Return of a ramen pioneer gives boost to Japan's Covid-hit restaurant sector

Rai Rai Ken is back in business in Tokyo but pandemic has taken a heavy toll on ramen shops

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More than a century after it welcomed its first ravenous customers in downtown Tokyo, Rai Rai Ken is back in business. On a recent afternoon, diners at its new premises in the bowels of the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum barely looked up as they demolished servings of noodles made according to the restaurant's original recipe.

Rai Rai Ken is unlikely to recapture its heyday, when specially hired Chinese chefs served up to 3,000 customers a day in Tokyo's Asakusa district. But its reappearance last month, albeit away from the cut and thrust of the high street, was a rare piece of good news for Japan's Covid-hit restaurant sector.