The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze

3. Move On Up: Fuel for Rapid Growth

72 Ramen became the staple lunch of construction workers and students during Japan’s era of rapid economic growth, 1955–73, when immense building projects and a teeming population of young people from the countryside reshaped life in Tokyo and other major cities. Not only did the availability of ramen rise dramatically, but it developed an image as an affordable meal for people struggling on the margins of the rapidly growing economy. Films, short stories, and magazine articles from this era attest to the increasing availability of ramen and its frequent consumption by those with limited means. Ramen’s move from open-air black markets to modest restaurants in the suburbs and city centers was the result of a rise in purchasing power among all households, as well as a taste for oily and starchy foods among younger Japanese. Between 1955 and 1973, household expenditures on ramen increased by 250 percent,1 despite a 50 percent decline in the proportion of income spent on food.2 Meanwhile, the price of a bowl of ramen increased from 35 yen in 1954 to 250 yen in 1976 due to increased demand for the food as well as inflation.3 In comparison, the cost of one standard serving of curry with rice rose from 100 yen to 300 yen, and the price of a pork cutlet (tonkatsu) rose from 280 to 650 yen during the same period. 3 Move On Up fuel for rapid growth m o v e o n u p 73 In the process, ramen rose from a cheap snack served mainly by struggling pushcart vendors to a moderately priced restaurant food worthy of inclusion among statistical surveys by the government in studying the health and well-being of the citizenry. The increase in the sales of ramen resulted from a rise in wheat and meat consumption in general that was mirrored by a decline in the demand for rice, sweet potatoes, and beans. The U.S. government’s policy of encouraging allies to buy American wheat exports at steep discounts and the spread of modern nutritional science in Japan advocating the consumption of wheat, meat, and dairy accounted for much of this change in eating habits. In addition, the postwar baby boom altered demographics in Japan such that there was a new generation of young urban consumers with a taste (and a budget) for eating ramen. In gastronomic terms, the era of rapid growth may also be understood as the era of instant foods. The first instant ramen emerged in 1958, and the cupped version arrived on the market in 1971. As the first instant food popularized nationally in Japan, the Nissin Foods Corporation’s Chikin Ra -men brand of instant noodle soup was a central part of the sweeping changes in food technologies, marketing strategies, and consumption practices that marked the era. Nissin Foods depended heavily on the transformations that were taking place in housing (suburbanization and mass tenement housing) and vending (supermarkets) for its success in selling Chikin Ra -men.4 The company and the entire instant foods industry fundamentally altered the relationship between people and their sustenance in Japan, accelerating the move toward greater convenience and atomization in eating. The story of instant ramen during the high-growth era neatly brings together the aforementioned elements of U.S. wheat consumption (and decreased rice intake), the homogenization of regionally diverse food practices at the national level, and the strong influence of media advertising on food trends. wheat up, rice down: changing taste buds The rise in the availability of ramen was an emblematic part of a broad and drastic shift toward American foodstuffs (wheat, meat, and dairy) 74 m o v e o n u p among people in Japan. Between 1960 and 1975 the average daily protein intake in Japan increased from 69.5 grams to 78.8 grams per person, and the proportion of protein obtained from milk, eggs, and meats grew from 7 percent to 22 percent.5 During the same period the average meat intake increased from 16 to 64 grams per day and wheat consumption increased from 60 to 90 grams per day.6 Food scholars Kazuhiko Kobayashi and Vaclav Smil point to a rise in disposable per capita income resulting from economic growth and the emergence of highly productive agricultural and animal husbandry practices as the two factors most responsible for the shifts in food habits.7...