Grabbing Beers with a Veteran Tokyo Ramen Head
Known to his followers as Initial-D, Daisuke Nagashima, aged 40, could be called a middle-generation ramen head. His ramen hunting roots stretch back to the early aughts — well after the scene was established in the late 1980s by figures like Ramen Database inventor Hiroshi Ōsaki, but long before the arrival of Instagram and first-person foodie videos on YouTube.
Initial-D came up during the era when Japan's noodle obsessives shared their intel and chronicled their adventures via the country's once wildly popular blogging platforms, such as Ameblo and Livedoor. Initial-D now dabbles on Instagram, but he also continues to maintain his old school ramen blog, day in and day out, as he has for well over a decade.
The Ramen Beast team recently grabbed beers with D to get some of his insights on how the Japanese ramen scene has changed over the years.
If you’re new here, this is the Ramen Beast Newsletter — stories and food lore from Japan’s vast ramen subculture.
Tell us a little about your background and where your nickname Initial-D comes from.
I'm originally from the Kinuta area of Setagaya-ku. I sell insurance for a living. The D in Initial-D comes from my first name Daisuke. When I was little, people used to call me Dai-chan, but people have called me D-chan since college. The "Initial" part comes from one of my favorite Japanese hip hop artists. He calls himself Mummy-D and it was kind of a form of homage to call myself Initial-D. I started using the name when I started my ramen blog.
So how did you get into ramen?
Like most people in Japan, I used to eat a lot of simple ramen with my family when I was a kid, but I truly got into it when I was at my previous job at a trading company, which required me to take a lot of business trips all around Japan. If you're looking for a type of food that has a lot of regionally specific styles, ramen is the one. Of course, each prefecture in Japan has loads of different unique food specialties, but I was intrigued with the way ramen is fundamentally the same dish, but there can be vast differences in style from prefecture to prefecture — such as tonkotsu in Kyushu and gyukotsu (beef bone) in Yamaguchi prefecture. So I would eat at all of the locally unique shops I could find while traveling for work. It was one of the things that kept things fun for me while I was on the road. Also, ever since I was in college, I would always eat ramen as a shime (a meal to close out a night of drinking). I've always loved ramen, basically.
How has the quantity of ramen you eat changed over the years?
When I was a kid, my parents would take me to eat ramen probably twice a month. When I went on my work trips, I would eat at two to three different shops a day, since it felt like a waste to be there and not explore as many shops as possible — especially since I was traveling on my company’s dime and eating on their money as well. I would quickly get my work done and go around eating ramen. When I was home in Tokyo, I wouldn't always be eating ramen though. Then I started my blog, and that's when I started hitting a new shop at least once a day, no matter where I was. Nowadays, I'd say I eat about 420-430 bowls a year, which isn’t that high for a Japanese raota (ramen otaku). One new bowl a day is good for me, but sometimes I eat more.
You look like you're in pretty good shape for someone who eats that much ramen. Do you think about trying to stay healthy given your ramen consumption?
So my work right now is in insurance sales, so I easily walk 10,000 steps a day. So maybe that's it? I honestly really enjoy walking, so I’ll walk pretty long distances throughout Tokyo every day if time allows.
When you were first becoming a ramen head, was the community aspect of the scene part of the appeal for you?
Yeah, I used to read the old school ramen webpages back in the day, which later evolved into the ramen blogs. One day I was eating ramen at Ramen Cique (an influential shop near Asagaya in West Tokyo), and the master told me that the other customers eating a few seats down were the writers of a couple of well known ramen blogs, which I was a big fan of — File_50 and Ken Aoki. I started chatting with them and we sort of developed a relationship. I was really inspired by those guys — to check out new shops, to learn everything I could about ramen. When they realized how much ramen I was eating, they suggested I write a blog myself, so I did. That was over 10 years ago now. I started writing on Ameblo, and later moved to Livedoor, as Livedoor was recruiting ramen otakus to switch over.
Do you ever get recognized by ramen masters?
I think I have been noticed once by a master, and a customer once came up and asked me if I was Initial-D, but that's about it. We Japanese tend to be discreet, and don't usually approach strangers like that. We give each other our space.
Japan is known for its obsessive super-fans and unique sub-cultures. Do you think ramen heads are just one variety of this tendency, or is it different in some way?
It's an interesting question, but a bit difficult to say. These days, because of Instagram and social media, I feel there are two types of raota: those people who simply love ramen, and those who love themselves for eating ramen — and love how they’re perceived for it. There are a lot of people who do it for the social media attention, like “don’t you think it’s cool how much ramen I’m eating?” They do it for the followers and they think having more followers makes them more attractive in some way. Then sometimes you meet older raota who don't really use Instagram or have followers at all; but you talk to them, and they've eaten everywhere and they have an encyclopedia of ramen in their head — but they're not show-offs about it.
How have your personal tastes in ramen evolved?
Being able to understand how and why a particular bowl of ramen came into being in the form that it did is what really excites me nowadays — understanding why a bowl was made the way it was made. I appreciate the ramen more since I occasionally have access to the process of how it was created. For example, as I said earlier, I work in insurance and I've actually started working with a lot of ramen shops. Over 100 of my clients now are Tokyo ramen shops. When I talk with these masters, I learn about their history and personality. Seeing how their personality is incorporated into their ramen and how it influences the ramen they create. Where it's not just the food, but the human story of the food. Obviously, I don't have this relationship with all ramen masters, and I can definitely still enjoy a great bowl without knowing too much about it. But that’s the kind of ramen experience I enjoy most now.
Actually, some ramen masters have a negative perception of raota, because some guys will try talking to the chefs while they're really busy and focused on cooking — they'll brag about being a raota and how much they eat. Those types of people give raota a bad rep. I keep to myself unless the chef and I have a natural reason to begin talking.
Do you think most Tokyo ramen heads are generalists? Or do they tend to target specific styles, like the Jirorians or the spicy ramen freaks?
Well, first of all, I think Raota and Jirorians are in separate categories, almost different worlds. Ramen and Jiro ramen are completely different dishes. Most ramen heads will eat some Jiro ramen, occasionally; but the real Jirorians usually only eat Jiro. They're diehards and that's all they're interested in.
Are you into Jiro?
I only recently started eating Jiro. Those bowls are so big and oily, and the rules are difficult — you get scolded by the masters. It's forbidding; I wasn't drawn to it. But then I took a look at the Ramen Jiro stamp rally (an online stamp card system that fans use to track which Jiro shops they've eaten at), and I realized how few shops I’d eaten at. So I started hitting Jiro shops. I mean, Jiro is one of the classics in the Tokyo ramen scene, so I felt obligated to eat there.
What do you think of the Michelin Guide's coverage of ramen?
It’s made it harder for Japanese people to eat at these famous shops! It’s good for creating long lines, I guess. (Laughs) The history of the Michelin Guide in Japan is very young, so I don’t think there's a true understanding of the ramen world yet, so not many Japanese raota really give it much weight. If they think their list is good for visitors, that’s fine; but I don’t think many knowledgable Japanese people would agree with it. Guides like Michelin, or even Japanese versions like Ramen Walker and Try, they essentially help steer the style — like, this year white shirts are trending — and I think that’s fine.
If you were asked to pick your top 5 or top 10 ramen shops, could you rattle off that list? Most ramen heads seem to hate being asked for their favorite shops...
Some people love baseball, others love soccer. Others just love sports. I’m more like that — I love the game. I can't choose.
Tell us about some of the memorable ramen trends that have come and gone?
In Tokyo, we had the Hakata boom back in the early 90s, which spawned the Kannana battles between rival tonkotsu shops along Kannana Dori Ave (a major road that encircles central Tokyo). Then came the tonkotsu-gyokai wave — first the ramen version — led by Aoba in Nakano, as well as Menya Musashi. Aoba was the first to do a double soup, and the whole scene became known as the "1996 group," for the year the trend took hold. Then there was the tonkotsu gyokai tsukemen boom, with notable shops like Ganjya and Rokurinsha. Iekei started back in the 70s, but another boom in its popularity came sometime between the 96 group, but before the tonkotsu-gyokai tsukemen explosion. After tonkotsu gyokai tsukemen, it’s probably the mukacho, non-MSG style — the generation inspired by chef Sano Minoru. The mukacho generation is the group that decided to make everything themselves: soup, noodles, toppings, etc., with high-end ingredients. Marutama and Ginza Kagari also started a mini-boom for tori paitan, I suppose. Lots of others.
What is the shop or style that’s trending now?
Good shoyu ramen, I think. This has been going on for some time now. Soup made with premium chicken and water only. I guess maybe Neo Classic, you could call it — so shops like Charume, Sunada, etc.
Recently, there's also been a wave of Lanzhou noodle shops. Does that count as ramen to you?
Yeah, technically, I think it does. Why not?
Who are the raota you respect most?
For me, File-san. He’s quite old now, but he’s the one who told me to start blogging. He's like my predecessor, so I still respect him a lot. The raota community is honestly quite small these days in the greater scheme of things in Tokyo. The blogger portion of raota culture is dying due to social media. On social media, of course it's all very trendy — but I don't know if some of these guys go as deep. But then again, I started instagramming and I enjoy taking photos with my iPhone. I wanted an outlet to share those photos, so I started doing it a bit too.
And who do you consider to be the real ramen chef legends?
Sano-san. Sano-san was an ingredient nerd who traveled all around Japan to find the highest-quality ingredients for his ramen. Before him, ramen didn't have this high-end ingredient aspect to it. He changed the game. Sakata-san of Shichisai then did the same thing. He’s always mentioned that he’s the second one to do it behind Sano-san, and follows in his footsteps to this day. Also, Aoki-san of Marucho of Ogikubo. Ganko as well. Yamamoto-san of Hototogisu. All of those guys are legends. There are so many.