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Why Japan’s Ramen Restaurants Keep Going Out of Business
As prices of goods keep rising, ramen shops in Japan are going out of business at an increasing pace. Many blame the ramen “price wall.”
These days, there are few things regarded as quintessentially Japanese as ramen. But as costs soar, ramen shops are having a hard time staying afloat. Some say they feel there’s nothing they can do about it.
How much does ramen in Japan cost?
There are over 23,000 ramen shops located throughout Japan. Tokyo Metropolis has the most, with 2,134 as of October 2023. Hokkaido ranks second as the prefecture with the most ramen shops at 1,241. So it’s not likely that ramen will disappear from the Japanese restaurant landscape anytime soon.
However, in a recent piece, Kansai TV raised a troubling data point. After weathering the pandemic with only 40-some closures a year, ramen shop bankruptcies and closures grew at an abnormal pace in 2023. 74 shops closed as opposed to only 43 in 2022.
The culprit? The combination of the weak yen and rising prices brought about by international events. In the past year, price hikes have hit…
