 1 line
Boiled noodles manufacture 3 lines
Yakisoba manufacture 1line
Dried noodles manufacture 1line
Packaging process 30machines
Besides this, there are various machines such as boilers and band machines.
- How many rooms are there?
-
1st floor 15; 2nd floor 15; 3rd floor 6; 4th floor 6; 5th floor 6; basement 5.
There are a total of 53 rooms or more.
- How much flour is used in a day?
-
On average, we use 500 bags of 25 kg of flour. In December, during some days, more than 800.
- How much is the monthly electricity bill?
-
It is around 2, 5 million. I think it is around 5,000 to 6,000 yen a month at your home, but we are using 300 to 400 times more electricity.
- What kind of things do people in the factory take care of?
-
As we make food, hygienic and safe products are our principal goal so that you can eat without any concern.
Since the machine are moving, workers are careful to not get injured.
We produce focusing on quality (taste, aroma) so that our customers can be satisfied when eat our products.
There are many other factories that make ramen noodles besides Nishiyama Ramen, so we are working with care to make difference.
- Why does Nishiyama Ramen taste so delicious?
-
To make delicious ramen
1. We exclusively use good raw materials (wheat, water, etc.).
2. We thoroughly inspect the finished products in the quality control room before shipping.
3. Noodles are made after a long and careful process.
4. The people working at the factory are doing their best.
- Why is ramen thin?
-
Because time to boil becomes shorter (Ramen are faster than udon or soba)
When put in the mouth, they are easy to bite. When it is thick, they became sticky and lose their taste.
After a long study this thickness results the best one.
- Why the name Nishiyama Ramen?
-
Since the founder of this company was Nishiyama Takayuki, the name is Nishiyama Ramen.
- Who did create Mensuke character?
-
The founder of this company, Takayuki Nishiyama, created Mensuke.
- How many school lunches do you deliver?
-
A total of 70 schools, 44 elementary schools and 26 junior high schools (for approximately 27,000 chilldren).
We also make and deliver to Kuriyama, Nanporo, Naganuma and Iwamizawa cities.
- What are your latest products?
-
Ramen master Nishiyama Takayuki choice (with miso, soy sauce and salty sauce)
Nishiyama Hokkaido wheat noodles (two portions)
Hokkaido Kombu ramen soup (miso soy sauce taste) with strong umami.
- Why is it called ramen?
-
In Chinese, "La" means "by hand" and "men" “flour products”.
The name ramen was created in Sapporo by the Chinese chef Wencai Wang who was working at Takeya Chinese restaurant. But there are many other theories.
The kanji of “la” is 拉 and is made by 手 (hand) and 立（to rise）. So it means “risen by hand”.
Another old name for the ramen was “Yanagi-men” or “Willow noodles” referring to their resemblance to willow branches.
- Why maturation is fundamental?
-
Mix the flour and water, and let the noodle rest once for a better taste. The same as for making bread and udon.
- How long does it take to complete the ramen noodles?
-
After mixing the flour and the nerimizu water, it takes about 2 hours until it will be packaged.
- Why do you use egg whites in the ramen bowl?
-
Imagine a boiled egg without its shell.
The surface repels water and does not absorb moisture.
It appears smooth.
For this reason
We boil white eggs to avoid the soup could be absorbed.
Then a good taste is assured thanks to its smoothness.
- Why do you use gluten?
-
If you use gluten, noodles will be elastic but hard to break even if you stretch by hand.
- Why did you build a factory here?
-
There reasons are because the water is abundant and delicious and because transportation is good (close to expressway, close to distribution center).
- How do you put the flour in the tanks?
-
As with kerosene lorries, flour is carried by large lorries. A hose is then connected to the tank and the flour is filled using air pressure.
- What is the difference between cold ramen and ordinary ramen?
-
1 Thickness of noodles
2 Blending ratio of raw materials
- What will you do if the machine breaks down?
-
There is always a kind repairman familiar with machinery and electricity in the factory able to stops and repair the machine. If it cannot still be fixed it, we call a professional one.
- Why did you make Mensuke character?
-
There are a number of companies that have characters whose names can be directly remembered.
Famous cases are Disney's Mickey and Minnie Mouse or, in Japan, Sanrio's Kitty or Kumamoto city Kumamon.
Nishiyama Ramen also thought a character will help to be more easily remembered.
- When is the factory closed?
-
On New Year's Day there are three days off as every week Sundays. (All the machines will stop.)
On other days, we take turns. During one month, we have 8 days off.
