Regarding the 25-Year 'Open-Run' Ramen Shop Owner Who Was a Former Elite Public Official [Japanese Side]

Saitama Open-Run Restaurant Zenya Owner
Former Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Official Gains Attention
"Not Suited to Academic Background-Centered Environment"
From Part-Time Job to Popular Restaurant Owner

"Should I just quit and do something else?"

It’s a joke, but the two biggest lies among office workers are "I’m quitting" and "I’m going to do YouTube." In reality, despite saying that, it’s not easy to leave the orbit you’ve been somehow managing to stay on until now. More things than you think hold you back. Thoughts like "What about next month’s credit card bill?", "What will I say at home?", "How will I explain it to people around me?", "How will I make a living afterward?" flood your mind, and in the end, you try to catch the elusive sleep before going to work again tomorrow.

A while ago, the Japanese online media Flash published a very interesting article. It’s a series exploring "Are people who abandoned a guaranteed future happy now?" These are people who had a bright future guaranteed and a smooth path ahead but suddenly said, "I quit," ran out of their jobs, and found their true dreams led by their hearts.

The story that gained attention this time is about the owner of a neighborhood ramen shop with a 25-year tradition. After quitting his job at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, he opened a ramen shop that became a huge hit with people lining up to get in. Today, we share the story of Hirotaka Iiikura, who gave up the dream of being an elite government official and found his dream as a ramen shop owner.

Mr. Hirotaka Iikura making ramen. (Photo by Ireland Food)

Mr. Iiikura runs a shop called "Zenya" in Saitama Prefecture. It is a specialty shio ramen (salt-flavored ramen) shop known for its clean broth seasoned with salt. He opened it in 1999 when he was 39 years old and has been running it for 25 years.

Mr. Iiikura is known to have been a bureaucrat working at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, formerly called the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, which caused a stir. Just like in Korea, where talented people who pass the Grade 5 civil service exam with excellent scores are assigned to major ministries such as the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, in Japan, being from an economic ministry gives a strong impression of being elite. In Japan, the major ministries are gathered in Kasumigaseki in Tokyo, similar to Sejong City in Korea, so elite bureaucrats are called "Kasumigaseki graduates." Anyway, Mr. Iiikura was also someone who, if he grew well, could have secured a position in a major ministry from Kasumigaseki.

Mr. Iiikura said, "When I joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, I realized that although people studied well at their desks, many were twisted as human beings," expressing his doubts about his career at the time. About eight years after joining, he decided he no longer wanted to live as a bureaucrat and resigned. He said, "I quit because I hated the Kasumigaseki environment where only graduates from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law were favored."

Reviews of Zenya posted on the restaurant review website Tabelog. (Photo by Tabelog)

Afterward, when thinking about what he could do, he recalled cooking, which he liked and enjoyed. The problem was that he was over 30 years old, and he thought it was an awkward time to enter culinary school again. So, he decided to open a ramen shop he liked and started preparing for it.

However, the process was not smooth. For about five months, he worked part-time at a family restaurant. It is generally known that to run a ramen business in Japan, you must enter a master’s shop and undergo training, but he chose the path of self-study. He developed the taste by tasting his own shio ramen prototypes.

Then, he participated in an event called "Ramen Entrance Gate" hosted by the Yokohama Ramen Museum, where he presented his developed ramen to critics. However, he was harshly criticized by the critics. After that, he started over from scratch in the process of making the broth and created the ramen he has now. In an interview with another media outlet, he explained, "I tried making broth with chicken bones, but it lacked umami, and when I used only pork bones, it was hard to eat because of the smell. The goal was a refreshing taste that you could eat every day." He added, "After many attempts, I developed a combination of pork bones and kelp broth." Regarding the salt seasoning, after tasting salts from all over the world, he decided to use sea salt from Fujian Province, China.

Zenya's Shio Ramen. (Photo by Ireland Food Website)

Because the broth he developed with great effort is so important, he still puts a lot of effort into maintaining the taste. Although he could develop new menu items, he has only sold three types of ramen since opening: ramen, menma (bamboo shoot) ramen, and chashu ramen. Now, word of mouth has spread, and by 3 p.m., the broth runs out, and he stops business, but after a short break, he prepares broth again from 9 p.m. He finishes this by dawn, sleeps about 4 to 5 hours, and then starts preparing to open again. Among ramen critics, there is praise such as, "Since the opening, the owner has been standing in the kitchen almost alone, continuously cooking ramen. He doesn’t do new or limited menus. This attitude, which does not conform to the times, is admirable."

In an interview with Flash, he said, "If I had stayed at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, I might be earning an astronomical salary now. Of course, there are times when I think it would have been better if I hadn’t opened the ramen shop," but he added, "However, I believe it is right for me to continue doing this work."

In fact, although he quit his previous job and followed his heart, it’s hard to imagine how much time and effort Mr. Iiikura poured into this new challenge to gain such a reputation. Success ultimately seems to depend on how much time you invest compared to others.