“a personal letter from Mr. Takashi Nishiyama, President of Nishiyama Seimen Co., Ltd. in Sapporo, Japan that directly addresses the recent comment made disputing the authenticity of Hatoba’s Sapporo-style ramen.”

“Aged Ramen Noodles from Nishiyama”

From an email:

“Please find a personal letter from Mr. Takashi Nishiyama, President of Nishiyama Seimen Co., Ltd. in Sapporo, Japan that directly addresses the recent comments made by a commenter, Joshua Hamilton, disputing the authenticity of Hatoba’s Sapporo-style ramen.

Daikaya Group partner and native of Tokyo, Japan Daisuke Utagawa wanted to take this opportunity to directly address the comment made in the recent PoPville article highlighting the opening of Hatoba, and furthermore to help educate both Joshua and readers on the history behind Sapporo ramen and Nishiyama Seimen Co., Ltd. where Daikaya Group continues to receive custom ramen noodles from of which are featured at all of their celebrated restaurants throughout the District – Daikaya, Haikan, Bantam King, and Hatoba.

In response to the following comment from Joshua Hamilton:

“Having lived in Sapporo for more than ten years and make a living doing PR work for Sapporo’s most famous Ramen company, I have to say that this shops menu does not reflect Sapporo ramen authentically in any way!
Come for the real thing instead of some half baked notion of what they think it is.”

“Early Days at the Nishiyama Ramen Factory”

“Dear PoPville,

My name is Takashi Nishiyama, and I am the President of Nishiyama Seimen, a noodle company based in Sapporo, Japan.

I was glad to see your recent article about the new ramen shop HATOBA, with whom our company has had the pleasure to collaborate. I was surprised, however, to see a baseless comment in response to that article. I believe it was written by a reader who is unaware of the history and traditional culture of Sapporo ramen.

The ramen that HATOBA serves is authentic Sapporo ramen, created in partnership with our company. The staff of HATOBA flew to Sapporo several times, and along with my staff, created the ramen at our company’s development office.

Sapporo ramen is a culinary culture that was born in the 1950s as a result of conversations between ramen shops in Sapporo and their customers. Miso ramen, which is now popular throughout the world, was born in 1955 in Sapporo.

“Ramen Curling Process”

Since our company, Nishiyama Seimen, was founded in 1953, we have contributed to the development of several iconic flavors: a rich broth that is perfect for the cold climate of Sapporo, robust and curly noodles that complement miso ramen, as well as Sapporo ramen and miso ramen themselves.

Sapporo now boasts more than 1,000 ramen shops that serve a wide variety of ramen. These dishes use unique ingredients, taking advantage of the culinary treasures that Hokkaido has to offer.

Our company continues to collaborate with ramen shops to develop various types of ramen. We are proud to showcase Sapporo’s history and traditional culture through authentic ramen that is beloved in 30 countries. We remain committed to our corporate mission: to provide authentic ramen to ramen fans all over the world.

Thank you very much for your ongoing support.

Takashi Nishiyama
President
Nishiyama Seimen Co., Ltd.
(Sapporo, Japan)”