Original subtitles

You remember, don't you?

After the war, that line we saw at the black market...

Everyone wanted to eat a hot bowl of ramen.

Why can't we eat it here?

That's because ramen is something we eat at stalls and Chinese restaurants.

It's ramen!

I found it, Fukuko.

It's ramen.

Huh?

Manpuku

♫Marumatteru senakani ni morai naki ♫I get infectious weeping looking at your stooped shoulders

It's Ramen! Fukuko!

Week 17

♫Haji datte issho ni ♫We'll share the humiliation too

♫Hikoukigumo bonyari nagamu ♫Gazing absentmindedly at contrails

♫Kokoro kokoni arazu ♫Here in body, but not in spirit

♫Nenkan totaru moshi shitara ♫If I was to calculate an annual total

♫Tsukiau watashi sugoi? ♫Aren't I amazing for keeping you company?

♫Toboketeru mayuge ni morai warai ♫ I get infectious laughter looking at your comical eyebrows

♫Tere datta nandatte ♫Be it embarrassment or whatever

♫Morai naki morai warai morai ikari ♫Infectious weeping, infectious laughter, infectious anger

♫Moraippaji don to koi! ♫Infectious embarrassment. Bring them on!

♫Seiten mo donten mo hekireki mo ♫Sunny days, cloudy days, thunderous days too

- Ramen?! - Ramen?

- Yes. - What ramen?

What does that mean?

Is Manpei-san planning to operate a ramen stall?

No~ That's not it. ... I don't think.

What do you mean "I don't think"?

But at lunch today...

Here you go.

You're not gonna find tastier ramen anywhere else.

Thank you. Here you go, Manpei-san.

It smells so good.

It's the smell that stimulates the appetite first.

It's hot!

Be careful. It's hot.

- It's delicious! - Thanks.

The noodle has a nice firm texture.

They're handmade noodles. I put my heart and soul into pulling them with my own hands.

It's delicious.

I suppose it's not just a matter of kneading flour with water.

Of course not. My noodles might as well be patented.

I put an awful lot of work in it.

The soup is very tasty too.

Yes, that's right. Making noodles is difficult, but

it's the soup that's extremely time-consuming.

- Are you using dried sardines for the broth? - Yeah.

To that, I add things like shiitake mushrooms and onions, and simmer for 2 days.

- Two days?! - Yeah, it's my secret soup recipe.

- Really~? - Yes, it's good.

Thanks. Hearing those words makes me the happiest.

You can't imagine how hard it was to get to this taste.

Was it really that hard?

Actually, I lost my family in the war,

and the company I worked for was gone too.

At one time, I was like a bum, but

I figured my life would be over if I didn't do something, and I started a ramen stall.

Dried sardines, shiitake mushroom, and what's this?

But there was no way an amateur's ramen shop was going to go well from the beginning.,

I don't know how many times people said

"You expect us to eat this crap!" and threw the bowl at me.

But I bit the bullet and thought and thought of a way

to make good ramen and finally ended up with this taste.

It sounds like you had a terribly hard time.

You can say that again.

It took me 12 years to finally get to this flavor.

This ramen is packed with my life of 60 years.

- Mister, can we make this ramen at home? - Huh?

- What? - Easily, at home.

- Manpei-san! - Huh?

Don't be ridiculous. There's no way. Are you stupid or what?

There's nothing we can't do if we try.

- Were you listening to what I was saying? - Sorry...

- Until I got to this flavor... - It took you 12 years, right?

- This ramen is packed with... - 60 years of your life~!

-You got it Miss. That's right. - Delicious! It brings tears to my eyes.

You're going to make ramen at home?

- Are you going to turn that house into a ramen shop? - What?

- That's not it. - You've got to be kidding.

How can you turn that rental house into a shop.

Think about it. You're the daughter of the daughter of a samurai.

I told you that's not it. Anyway, Manpei-san has no intention of operating a stall

or opening a restaurant.

Then what's with this ramen making business?

- I don't get it. - Auntie Fukuko, aren't you worried?

- Uh~ I'm not worried. - Why?

Saki Nee-chan told me not to worry about anything and just support Manpei-san.

- Saki Nee? - She appeared in my dream.

Saki did?! Even though she doesn't appear in my dream?!

So you don't know what Manpei-san's thinking, but

Saki Nee told you don't worry, so you don't think everything will be fine?

There's that too, but I believe in Manpei-san.

I don't get it.

I don't get it.

Actually, I don't really get it either.

- I just have this fuzzy idea. - So this fuzzy idea

is the kind of ramen you want to make?

In any case, it's the kind of ramen anyone can make at home and eat.

The owner of that stall said that making ramen is hard.

- Yeah, I know that. - Housewives are very busy.

Making noodles by hand and spending 2 whole days simmering the soup is just impossible to do.

This is the kind of ramen you won't have to do all that.

I want to make things easier for all the housewives out there.

But how can you make something like that...

You can eat udon and soba at home.

Such a day will surely come for ramen too. Can you say it won't? Fukuko.

No, I can't.

Bad idea, bad idea. Ramen's a bad idea.

Why do think so?

In the first place, no one would want it.

How many people in the world wish there was ramen

they could make at home?

About 3 people?

3 people? That's almost no one.

In short, it's all about demand.

A product only sells when there's a demand for it.

That was the case with Daneihon too, right? Back then, everyone had malnutrition.

Because Daneihon that provided nutrition conveniently was there in those times,

it sold so well.

It's meaningless unless

you market something that everyone wants.

Don't you think it would be nice to have ramen that you can eat at home?

- Actually, I've never thought about it. - Try thinking about it now.

Who's going to be making that ramen?

Um... Us?

- I don't want it then. - See?

But Fuku-chan, your husband's serious, right?

Why not go for it then.

Heading towards an island that may not even exist,

a small boat is rowing out to the great sea.

It's a man's adventure.

- Have you ever rowed a boat? - No.

Don't be dreaming of adventure then. Just work.

Fuku-chan's husband is the one who's dreaming of adventure, not me.

Your husband's serious, isn't he?

Yes. He's been thinking and thinking all this time.

You support him.

Ramen that can be made at home...

Ramen that can be made at home...

Ramen that can be made at home...

Manpei-san's making ramen?!

The man who was the executive director of a credit union at one time making ramen?

It certainly does sound like he's come down in the world, but

Auntie Fukuko doesn't seem to mind it at all.

Manpei-san's making ramen...

Was Uncle Manpei that fond of ramen?

Everyone loves ramen. But the ramen Uncle Manpei's making is...

What are you talking about, Taka? If Manpei-san's making it,

it's got to be delicious ramen.

But what Uncle Manpei's trying to...

That man is a gifted inventor.

- Gifted? - That's right. He's a genius.

He made salt using a method no one thought of before,

and made Daneihon that no one even thought about.

That's why I have great respect for Manpei-san.

I want to quit my job right away and go help Manpei-san.

Don't be silly, Shigeru-san!

You're going too far with your love for Uncle Manpei.

Ramen that can be made at home...

Manpei-san, please eat.

Dad, are you going to make ramen?

He's making ramen that can be made at home.

That's not all. It's ramen that can be made at home easily.

- Easily? - Isn't that what you said, Fukuko?

That housewives are busy. That they can't make noodles by hand

- and spend 2 whole days simmering soup. - Yes.

Ramen that can be easily made without spending all that time. That's the kind of ramen I want to make.

Is that...

For example, this picked radish.

Think of this as ramen from the stall or a Chinese restaurant.

Pickled radish?

In order to make picked radish, radish must first be hung to dry under the eaves.

After about 3 weeks, the radish shrivels up,

and around the time it gets bent like a bow, fermented rice bran is made.

What does that have to do with the ramen I'm thinking of?

Making the fermented rice bran bed is quite bothersome...

To the rice bran, you add dried persimmon, apple or tangerine peels,

coarse salt, sugar, Japanese peppercorn, chile pepper, dried seaweed, and stir it.

You put the dried radishes in there, but there's a way to do that too.

Put 2 handfuls of rice bran into the pickle tub, lay the radishes next to each other leaving no space in between.

Next, put in 2 handfuls and a half of the rice bran and

pack in the radishes.

The further you get to the top, the more rice bran is used, and the very top is covered with plenty of rice bran.

Finally, cover it with an inner lid, place a heavy weight stone on it,

and after two week, switch over to a lighter weight stone

and in about a month, the pickled radish will be ready to eat.

It's takes that much time and effort to make pickled radish?

- Yes. - That's amazing.

I didn't know that.

And so, pickled radish is ramen from the stall?

If that was the case, the ramen Manpei-san wants to make

- must be overnight pickles. - Overnight pickles?

Cut some carrots, rub with salt, put some weight on it,

let it sit one night, and there, it's ready to eat.

But overnight pickles are just as delicious as pickled radishes, aren't they?

- Yes. - I love it.

That's right, Fukuko. In terms of pickles, the ramen I want to make is overnight pickles.

Overnight pickled ramen.

Is the fuzzy idea getting clearer?

Yeah, it's getting clearer.

What kind of ramen is it that's there?

What kind of ramen...

What kind of ramen can you see, Manpei-san?

No, I can't see it.

You can't see it?

No. I can't see it at all yet.

Dad...

But how do you say...

I can't see the island I'm heading for yet, but the fog that was covering the sea has been lifted.

Yeah... Thank you, Fukuko. Thank you.

Then let's eat. The miso soup's getting cold.

Overnight pickled ramen...

He must've started rowing his little boat out to the big sea.

A man's adventure?

Overnight pickled ramen...

We're going to get on that boat with him.

Mom, what are you talking about?

You're not making sense.

Oh... Let's eat. Okay?

Everything's going to get cold.

That night, Saki Nee-chan didn't appear in Fuku-chan's dream.

Perhaps she couldn't even if she wanted to because Fuku-chan was sound asleep.