Ramen Samurai begins at a ramen restaurant owned by a man named Kamishiro Hikari. The shop seemed
packed with customers, and all the employees were busy serving the customers and making their meals.
But then, Hikari suddenly scolded his two employees and hit them on the head.
He was angry that the two of them allowed the food in the pot to burn and spoil the ramen broth.
Hikari had his own reasons why he got so angry.
Because for him, the most important thing in ramen is the broth, especially since the broth is a recipe left by his father.
Perhaps because he was in a bad mood now, Hikari then asked another employee, Mukai,
to close the restaurant immediately.
But just as they were preparing to close, Hikari overheard the employees' conversation at the back of the restaurant.
They discussed their plans to move to another job,
as they felt Hikari's restaurant would not last much longer.
Enraged, Hikari fired two employees who had ruined his ramen broth.
Without many protests, the two men left from there.
After that, Hikari went to see his mother, Yoshiko, who apparently had heard that he had fired two of his chefs.
Hikari seemed to realise he was not a good employer, let alone a reliable chef.
It's been six years since he took over the restaurant from his late father, but he still feels like he hasn't succeeded.
Instead, he thought he had destroyed the restaurant.
Hearing that, Yoshiko then asked his son to just close the restaurant for good.
If he wanted, he could return to his old job as a graphic designer, a job he really enjoyed.
Previously in 1990, Hikari did work as a graphic designer in an agency.
To get the job he had always dreamed of,
he even took courses and evening classes when he was young. But one day, while in the office,
he gets a call from his mother informing him that his father died after having a stroke.
Thus, Hikari returns to his hometown, where he sees his father's restaurant closed due to the mourning period.
But at this moment, when he saw the restaurant, he decided to change the course of his life.
He decided to continue his father's business.
Because he knew, no matter how far he went, he had to inherit the restaurant.
But before that, he had to leave the company where he worked.
When Hikari returned to his office and conveyed his plan to a senior, the senior supported his decision.
He said Hikari might be better off continuing his father's ramen business.
That way, he can feel how his customers appreciate his work while remaining an artist.
When Hikari was back in his hometown, he saw the street carts parked near his father's restaurant,
and it reminded him of something. But he didn't think too much about it now.
Later that night, Hikari and Yoshiko went to eat ramen at a street stall.
At this time, he finally told his mother that he had given up on his career as a graphic designer.
So from now on, he will try to revive the unique taste of his father's ramen,
although he will strive to create his own signature.
Hearing those words, Yoshiko was reminded of the past in 1970, when Hikari was a child.
At that time, his father, Sho, was selling ramen on the street. But even so, the stall
can attract many customers, partly thanks to the taste of Sho's ramen and partly to Hikari's habit
of drawing near the shop. For some reason, his drawings could attract the attention of passersby,
so they decided to stop by Sho's ramen shop. One night, Hikari saw his father beat up a customer
who was rude to a girl. But unexpectedly, his action was praised by many people. Sho is indeed
a local hero. Other vendors often rely on him if their stall is disturbed by local thugs or yakuza.
But as a consequence, Sho often gets drunk after he gets into fights. Despite his roughness, Sho
has a soft side to him. It was evident how he was willing to accommodate the girl he saved earlier,
even though his house was cramped and rickety. Some parts of the roof of his house had even
leaked, and you could see mould growing on the floor. But still, he decided to keep the
girl in his house, and Yoshiko didn't mind it either. In fact, they felt sorry for the girl,
whose name was Kinako. She can't speak, so she can only communicate through writing. And in that way,
too, she told them that yesterday she was almost sold off as a prostitute by the man who had acted
so rudely with her. So she was very grateful to them for saving her. She is even more grateful
when Sho decides to hire her at their ramen shop. Sure enough, Kinako started helping out
at their stall the next day. And luckily, she was able to prove herself to be a hard worker.
And that was the memory that Yoshiko had when their family was still poor. Maybe she told
that so Hikari had a comparison of how his father treated his workers. Maybe she wanted Hikari to be
inspired by how his father started his business from a street stall. After that Hikari, returns
to his restaurant to meet Mukai. He invites him to Sho's ramen restaurant, where he teaches Mukai how
Sho makes ramen broth and asks him to remember Sho's taste every time he cooks ramen. Hikari's
strange behaviour made Mukai wonder why he suddenly taught him about ramen broth ingredients.
Well, that's because Hikari wants Mukai to take over his ramen restaurant for a while,
while he is going to try to restore his hometown to the way it was. Where he could see ramen shops
everywhere. The next day, Hikari met his friend and gave him a photo of a street ramen cart
because he wanted his friend to make him a cart like the one in the photo. Naturally, his friend
refused Hikari's request, considering that the police and local law have currently banned street
ramen carts. But luckily, Hikari's friend's father came, and as soon as he heard Hikari's intentions,
he was willing to make him the cart because he agreed with Hikari. He felt that their city needed
food carts to revive the atmosphere. Because of that, he promised Hikari to make him a ramen cart
that was better than the one in the photo. Hearing that, Hikari immediately bowed his head to him,
thanking him for his kindness. After that, Hikari went with Motojiro, an old man who used to look
for bamboo shoots with Sho to serve as ramen toppings. Motojiro takes Hikari to the bamboo
forest before asking him to hoe as Sho used to do. And this is when Hikari recalled his childhood.
In the past, Hikari could only draw on the ground and the blackboard that Yoshiko had made
because of their family's poverty. Their family does make money from selling their ramen,
but most of their profit goes to Sho getting drunk or compensating for the damage he inflicts after
fights. That's why Yoshiko doesn't have the money to buy Hikari a sketchbook. Hearing about it seems
to touch Kinako, and so she presents him with a sketchbook the next day. She purposely set aside
her first salary to buy the present for Hikari. After giving the gift, Kinako then went back to
work. But somehow, the man in tattered clothes who was in front of her caught her attention.
She seemed to recognize the man. So to confirm her conjecture, she shows him a family photo,
making the man gasp. It turns out that the man is her father, and the baby in the photo is Kinako.
After a long separation, the father and daughter are finally reunited. However, it is unknown how
long they were apart. Anyway, the scene returns to the present, where Hikari has finished looking for
bamboo shoots. He then returned to his restaurant to experiment with concocting the best ramen
taste like the one made by Sho. But sadly, he ended up failing. But he still hasn't given up.
He then remembered his father's recipe for making pork oil for his ramen. In the past, Sho opened a
grilled chicken shop for Kinako and her father to run right next to his ramen shop. At that time,
he was sure their new business would succeed, especially since he had given them the recipe.
And sure enough, the new street stall was quite busy with customers, and so was the ramen shop.
But apparently, it wasn't just the customers who were interested in his stall because a group of
yakuza came one day. Of course, they didn't come there to eat but to ask for protection money.
Sho, however, refused to give them the money. After remembering the incident,
Hikari finally managed to find Sho's taste. The key is the pork oil that must be made by himself.
Meanwhile, Yoshiko again invites Hikari to eat at a street stall, where she then tells about
the beginning of the revival of their business long ago. At that time, they received an offer
from two people who wanted them to move their shop near the station. But Sho refused to move,
even though Yoshiko had reminded him that their city had changed. He even refuses to raise the
price, fearing that people will find their ramen too expensive and won't eat at their place again.
The situation was further exacerbated because the developers wanted to build a shopping centre
and a public square where they sold their goods at that time. So Yoshiko was forced to act to
save Sho who was almost killed by thugs and yakuza sent by the developers. To that end,
she went to the yakuza boss's house with a bottle of sake, begging the boss not to kill Sho,
who was leading the resistance of the street vendors who refused to be relocated. She even
whined like a child in front of him, making the yakuza boss feel uncomfortable with her behaviour.
He told her to go home and give the sake to her husband. The next night, the yakuza boss came
to Sho's ramen shop and ordered a bowl of ramen, which he devoured and finished down to the gravy.
He admitted that Sho's ramen was delicious, but at the same time, he regretted it
because it would be the last time he tasted such delicious ramen. After hearing the story,
Hikari then tried to make noodle dough for his ramen. He made several different types of dough
and sizes of noodles until he finally found the right one, exactly the same as his father used
to make. The process of finding it exhausted him, however, to the point that he fell asleep.
When Hikari opened his eyes the next morning, he found his two former employees already at
the front door. It turns out they had come to tell Hikari that they had worked at several other ramen
restaurants since he fired them. But even so, they haven't found a restaurant like Hikari's.
In essence, they wanted to apologize to him. It's just that they chose a roundabout way to do it.
In response, Hikari smiled at them. He forgave them long ago, and now he even wanted them to
return to work at his restaurant. Later that night, Hikari and Yoshiko went back to eat at
a street ramen shop, which was run by a young man and had a lot of customers. It reminded Yoshiko of
the past when Sho insisted on refusing to close his shop despite receiving a warning letter from
the police. At that time, Yoshiko was still trying to persuade her husband to stop being
stubborn and start thinking about a plan to open a restaurant in a different location. Even if they
move to where they sell ramen, Sho's ramen will remain the same. It will still be the best ramen,
and the customers will keep coming even if they change places. Moreover, Sho had to think about
Hikari because there was always the possibility that he would continue his business in the future.
Hearing that, Sho could only be silent. He was confused because he had no money to open a
restaurant. But to his surprise, Yoshiko suddenly tore her black pillow, which was an account book.
All this time, she had been secretly saving money in anticipation. She doesn't want Sho to stop his
ramen business if she dies first. But now, even though she was alive, they could open a restaurant
with the money. Sho was so deeply moved when he discovered that he had tears in his eyes. And so,
since they had decided to open a restaurant, Sho took his cart out to the field, where he set fire
to it in the presence of his family and Kinako and her father. He never intended to sell the cart,
preferring to burn it. After that, Hikari and Yoshiko escorted Kinako and her father to the
station. They will move to their hometown, where they plan to reopen their grilled chicken shop.
But before they left, Kinako kissed Hikari's forehead as a thank you and farewell. Back in the
present, Hikari is seen returning to his kitchen to make ramen like his father did long ago.
Then, after the ramen was ready, he tasted it, and finally, he found the flavour he had been
looking for all this time. Almost at the same time, the cart that Hikari ordered was finished.
But then, just as Hikari was preparing to start selling ramen using the cart, the phone suddenly
rang. It turned out to be from the police, who reported that he was not allowed to sell ramen
using a cart. But just like his father, Hikari ignored them. He will still be selling ramen
with his new cart. At the end of the film, Hikari can be seen pulling his cart excitedly. And on the
first day of his comeback, the street stall was immediately bustling with customers. The moral
that can be learned from this movie is sometimes happiness cannot always be measured by wealth.
Happiness can even appear through the smile of a satisfied customer with a bowl of ramen.