SANO (Tochigi Pref.): The city of Sano in Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan, is gaining new residents through a program supporting people who want to open ramen noodle restaurants.

The city, known for the local delicacy Sano Ramen, has welcomed 18 new residents in eight households, who have opened in the city three new restaurants including one that has become popular.

The program is part of an effort by the city to develop talent to succeed existing ramen shop operators in addition to promoting moves to the city.

Sano Ramen, known for its clear soup and wrinkled noodles stretched with bamboo, is served at about 150 restaurants in the city. While the most popular outlets attract lines of customers, others are struggling to find successors to run them.

Sano, which had been struggling to promote settlement in the city, focused on the local ramen as a way to offer jobs to people moving in. It drew up a strategy under which people wishing to become restaurant owners can move to the city and learn the know-how for managing a ramen shop.

The city government launched Sano Ramen Yobiko, a prep school for aspiring ramen shop owners, in August 2020. At the school, new residents can learn about cooking ramen, getting financing, training employees and other skills over a roughly two-month period, after which they can prepare to open their own restaurants by working at ramen outlets in the city.

The school introduces students to ramen shops where they can train, and offers support for finding properties to set up shop, making use of vacant premises.

Prior to the opening of new outlets by students, ramen restaurant owners are invited to a tasting event. If the ramen is unsatisfactory, the opening may be delayed.

Hareruya is one of the three ramen shops born out of the prep school. Takahiro Kobayashi, 49, opened the restaurant in April last year after moving from the Tochigi city of Nasushiobara to train at the school.

Hareruya attracts lines of customers, and sometimes runs out of ramen noodles at lunchtime.

Kobayashi was thinking of running a restaurant when he learned about the prep school, and moved to Sano as a family of three.

“It was nice because I was taught from the basics,” he said.

“It has helped Sano Ramen level up as a whole,” a city official said of the program. “While some people are worried about a possible increase in competition, there is still room for growth.”

Sano Ramen Yobiko utilizes subsidies from the central government for promoting regional revitalization, an aid program that expires in March 2024.

As the city will have to finance the school by itself after the subsidies end, it is considering measures such as hosting ramen-making tours and selling goods to secure funds.

JIJI Press