The Dotonbori Dragon
Recently, there has been a strange drama playing out on the streets of Dotonbori, Osaka’s street food capital. It involves a dragon, a crab, ramen, a missing appendage and even a lawsuit, and for the past few months I’ve been watching it unfold in real time every time I...
Super Boil, Nissin’s (failed) Great Innovation
Momofuku Ando, creator of the world’s first instant ramen, founded the company that would go on to be Nissin in 1948. Originally called Chuko Sosha, it sold salt until its founder’s brainwave in 1958 to flash-fry noodles and sell them with chicken-flavoured seasoning. Not long after that, the company...