The most internationally famous Japanese comfort food is probably ラーメン ramen. Packages of instant ramen noodles found at American supermarkets are cheap, easy-to-make, and filling. But if this is the only kind of ramen that you’re familiar with, I ask you to try ramen at restaurants. You’ll be surprised how different it is from the grocery store kind! If you live in a big city, you may even find restaurants specialized in ramen. There are many different styles of ramen; for one thing, there are various soup flavors (醤油 shouyu “soy sauce”, 味噌 miso “miso”, 塩 shio “salt”, 豚骨 tonkotsu “pork bone”), and for another, each restaurant usually has their own special recipe, so ramen from one restaurant is likely to be quite different from ramen from other restaurants. So it will be fun to try ramen from different places and find out what your favorite is.
