Ramen in Popular Culture

Ramen in Popular Culture

Ramen’s increasingly growing popularity stems from the insertion of Japan into global popular cultures - especially in America. From fashion brands, to anime/manga, and food, Japan has gained a “new identity as an incubator of fashion and cultural trends on par with Western Europe” (Solt 2014, 192). As Japan exited the hardships of it’s post WWII reality, it emerged as an economic powerhouse and competitor with the USA for much of the 20th century. As time progressed, Japan was able to balance its bullish economic policies with diplomacy and “shed its reputation as an “economic animal” allowing it to “expose of American youths to Japanese popular culture in the late 1990s and 2000s, in the forms of graphic arts (Spirited Away, Pokemon), clothing (BAPE, Uniqlo), and food (Nobu, Koi), contributed to the spread of ramen in U.S. cities such as New York and Los Angeles (Solt 2014, 192)”.

Japan became synonymous with progress and “the cutting edge” and ramen followed as the “product of transnational hipster youth culture” (Solt 2014, 192). Ramen seemed to move along all mediums of popular culture including anime and manga. The celebrated food manga comic, Oishinbo, had a particular entry where a brick and mortar shop “battled” with a chain of Ramen food trucks. This symbol of “new vs old” seemed to encapsulate the modern identity of ramen in contrast with its more traditional past in food stalls and brick and mortar locations. Popular culture was paving the idea of Ramen in a new light: mobile, transient and adaptive to the new methods of food delivery.

In addition to Ramen manga, Japan has also introduced another cultural wonder: Ramen Theme Parks! “The first characteristic of ramen theme parks is that they are purposely designed and themed spaces where private owners lease space to ramen shop tenants. For example, Tokyo Ramen Street is located in a busy pedestrian concourse underneath Tokyo Station, which is owned by the development subsidiary of the JR East Corporation” (Reiffenstein 2017, 441). These theme parks are a melting pot of new Ramen styles, techniques and reflections of local culture. These parks have pushed the envelope on Ramen tradition and introduced entirely new rituals into Ramen culture. However, Ramen theme parks are incredibly competitive environments for cooks and often represent a revolving door of entering and exiting Ramen entrepreneurs. 
 

In Japan, all roads of pop culture lead to Ramen. Ramen has become a material folklore item that is synonymous with the culture zeitgeist. It has been transformed from an article of sustenance to an article that represents progress, art, and experimentation. Ramen’s reach in pop culture dabbles into other folk groups as well. Ramen is a staple of street wear enthusiasts and hipsters. As Jonathan Gold writes: “ In the United States, ramen arrived as a trendy, young ethnic food associated with a cool and economically unthreatening Japan rather than China. As such, the Japanese rebranding of ramen as a national food for domestic purposes between the 1980s and 2000s served a new function, allowing it to be packaged for export to foreign consumers eager to devour whatever could be imagined as “authentically Japanese” and had grown tired of sushi and teriyaki chicken. (Solt 2014, 191). While Ramen is rightfully a piece of material folklore in itself, it is also associated with the rituals of other folk groups in popular culture.