Japan's top fast food, without a doubt, is ramen. This is the national fast-food dish, relished by everyone from children to the elderly. Although ramen was first introduced into Japan as a Chinese dish, the Japanese have turned it into something all their own. Although ramen comes in many variations, the main ingredient is always wheat-flour noodles, which are boiled and served in a broth. Typically the bowl of noodles is topped with various ingredients, such as roast pork, bamboo shoots, and nori seaweed. Broth flavors fall broadly into four types: miso, soy sauce, salt, and pork bone. By adding such ingredients as chicken parts, pork bone, dried fish, kelp, and vegetables in different amounts, a ramen establishment creates its own distinctively flavored soup stocks. At the most popular ramen restaurants, customers willingly stand in long queues in order to get a bowl. Ramen is unusual among fast food in that its appeal lies in the distinctive flavor created by each individual chef. Entire books and television programs are devoted to the subject of ramen, and indeed part of the fun lies in seeking out your own favorite ramen shop.

Ramen is available throughout Japan, and regional variations have developed. Sapporo is known for its miso broth, Tokyo for its soy sauce broth, and Kyushu for its pork-bone broth. The prescribed method for eating a bowl is to suck the noodles up from the broth with an audible slurping sound.

Ramen is available at Chinese restaurants, but ramen specialty shops are by far the most popular places to eat the noodles. Although some cheap ramen shops have started opening, a bowl generally costs around ¥600 (a little over U.S. $5.00). A deluxe bowl with fancy ingredients might cost up to ¥1,500.

Ramen is not the only noodle that plays a leading role in the Japanese fast-food scene. Soba (buckwheat-flour) and udon (wheat-flour) noodles are major fixtures as well. Indeed, they have been fast food for the masses since long before the burger appeared. Soba and udon noodles are served either in a thin salty-sweet broth or with such a broth prepared in a separate dish, into which the noodles are dipped. Dried fish and kelp make up the base of the broth’s flavor, but soy sauce is also a key ingredient. Since soy sauce varies from one region to the next, there are striking regional variations in the flavor of the broth, from mild to quite strong.

Soba noodles, made by kneading buckwheat flour and wheat flour together, are typically thin and light brown; udon noodles, made of bleached wheat flour and salt, are thick and white. Soba is expensive at high-class restaurants, but at a cheap stand-up noodle joint (often found on street corners and inside railway stations), a serving can be had for just ¥300 - ¥500.

Like soba, udon comes in regional varieties. Sanuki udon, which takes its name from the old popular name for Kagawa Prefecture, is a white-flour noodle that is very popular in Japan at the moment. Udon costs as little as ¥100 at the cheapest noodle shops, so it is very popular among students and young people.