column 2025.09

Despite being a TRY(Tokyo Ramen of the Year) judge for 20 years, I’m not particularly fond of ranking ramen shops. However, a staff member asked me to do a “special feature,” so I decided to give it a try. It’s also a revival of a feature I did on “All About” about 20 years ago. Since I choose shops from a wide variety of options, the shops I visit are “the shops I chose” or “the dishes I wanted to try.” Now, after actually eating them, and about a month later, I’m introducing shops that I want to eat again or recommend to others. I originally wanted to narrow it down to about five, but I ended up choosing loosely, so I ended up with nine… I recommend them all. *The order of the introductions is not a ranking, but the order in which I ate them.