Japanese ramen has a history of only 100 years, while Chinese noodle cuisine has a very long history. It is said that the first ramen that came from the Chinese residents of Nanking Street in Yokohama was the clear salt-flavored ramen. This has also spread to Hakodate, Hokkaido, where the original salt-flavored ramen seems to have survived strongly. This means that although the history of salt-flavored ramen is long, there are not many salt-flavored ramen in Japan as a whole. In most cases, the soup is made by slowly simmering pork bones, kombu, and vegetables over low heat so as not to make it cloudy, and then the soup is seasoned with coarse salt and rock salt. Shio-ramen is a difficult type of ramen to make because the essence of the ingredients is reflected in the broth. The finished soup is transparent and has a beautiful golden-colored oil floating in it. Shio-ramen soup, like soy sauce, comes in a variety of styles, with the salt itself dissolved in the broth having no color, but rather the color of the ingredients. The slowly simmered broth is a light teal or yellowish translucent color. Sometimes the color is similar to thin-colored soy sauce. It looks light, but it's the essence of a carefully crafted broth, and it's a delicate ramen for ramen fans.

The most famous miso ramen is Hokkaido's Sapporo ramen. Miso ramen has been around for about 60 years out of the 100-year history of ramen. When this type of miso ramen did not exist yet, it was created by customers who asked for noodles in their pork miso soup. Then it was suddenly popularized in department store product exhibitions and so on, and the Sapporo ramen craze started in the 1970s.

Miso ramen is strongly seasoned with miso paste itself, and at the extreme end of the scale, it can be very tasty even with just boiling water. But ramen stores don't let that fool them; they also pair it with tonkotsu (pork bone broth) and koji (chicken bone broth) to make miso ramen with even more depth.

Miso ramen, unlike soy sauce ramen or salt ramen, is made with minced meat instead of barbecue pork, and bean sprouts and onions sautéed as toppings. Many also use garlic and ginger, making it a warming ramen, probably because the miso ramen originated in Hokkaido.

For a long time, Sapporo ramen was the center of gravity for miso ramen, but in recent years new flavors have begun to emerge. Traditionally, stores usually had all three: soy sauce, salt flavor, and miso, and recently many specialized miso ramen stores have arisen. The combination of miso paste and soup is the same, but a thick pork bone soup with a heavy miso paste and high-calorie ramen made its debut. Also, miso and spicy flavors go very well together, and many restaurants offer a "spicy miso" menu. If you like spicy food, try the Spicy Miso Ramen!