Japan/Ramen Noodles Ramen Is a

Japan/Ramen Noodles Ramen is a Japanese style of noodle. It is one of the most famous of Japan's food and it has become a representation of Japanese culture. It is part of Japanese culture that while eating ramen, one slurps as loud as they can. Slurping one's food might seem to be rude for those not familiar with Japanese culture, but slurping ramen is actually considered polite in Japan. Slurping is only considered polite with ramen or other noodles, but not with any other foods.

Because ramen is such a traditional Japanese food, it even has a museum in honor of it -- the Ramen Museum in Yokohama. While ramen originated in China, ramen has become synonymous with Japanese culture and has thus shown that it has developed "hybridity" -- that is, it has been successful at transgressing national borders. Ramen is a cultural hybrid in and of itself. It is technically a Chinese noodle that was brought to Japan in the beginning of the 20th century by Chinese immigrants.

The noodle has undergone several changes since then for the purpose of making the noodle more "Japanese-like." The ramen in Japan today has changed in texture from the Chinese style noodle, and the stock that it is cooked in is more Japanese as well -- using Miso oftentimes, a type of Japanese broth made of soy bean. Even though the noodle is essentially a Chinese hybrid, it has become synonymous with "Japan-ness" and people all over the world eat the food without realizing its original origins.

Eating ramen in Japan, as mentioned, is something that takes on significant meaning. The slurping of the noodles has become a ritual that is considered polite -- but only with ramen. It is one of the most beloved foods in Japan and thus eating it correctly is something that must be taken very seriously. Ramen became very popular in Japan during World War II because it was cheap to make and it was still quite nutritious and satisfying. It became a staple of Japanese life and took on symbolic meaning.

Ramen has given a national identity to Japan even though it is a hybrid food. Most people in Japan who love ramen would probably be aware that ramen was traditionally a Chinese food, but in other places, like the United States, for example, ramen is almost always associated with Japan and thus we can see that it is something that has transgressed national boundaries (Iwabuchi 51). Even though ramen is a hybrid food, it doesn't take away from that fact that people associate it with Japan.

It has taken on cultural significance and has become a way of identifying a culture. How ramen became to mean so much to a culture can be compared to potatoes in Ireland or bread pretty much anywhere. It was a food that filled you up and could be made very cheaply. It became a food of mass consumption. As more and more people came to eat ramen, the ramen noodle gradually became attributed to the Japanese culture. Today we might not even attribute ramen to.