Sano Minoru Memorial "Ramen Dragon's Gate 2024" is held.

Contest to discover hidden potential and new talents of ramen chefs The winner will open a store at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum for one year

2024.02.01 10:30

新横浜ラーメン博物館

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum (Kohoku-ku, Yokohama; CEO: Hiroshi Iwaoka) will celebrate its 30th anniversary on March 6 (Wednesday).

The museum has been implementing a variety of projects to commemorate the 30th anniversary.

As a first step, we will start a project called "That Famous Restaurant Again" on July 1, 2022 (Friday), in which about 36 famous restaurants that have opened in the past will be relocated over a period of about two years. (The project will continue until May 2024.)

In addition, on April 25, 2023 (Tuesday), the second phase of the project, "Rahaku Sugomen Lab" was launched, in which visitors can create their own original cup noodles that break the rules using photos from their smartphones.

And as the third initiative, "Sano Minoru Memorial Ramen Noborimon 2024," a ramen contest to discover the hidden potential and new talents of ramen craftsmen, will be held from February 1, 2024 (Thursday).

Main Visual

Ramen Noborimon Concept

It is assumed that the ramen culture has developed its own unique flavor depending on the climate, climate, industry, and lifestyle of the region, and it is the ramen craftsmen who have exercised their ingenuity and wisdom.

It is the ramen craftsmen who have put their ingenuity and wisdom to the test, with the single-minded determination to "make delicious ramen! We believe that this is the result of uncompromising research with a single-minded determination to "make delicious ramen!

In today's information society, where people are becoming more and more bored with food, we believe that we need a stage to discover the hidden potential of ramen chefs and their new talents, which is why we have decided to hold the Ramen Tournament. We plan to hold this competition once every three years.

The contest is open to everyone, regardless of age, gender, nationality, professional or amateur, to create ramen based on a theme, and the winner will open a store at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum for one year to pass the baton to the next winner.

We hope this contest will be a dream come true and an opportunity for those with passion and ambition.

Concept

Minoru Sano Memorial

Mr. Minoru Sano, founder of Shina Sobaya, is a ramen chef who has left his mark on the history of ramen, having developed ramen and created a new sense of value.

In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of Minoru Sano, who devoted his entire life to ramen, we will hold a commemorative event, subtitled "Minoru Sano Memorial" as a subtitle of the Ramen Seiryumon, in honor of his achievements.

Minoru Sano, founder of Shina Sobaya

Theme of Ramen Seiryumon 2024

The theme of the first event will be "Domestic Wheat," which Mr. Sano was most particular about.

Theme: Miso Ramen with the flavor and goodness of domestic wheat

100% domestic wheat noodles made in-house or ordered from a noodle maker.

This year's event began with the relearning of domestic wheat, with the participation of experts in the field, including scientific evidence. We hope that the participants will showcase their originality and sensibility to create new values in ramen.

We chose miso ramen as the theme because although its existence is well known throughout Japan, there are few places that represent the region like local ramen, and we thought it would be easy to discover "new values" in this theme.

Miso Sauce

Miso ramen (image)

Competition Outline and Schedule

Qualifications

All participants, regardless of age, sex, nationality, professional or amateur, are welcome to participate.

　However, the language of communication must be Japanese.

　Minors under 18 years of age must have the consent of a person with parental authority to participate.

The winner, runner-up, and third-place finishers must be able to open a store at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum.

　*Second and third place winners will be able to open a stall for one week starting in July 2024, and the winner will be able to open a stall for approximately one year starting in August 2024.

・People are required to create their own ramen based on the criteria of the theme.

・Permission to publish the recipe for judging (only the judges will be publicized).

　The winner's name, portrait, biography, photograph, etc. may be used in TV broadcasts and other media.

　　In order to participate, your name, portrait, biography, photo, etc. may be used in media outlets such as TV broadcasts, etc., in all judging,

　　Only those who agree to this will be considered.

Schedule

Please note that the above schedule is subject to change due to various reasons.

For details on how to apply and the judges, please refer to the official Ramen Tournament 2024 page.

http://www.raumen.co.jp/toryumon/

Competition Schedule

Founder and Director Hiroshi Iwaoka on the occasion of our 30th anniversary

Thanks to your support, we will celebrate our 30th anniversary next month.

We received some harsh comments when we first opened, such as "it only needs to last three years" and "it's just a temporary buzz," but we have been able to continue this long because of the support of many people, including the 50 store owners who have decided to open stores here so far. I am truly grateful for their support.

There is a saying, "It's only ramen, but it's only ramen," and I believe that we have been facing "it's only ramen" for 30 years without wavering. The ramen industry is a harsh world in which approximately 70% of ramen shops go out of business within three years. Under such circumstances, our concept was "ramen as a food culture," in other words, local ramen. We have been introducing to our customers restaurants that are rooted in the local area, have made an impact in that area, and have been supported by the local community for a long time.

In our current "Revisit Those Famous Stores" event, we have again invited some of the best stores in each area to participate, and we have realized once again that we have attracted some great stores.

And equally passionate was the historical research. When I researched the entire country before the opening of the museum, I found that some great stores had closed due to lack of successors, and I strongly felt that I did not want to erase this history. Historical research takes time and money, but in order to spread ramen as a Japanese food culture to the world, we will continue to conduct research so that people 100 or 200 years from now will be able to pass it on. Even in the unlikely event that the Ramen Museum closes, we would like to donate the items we have researched and collected so far to the museum so that we can keep them.

In the 31st year of the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum, we would like to take on the challenge of surpassing the past 30 years.