the owner of a famous Ramen restaurant | Japanese Ramen School. Syoku no doujyou -TOKYO RAMEN ACADEMY-

【Profile】
Born in Saitama in 1966
1998: Converted a Volkswagen-TypeⅡ(hippie van) into a food truck and obtained a business license. Participated in events serving tonkotsu ramen from a food truck.
2005: Opened a tonkotsu ramen restaurant “Shodo” in his hometown, Kawagoe
2008 Opened a tsukemen restaurant “Bronson” in Tokorozawa
2010 Opened “Shodo” in Tokorozawa
2010 Opened “Charles” in Hon-Kawagoe
2016 Opened “Mensho MONACO” in Torokozawa

His creativity goes beyond standard tonkotsu ramen, and he ambitiously keeps presenting various kinds of ramen as limited time offers.　He has also opened more than ten restaurants.

【Achievements】
Various ramen rankings appearances such as “Tokyo★Weekly Best Ramen Readers’ Selections”, “Ramen Grand Prix by Ichikojin Magazine”, “10th Annual National Ranking of Truly Tasty Ramen Voted by 10,000 Ramen Fans”
TRY’s Best Tonkotsu Ramen Award by “Tokyo★Weekly Magazine”.

【TV Appearances】
“Hungry Journey Recipes” on Nihon TV, “Kizuna Canteen” on TBS, “Super J Channel” on TV Asahi, “10th Annual National Ranking of Truly Tasty Ramen voted by 10,000 Ramen Fans” on Nihon TV

★He is the main teacher of the TokyoRamenAcademy(Syoku no Doujyou), who can speak English.★

【Profile】
1999: He participated in “Ramen Toryumon”, a competition held by Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. The overwhelming 344 participants and the leading ramen masters, Mr. Ishigami, Mr. Sano, and Mr. Kawahara have all inspired him to open up his own restaurant.

As part of his ramen research, he spent almost a year travelling through Japan and has visited many ramen restaurants.

June, 2000: Opened “Kyouka”

His devotion to pursue the ultimate ramen in combination with his skills and his carefully selected ingredients continued to create series of successful ramen dishes. Many of these dishes appeared on media and fascinated the ramen fans nationwide. Before he knew it, he has established a name for himself. He was called “A Leader of Creative Ramen”.

2009: Produced a ramen complex, “Tachikawa Ramen Tamayakata” in the outskirts of Tokyo, where he also ran two restaurants.

Besides appearing on TV programs and magazines, he also helps his fellow ramen restaurant owners from all over Japan by providing trainings and consultation.

【Profile】
Sept. 2005: Opened “Menya Shono” in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Limited time offer special ramen is introduced on monthly basis ever since its opening.
Oct. 2009: Participated in “Odaiba Ramen Park”
Oct. 2010: Participated in “Tokyo Ramen Show”.
Jan. 2011: Moved “Menya Shono” in Shinjuku to expand floor space.
Apr. 2011: Started mail-order ramen business.
Aug. 2011: Participated in “Izu Cactus Park Ramen Festival”
Oct. 2011: Opened “Tsukemen GACHI” in Shinjuku, Tokyo

【Publications】
“Tokyo Walker”, “Ramen Walker”, “Taishu Weekly”, “Asahi Geino”, “Friday”, “TRY Supreme Ramen Award”, “Ultimate Ramen Book”, “Book of Ramen: What’s New?!”, “Ramen Shincho Style”, “RUDO, Tokyo Weekly”, “Book of Tsukemen: What’s New?!”, “This is it! The Ramen Book”, “Devine Ramen”, “BRUTUS”, “Meshitomo”, “Popular Ramen Restaurants”, “Ramen Sauce Recipes”, “Cold Ramen Recipes”, “Monthly Restaurant Guide” and many more.

【TV Appearances】
“HEY! HEY! HEY!”, “King’s Brunch”, “Oha!4”, “VVV6”, “Super News”, “Stand in Line! Super Good Ramen”, “Fight! New Year’s Specials”, “Super J Channel”, “PON!” and others.

【Mobile Sites Appearances】
Selected as 2011 Best Ramen @ Tabelog
Ranks No1 in Ramen Category @ Ramen Database 2007

【Menya Shono Official Website】
http://www.menya-shono.com/

【Profile】
November 2013: Opened “Tsukemen Koike”.
September 2014: Renewed Tsukemen Koike and opened “Ramen Koike”.
February 2018: Opened “Chinese Soba NISHINO”.
March 2019: Opened “King Seimen”.

Mr. Mizuhara is a young rising star who has been called a “genius in the ramen world.
All of his restaurants are popular and have long lines.

Ramen Koike won the Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand for four consecutive years since 2016.
Chinese Soba NISHINO: Winner of the 2020 Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

【SNS】
Ramen Koike (Twitter) https://twitter.com/tsukemenkoike
Chinese Soba Nishino (Twitter) https://twitter.com/nishino_hongo3
King Seimen (Twitter) https://twitter.com/king_seimen

【Profile】
President of Ramen Muteppou Group

Born in 1968 in Kyoto

All it took was one bowl of tonkotsu ramen he ate in Kyushu while he was still in school. He had worked in a steel business for three years after college, but the taste of that ramen was so impressive that it made him leave his job to become an apprentice at a ramen restaurant. 5 years of hard work later, he opened his own ramen restaurant “Ramen Muteppou” in Nara in June of 1998. He is the owner of 9 restaurants in and out of Japan as of March 2012.

【Restaurants】
Dec. 2003: Muteppou Main Restaurant in Kyoto
Jun. 2005: Muteppou Osaka (moved from Nara)
Sep. 2007: “Buta no Hone” in Nara
Mar. 2008: Muteppou Gamushara in Nara
Feb. 2009: Sydney Gamushara in Sydney, Australia
Aug. 2009: Muteppou Tsukemen Mushin in Nara
Aug. 2010: Muteppou tsukemen Mukyoku in Tokyo
Aug. 2010: Muteppou Nakano in Tokyo
Oct. 2010: Muteppou Shabaton & Noodle Factory Museimen

As of March 2017, he is an owner of 8 restaurants in and out of Japan.

His careful selection of ingredients and soup making, his seriously dedicated working style and his crazy love for tonkotsu have made him what he is today. His devotion to ramen and the continuous efforts he makes surely satisfied his customers and made them come back to his restaurant over and over again.

He also opened up a ramen school called Tonkotsu Academy, and he works vigorously to train his students and to spread the art of tonkotsu ramen.

【Achievements】
Nov. 2009: Ramen Grand Prize by Kansai Weekly
Dec. 2010: 1st in TRY Ramen New Restaurant Rankings and Tonkotsu ramen rankings
Dec. 2011: 1st in TRY Ramen Tonokotsu Ramen Restaurant Rankings
2009 – 2011: Participated in Tokyo Ramen Show

【Muteppou Official Site】
http://www.muteppou.com/

【Profile】
1976: Born in Tokyo

He became fascinated by the depth of the world of ramen when he ate at “Ramen Jiro” and “Hifumi” which are both ramen restaurants, one serving a totally different kind of ramen than the other.

The grand prize he won at the “2nd Annual Ramen Tryout” ramen competition awarded him with his first restaurant in Ramen Square. He became an owner of 5 restaurants, participated ramen events while he also worked as a producer and consultant.

He is especially skilled in creating various flavors and he has more than 700 ramen recipes. He offered a weekly special ramen (different ramen every week) at his restaurant and also provided recipes.

Sep. 2014: Due to health reason, he closed all restaurants.
After a year of recuperation, he started to produce ramen restaurants and ramen business support services.

Feb. 2015: Started ramen events using his former restaurant brand “Mensogyo Isobe Suisan” (Event ended in Mar. 2016)

Today he engages in various jobs related to ramen: events/restaurant producer, recipe writer, on-site instructor, consultant, caterer, ramen coordinator, events participant and more. He has helped more than 20 restaurants with their businesses.

He has visited more than 4000 ramen restaurants nationwide.

【Achievements】
Dec. 2006: Winner of 2nd Ramen Tryout

【Restaurants】
Apr. 2007: “Menya Yu”
Sep. 2008: “Onmenshuka Rakuraku”
Sep. 2009: “Rabumen Rakuraku”
Apr. 2011: “Tokyo Tonkotsu Mantougyo”
Apr. 2011: “Wasted Time -feat. Rakuraku-“

【Profile】
His love for seafood as ingredients created his signature ramen with unique and distinct flavors. Preferring fresh seafood to dried ones, he masterfully came up with a one-of-a-kind ramen. Fresh seafood as the main ingredients in the soup stock, its flavor and aroma stand out distinctively in his ramen.

His restaurants all run under common concepts:
Unforgettable ramen experience
Smelly is tasty
Addictive ramen experience

【Restaurants】
Jul. 2007: “Ramen Itsuki”.
Dec. 2010: “Tsukemen Gonokami Seisakujo”
Jul. 2013: “Ramen Gonokami Seisakujo”
Dec. 2013: “Seafood Ramen Gonokami Suisan”