Yokohama Ramen Guide: Ie-Kei Style and the Bowl That Spawned a Thousand Copies

Yokohama invented ie-kei ramen — the thick tonkotsu-shoyu hybrid with spinach, chashu, and nori that became one of Japan's most imitated styles. Here's where the original comes from and where to find the best bowls.

Yokohama is thirty minutes from Tokyo by train, but in ramen terms it's a different world. The city gave Japan ie-kei (家系) ramen — a thick, cloudy broth made from pork bones and chicken, seasoned heavily with soy sauce, served with wide flat noodles and specific toppings: slices of chashu pork, blanched spinach, and sheets of nori standing upright in the bowl. It looks distinctive, tastes unlike anything else, and has been endlessly copied across the country.

The Origin of Ie-Kei

Ie-kei was created in 1974 by Minoru Yoshimura at Yoshimuraya in Yokohama's Kanagawa ward. Yoshimura had trained in Fukuoka tonkotsu techniques and adapted them for the Kanto (Tokyo-area) palate — adding chicken to the pork bone broth and seasoning with a stronger soy tare. The 'ie' (家) in ie-kei means 'house' — a reference to the fact that many shops serving this style were opened by former Yoshimuraya apprentices, creating a family tree of related shops.

How to Eat Ie-Kei

At most ie-kei shops you can customise three things: broth richness (aji — light/medium/strong), fat content (abura — less/normal/more), and noodle firmness (kata-sa — soft/medium/firm). If it's your first time, order everything 'futsuu' (normal/medium) and adjust on a return visit.

The nori sheets are meant to be draped over the bowl rim — dip them in the broth until they soften slightly, then eat together with a scoop of rice if you ordered any. The spinach provides a light, slightly bitter contrast to the heavy broth.

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum

Yokohama is also home to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum — the world's first food theme park dedicated to a single dish, opened in 1994. It recreates a 1958 Tokyo streetscape and features eight rotating ramen shops from different regions. Worth a visit, especially if you want to sample multiple regional styles in one day.

Getting There

Yokohama is accessible from Tokyo in 25–30 minutes on the Tokyu Toyoko Line or Keikyu Line. The ie-kei shops are scattered across the city — many in the Kanagawa ward area near the original Yoshimuraya. If you're combining with the Ramen Museum, take the JR Yokohama Line to Shin-Yokohama station.