# Travel Destinations | Japan Voyage Travel - [Fuunji](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/fuunji): Tokyo, Restaurant. A narrow counter of fifteen seats, a few minutes from Shinjuku's south exit, and a queue outside it for most of the hours it is open. This is Fuunji's original shop, and it has been on Tokyo tsukemen lists for years. Tsukemen means the noodles and the broth arrive separately. Here the noodles are thick, cold and firm, and the dipping broth is a gyokai tonkotsu: pork and chicken bones cooked down and then loaded with dried sardine and bonito powder until it is closer to a paste than a soup. It is intensely savoury and it clings to the noodles rather than running off them. The standard order is the tokusei tsukemen, which adds extra chashu and a marinated egg. Finish the noodles, then ask for soup-wari. Staff top the remaining broth with light stock so you can drink it, and skipping this step wastes the best part of the meal. Practical things. Buy a ticket at the machine before joining the queue, which is the local rule and not obvious to first-timers. Expect thirty to sixty minutes at peak, less if you arrive right at opening or in the mid-afternoon before the evening service. The shop is open every day, with a break from 15:00 to 17:00, and closes early once the soup runs out. Portions are large and the default noodle amount defeats a lot of people. Bring cash: the ticket machine is how you order, and cards are not accepted. If the queue is beyond your patience, Fuunji has two more shops, in Tokyo Ramen Yokocho under Tokyo Station and near Yokohama Station, both open until 23:00. Shinjuku also has several hundred other ramen shops, though very few of them do this particular bowl as well. - [Jinrui Mina Menrui](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/jinrui-mina-menrui): Osaka, Restaurant. A legendary Osaka ramen shop offering multiple dashi-based ramen styles, crowned with thick-cut chashu pork that melts in your mouth. - [Ippudo Umeda](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/ippudo-umeda): Osaka, Restaurant. Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen chain with unlimited free spicy moyashi (bean sprouts) at every table. - [Jinrui Mina Menrui Tsukemen](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/jinrui-mina-menrui-tsukemen): Osaka, Restaurant. The original shop stopped serving tsukemen, so this is where to get it. The dipping broth arrives in a pot over a flame, so it is still hot at the last mouthful. Noodles are 200g as standard, with 300g and 400g at the same price, though an unfinished 400g is charged 300 yen. - [Menya Sanda](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/menya-sanda): Kyoto, Restaurant. A ten-seat tsukemen shop in Ukyo-ku, open since 2017, serving thick house-made noodles with a dense chicken dipping soup. It is a 15-minute walk from Hankyu Saiin Station, and there is often a short queue. - [Ichiran Shinjuku](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/ichiran-shinjuku): Tokyo, Restaurant. Ichiran's whole design exists so that you never have to speak to anyone. Buy a ticket from the machine, get shown to a booth with wooden dividers on both sides, fill in a paper form, and hand it under a bamboo blind that a pair of hands then lowers. The bowl arrives through the gap. When you want more noodles you press a button. The chain is from Fukuoka and the ramen is Hakata style: pork bone broth, thin straight noodles, a scoop of the house red chilli paste in the middle. The form lets you set seven things, including how rich the broth is, how much garlic, whether you want spring onion, and how firm the noodles are. Order them futame or katame; the default is softer than most people from Fukuoka would accept. Kaedama, a second helping of noodles, comes on the same button and takes about a minute. Ramen people will tell you there are better bowls within five minutes' walk, and they are right. What Ichiran sells is consistency and a complete absence of social pressure, which is why the booths were designed in the first place, and it is the easiest possible introduction for someone eating ramen alone in Japan for the first time. The form is available in English. Around 1,000 yen and up. Several branches around Shinjuku, some open 24 hours, and the queue at 2am on a Saturday can still be twenty people. Cash and cards both work at most machines. - [Menbakaichidai Fire Ramen](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/menbakaichidai-fire-ramen): Kyoto, Restaurant. A Kyoto ramen counter, open since 1984, where staff pour flaming green-onion oil over your bowl. Expensive for ramen, cashless only, and best booked ahead online. - [Kushikatsu Daruma](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/kushikatsu-daruma): Osaka, Restaurant. A legendary kushikatsu restaurant operating since 1929 in Shinsekai, famous for its deep-fried skewers and strict no-double-dipping rule. - [Ippudo Daimyo Main Store](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/ippudo-daimyo-main-store): Fukuoka, Restaurant. Step into ramen history at the original 1985 flagship where Ippudo founder Shigemi Kawahara revolutionized Hakata-style tonkotsu and launched a global empire. The intimate Daimyo location maintains the founder's exacting standards with its signature creamy pork bone broth simmered for 18 hours and thin, firm noodles prepared fresh daily. For the complete experience, try the Shiromaru Classic that started it all or the spicier Akamaru Modern that helped bring Japanese ramen to the world stage. - [Menya Musashi Shinjuku Main Store](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations/menya-musashi-shinjuku-main-store): Tokyo, Restaurant. Since 1998, this Tokyo ramen institution has served its pioneering double-soup style that masterfully blends rich tonkotsu with intense fish dashi in perfect harmony. The dramatic samurai-themed interior and open kitchen add theatrical flair as cooks prepare thick tsukemen noodles and bowls of their signature ramen. Their innovative approach to combining disparate broth traditions helped define modern Tokyo ramen culture and continues to influence shops across Japan. --- Source: [Travel Destinations | Japan Voyage Travel](https://travel.japanvoyage.jp/travel_destinations?destination_type=restaurant) Last updated: 2026-11-07