Ramen...

A Japanese staple that's now popular worldwide.

Each region has its own vision, shifting with the times while staying true to the original.

Welcome to Japan, the land of ramen!

We explore the northern expanses of Hokkaido in search of ramen.

Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa: each place with its own version.

Over the next two episodes, we'll uncover just what makes them so deliciously different.

Hokkaido's largest city, Sapporo, with a population of nearly 2 million.

With temperatures regularly below freezing, winters in this northern city are bitter cold.

Welcome! Thanks for waiting.

And to warm you up in the cold, nothing beats...ramen!

With an astonishing over 1,000 shops.

It is one of the most competitive markets in Japan.

Just 17 ramen shops line this small alleyway.

But it sees over 2,000 customers a day.

The ramen everybody's here for...?

Miso.

The traditional Japanese seasoning, miso.

Made mainly with soy and grain, it's fermented, and essential to Japanese cooking.

I've eaten it since I was a kid.

When it's hot, I sweat it out.

When it's cold, it warms me up.

The shop we're heading towards now has been making miso ramen since 1964.

Let's see what makes Sapporo ramen so special.

Welcome!

Stir-frying. Again and again and again.

In a wok, the vegetables, everything.

The ingredients are bean sprouts,
ground pork, onions, lard, and garlic.

It's all stir-fried with miso and then
added to the soup. Very simple.

We use pork bones, dried sardines,
"aji" and saba mackerel, and kombu.

Dashi ingredients vary from shop to shop, but everything goes in the wok.

Stir-fried vegetables, meat, and miso join forces in an umami explosion.

For Hokkaido ramen, even the soup comes from the wok!

The perfect noodles for all that miso flavor.

Characteristically thick with a pronounced curl.

The noodles are nice and plump.

Rich and filling, perfect for lunch.

The shop started by the man who served the first ever bowl of miso ramen is still in business today.

Come on in!

Inheriting the shop from his father, the second-generation owner is Omiya Hideo, age 80.

His early childhood image of his father is closely linked with postwar Sapporo.

People back from Manchuria with no jobs
were running food stalls.

There were about 200 of them.

Only two or three sold ramen,
but they all had huge lines.

Seeing that, in just a few days
dad learned how to make it,

after that he started selling ramen at his stall
and the customers flooded in.

His father, Morito, was only 26 at the end of the second world war.

Soon after, he opened a food stall.

Back then ramen in Sapporo wasn't miso-, but shoyu-style.

For Hideo, talking about the ramen they used to eat in the old days calls to mind a time of post-war scarcity.

Very little actual soy-sauce, with salt
added to hide it, that was the taste.

But everyone had so little back then

that just the mention of ramen
sounded like a feast, a real luxury.

In search of a way to make his ramen more appealing, the answer Morito came up with... was miso.

Miso is not just a great seasoning,
it's also nutritious - a fermented food.

To keep the body going,
there's nothing better,

that's what first came to him.

Along with miso he added nutritious vegetables like bean sprouts, onions, and garlic.

And mixing in ground meat, he stir-fried it all in a wok.

This one dish has all the nutrition
the body needs to keep on living.

Adding classic dashi soup stock, a new miso-flavored broth never before seen in Japan, was created.

There was apparently one more reason that he decided to use the wok.

There's also a bit of spectacle
in the way it flares up as you cook.

It draws people in, a real show.

Everybody says, "Wow!
Your ramen has passion!"

In search of the perfect noodles, Morito turned to Nishiyama Takayuki.

They were like brothers.

Both wanted to create ramen
that was distinctly Sapporo.

So says Nishiyama's son, Takashi.

Dad asked him to make the perfect noodle,
slightly translucent, plump and filling.

At the time, Nishiyama was working at another shop making noodles.

He thought of the classic Japanese noodles known as udon.

Made with wheat flour, udon noodles are thick with a firm, springy texture.

Adapting the method used for making udon, he made ramen.

Since the old days "udon" noodles were left to age.

By allowing ramen to rest in the same way,
you get a much firmer noodle.

They tried 100s, even 1,000s of versions.

With straight noodles, when you blow
to cool them, the soup just drips off.

So it would be easier to eat, they tried
hand-kneading to make them curly.

This way the soup stays on the noodles.

The pair spent six years perfecting their creation.

The first ever bowl of miso ramen in Japan.

It's been 70 years.

And now the city of Sapporo is synonymous with miso ramen.

This man has been a fan of miso ramen since the two first created it.

I'm 90 now, so it's been 60 years.

I've been coming since the original owner
was selling ramen from a food cart.

I can't get enough. I came here
by subway just to eat their ramen.

A Sapporo Elementary School.

It's 12:20 pm, finally time for lunch.

The food is served by the children themselves.

Let's eat!

Naturally, today they're serving ramen!

Yummy!

For the children of Sapporo, ramen is special.

-It's like a reward.
-Yeah.

This 3rd-year class is in the middle of a social studies lesson.

"About ramen..."

Who eats miso ramen?

I do!

Sapporo is known for ramen.

It's something everybody eats,
so we use it to teach about society.

Over 90% of Sapporo schools organize student visits to a noodle plant.

The plant the children go to is the one started by Nishiyama, the one who first helped Omiya to create miso ramen.

At first, they sold noodles to just a few shops, but now there are over 3,500 of them.

They produce 100,000 portions a day.

There are 500 different recipes to choose from.

The process Takayuki once did by hand is now done entirely by machine.

And to give the noodles their characteristic curl...

After cutting they clump up against
these silicone rubber flaps.

As the noodles are pushed through,
they come out curly on the other side.

But one thing remains unchanged from the old days.

They still strive to create the ideal noodles.

Okay, here we go.

Boiling time: 2min 10sec.

So, on first impression,
number 3 is firmest?

Number 2.

The exterior has a firm appearance.

Ultimately it's something people,
our customers, will be eating.

So, we eat the noodles ourselves
to evaluate them.

The goal is artisan-level quality.

That's the kind of factory
we want to create.

This ramen shop has used their custom-made noodles for 20 years.

They make the noodles
that are best go with our soup.

We couldn't do it without them.

They're like our partner
in a three-legged race.

Sapporo, the home of miso ramen.

70 years ago, two men set out to make a more delicious and more nutritious bowl of ramen, and their legacy continues to this day.

Wouldn't you like some yourself?

Come pay a visit for the best bowl of ramen you've ever had!