Best Ramen in Tokyo: 599 Chain Shops, 48 Open 24 Hours
Why ramen, and how we chose without a taste ranking
Ramen is one of the meals visitors remember most. The Japan Tourism Agency Consumption Trend Survey for Foreigners Visiting Japan asks visitors what they ate. In its final 2025 figures (all trip purposes), 19.7% named ramen as the food they enjoyed most. That is 11,013 of 55,634 people, and ramen ranked 2nd of 13 food items.
We recounted the same survey country by country. Ramen was the food visitors enjoyed most for 10 of 20 countries and regions. The 10 are Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Philippines, Russia, Spain and the UK.
The share is high for other big markets too. Ramen was named by 22.3% of visitors from Australia, 22.2% from the US, 20.1% from Taiwan and 17.7% from China, 2nd place in each. South Korea put it 3rd, at 14.3%.
Taste is personal, and every list of favourite shops is one writer’s opinion. So this guide counts shops instead of ranking them.
We read the official shop lists of 23 ramen chains on 17 and 18 October 2026 and counted every shop with a Tokyo address. Four chains list no shops in Tokyo: Hakata Ikkousha, Hakata Ramen ShinShin, Kinryu Ramen and Sugakiya. Kyushu Jangara’s list gives no addresses, so we left it out. That leaves 19 chains and 599 shops, 456 of them in the 23 central wards.
The steps below show how the count narrows, from all the lists to the shops that stay open late.
Next, we read the opening hours. 14 chains print hours for their Tokyo shops, which covers 497 shops. Of those, 48 are listed as open 24 hours and 247 more close at midnight or later. We do not rank any shop by taste or popularity. Use the numbers to pick an area and a time, then pick a soup with our guide to types of ramen in Japan.
Ramen chains with the most shops in Tokyo
Hidakaya alone has 191 of the 599 Tokyo shops, 146 of them in the 23 wards. Ichikakuya follows with 76, then Ramen Kagetsu Arashi with 68 and Machida Shoten with 45. Most other chains have between 2 and 31 shops in the city.
The table lists all 19 chains in order of Tokyo shops. It also shows how many shops each chain lists as open 24 hours, and how many stay open past midnight.
| Chain | Tokyo shops | Open 24 hours | Open past midnight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hidakaya | 191 | 22 | 60 |
| Ichikakuya | 76 | 10 | 52 |
| Ramen Kagetsu Arashi | 68 | 0 | 25 |
| Machida Shoten | 45 | 0 | 22 |
| Ippudo | 31 | Hours not listed | Hours not listed |
| Dotonbori Kamukura | 23 | 0 | 3 |
| Ramen Kairikiya | 23 | Hours not listed | Hours not listed |
| Ramen Butayama | 22 | 0 | 8 |
| Tenkaippin | 21 | Hours not listed | Hours not listed |
| Kourakuen | 21 | 0 | 1 |
| Ichiran | 18 | 10 | 1 |
| AFURI | 17 | 0 | 4 |
| Menya Musashi | 14 | Hours not listed | Hours not listed |
| Moko Tanmen Nakamoto | 11 | Hours not listed | Hours not listed |
| Ramen Nagi | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| Ramen Yamaokaya | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Ramen Santouka | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Rairaitei | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuunji | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Five chains print no opening hours on their lists: Ippudo, Ramen Kairikiya, Tenkaippin, Menya Musashi and Moko Tanmen Nakamoto. The table marks them as Hours not listed. For these, check the hours on each shop’s own page before you go.
Ichiran has 18 Tokyo shops, 14 of them in the 23 wards. The Ichiran Tokyo shop guide gives every address, from Atre Ueno Yamashitaguchi and Asakusa in the east to Tachikawa and Machida in the west. Our pages on Ichiran, Ippudo and AFURI cover menus, diet options and how to order at each chain.
Moko Tanmen Nakamoto has 11 Tokyo shops. Our Moko Tanmen Nakamoto page covers the chain.
Chains are only part of Tokyo’s ramen. Tokyo had 1,993 ramen-shop establishments in the 2016 Economic Census, so the chains cover only some of the city’s ramen. The chains help a visitor because their lists show addresses and hours you can check before you leave the hotel.
24-hour ramen in Tokyo
Of the 497 Tokyo shops with hours on the lists of 14 chains, 48 are listed as open 24 hours on at least some days. Of those, 43 stay open around the clock every day.
Only 5 chains list 24-hour shops in Tokyo. The chart below counts them by chain.
| Item | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hidakaya | 22 shops | |
| Ichiran | 10 shops | 6 with a temporary closure notice |
| Ichikakuya | 10 shops | |
| Ramen Yamaokaya | 4 shops | All in the Tama area |
| Ramen Nagi | 2 shops |
Hidakaya has 22 shops listed as open 24 hours, the most of any chain. Ichiran and Ichikakuya have 10 each, Ramen Yamaokaya has 4 and Ramen Nagi has 2.
Ichiran: 10 shops, but read the notices
The Ichiran opening hours list shows 10 of its 18 Tokyo shops as open 24 hours. On 17 October 2026, 6 of those 10 carried a temporary closure notice. They were Shimbashi, Shibuya, Shibuya Spain-zaka, Shinjuku Chuo Higashiguchi, Ikebukuro Ekimae and Machida. The four 24-hour shops without a notice were Atre Ueno Yamashitaguchi, Shinjuku Kabukicho, Shimokitazawa and Tachikawa.
Ichikakuya, Yamaokaya and Nagi
Ichikakuya is an iekei ramen chain. The Garden Ichikakuya brand and shop list shows 10 Tokyo shops open 24 hours on at least some days, such as Shinjuku Yasukuni-dori.
All 4 Ramen Yamaokaya shops in Tokyo are in the Tama area, in the west of the city: Ome, Musashimurayama and two shops in Mizuho. The Ramen Yamaokaya official shop search lists each one as 24 hours.
The Ramen Nagi official shop list marks its Shinjuku Golden Gai Honkan shop as 24時間営業 (nijuyo-jikan eigyo, “open 24 hours”). It is a 3-minute walk from Shinjuku-sanchome Station, or 8 minutes from the east exit of JR Shinjuku Station. Nagi’s Kamata shop runs 24 hours on Saturdays and Sundays only.
Hours on these lists can change at short notice. Open the shop’s own page on the day you go, even for a shop marked 24 hours.
Late-night ramen: shops open past midnight
Leaving out the 24-hour shops, another 247 of the 497 Tokyo shops close at midnight or later. 70 of them close at midnight and 177 stay open after midnight. That gives late-night ramen in Tokyo far more options than the 24-hour list alone.
The lookup below sorts the late shops into three groups by closing time.
On Japanese hours lists, 翌 (yoku) means “the next day”. Ichiran’s Nishi-Shinjuku shop, for example, is listed as 10:00～翌6:00, which means from 10:00 until 6:00 the next morning.
Chains with the most late shops
Ichikakuya lists 76 shops in Tokyo, and 52 of them stay open past midnight. That is the highest share among the big chains.
Machida Shoten’s official shop search data lists 45 shops in Tokyo. 36 close at midnight or later, and 22 stay open past midnight. Its shop search can filter for shops open after midnight, so you can find the nearest one from your phone.
The Ramen Kagetsu Arashi Tokyo shop list shows 68 shops in Tokyo, and 25 stay open past midnight. Hidakaya has 60 shops open past midnight on top of its 22 round-the-clock shops.
AFURI also runs late. The AFURI official shop list (Find Us) shows the Ebisu shop open from 11:00 to 5:00 the next morning, every day. The Roppongi and Sangenjaya shops also stay open until 5:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Closing time is not the same as the last time you can walk in. Ichiran says it may stop letting people in before closing when it is busy, and that last orders can move earlier too.
Ramen by area: Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Ueno and Asakusa
We sorted 568 Tokyo shops from 18 chains by shop name and address. Ippudo’s list gives only counts by city, so it is left out of this count. The table shows the seven areas a visitor is most likely to stay in or pass through.
| Area | Shops | Chains |
|---|---|---|
| Shinjuku | 36 | 12 |
| Ueno and Asakusa | 18 | 9 |
| Shibuya | 17 | 12 |
| Ikebukuro | 15 | 8 |
| Tokyo Station | 5 | 5 |
| Harajuku | 5 | 4 |
| Roppongi | 4 | 3 |
Shinjuku leads with 36 shops from 12 chains. 11 of those 36 are Ichikakuya, so iekei pork-bone bowls are easy to find there. The figure below puts the Shinjuku number on its own.
Ueno and Asakusa together have 18 shops from 9 chains. Ichiran has three shops there, and its Atre Ueno Yamashitaguchi shop is listed as open 24 hours. Its two Asakusa shops open from 9:00 to 22:00.
If you are looking for the best ramen in Shibuya on the chain lists, you have 17 shops from 12 chains. That is as many chains as Shinjuku, in half the number of shops. Ikebukuro has 15 shops from 8 chains. The smaller areas are Tokyo Station with 5 shops from 5 chains, Harajuku with 5 from 4, and Roppongi with 4 from 3.
Ichiran also runs a priority service. The Ichiran priority service page lists 8 shops where you choose a time and pay by credit card in advance. You are seated first, but no seat is held for you. Five of the 8 are in Tokyo: Roppongi, Harajuku, Shibuya Spain-zaka, Shinjuku Kabukicho and Ikebukuro.
Ramen at and near Tokyo Station
For ramen at Tokyo Station, start with Tokyo Ramen Street. It is a row of ramen shops on basement 1 of Tokyo Station First Avenue, inside the station. There is no entry ticket, and each shop sets its own hours.
Our Tokyo Ramen Street page lists the shops, hours and payment, and our IC cards in Tokyo page explains Suica and PASMO.
Fuunji’s Tokyo Ramen Yokocho shop is also underground at the station. The Fuunji official site and shop list says it is directly connected to the Yaesu underground central exit of Tokyo Station. It opens 11:00 to 23:00 and takes no reservations.
Station access matters for the other chains too. 4 chains give directions from a station in their Tokyo listings: Hidakaya, Menya Musashi, Ramen Nagi and Fuunji. Of their 210 shops, 68 say they are within a 1-minute walk, including 62 Hidakaya shops. 3 say they are directly connected to a station.
Two more ramen spots sit elsewhere in the city. Tokyo Ramen Kokugikan Mai is a row of shops from around Japan in AquaCity Odaiba. It is 1 minute on foot from Daiba Station on the Yurikamome line. Tokyo Ramen Festa 2026 runs from 30 October to 3 November 2026 at Komazawa Olympic Park in Setagaya. Our ramen museums and ramen streets page has entry details for both.
If you land at Haneda, the Keikyu Line and JR reach Tokyo Station in about 33 minutes for 540 yen, with one change at Shinagawa. Times and boarding points are on our Haneda Airport to Tokyo Station page.
What a bowl costs in Tokyo and how to pay
A bowl of chuka soba (ramen) at ordinary shops in Tokyo’s 23 wards averaged 620 yen in August 2026, in the government’s retail price survey. That put Tokyo 73rd of 81 cities from the highest. It is the average at ordinary shops, not the price at famous ones. Our regional ramen in Japan page compares cities.
Chains cost more. Our ramen chains in Japan database tracks 24 chains, and 11 print a bowl price on their own sites. The median standard bowl among them is 869 yen.
Ichiran prints no yen prices on its menu pages. It raised prices at some shops from 1 July 2026 and tells you to check the ticket machine in the shop.
Cash, cards and IC cards
AFURI marks 12 of its 17 Tokyo shops as fully cashless on its official shop list. No other chain’s list shows payment shop by shop. Bring some cash for the rest, and look at the ticket machine or the door before you queue.
Pork-free, vegan and halal
4 chains have a pork-free or vegan bowl: Ichiran’s pork-free ramen, and vegan or plant-based bowls at Ippudo, AFURI and Kyushu Jangara. Ichiran’s pork-free ramen is served at only one shop, Namba Midosuji in Osaka, so you cannot order it in Tokyo.
None of the chains shows a halal-certified bowl. Ask the staff before you order, and do not take an allergy label as a halal check.
FAQ
Where can I eat ramen 24 hours in Tokyo?
48 of the 497 Tokyo shops with listed hours are open 24 hours on at least some days. They come from 5 chains: Hidakaya (22), Ichiran (10), Ichikakuya (10), Ramen Yamaokaya (4) and Ramen Nagi (2). Check the shop page on the day, since 6 of Ichiran’s 10 carried a temporary closure notice.
Which area of Tokyo has the most ramen shops?
Shinjuku has the most of the seven areas we counted, with 36 chain shops from 12 chains. 11 of them are Ichikakuya. Ueno and Asakusa come next with 18, then Shibuya with 17.
How much is a bowl of ramen in Tokyo?
At ordinary shops in the 23 wards, a bowl averaged 620 yen in August 2026 in the government’s retail price survey. At the 11 chains that print a price, the median standard bowl is 869 yen. Famous shops and rich toppings cost more.
Is there ramen inside Tokyo Station?
Yes. Tokyo Ramen Street is a row of ramen shops on basement 1 of Tokyo Station First Avenue, with no entry ticket. Fuunji’s Tokyo Ramen Yokocho shop is directly connected to the Yaesu underground central exit.
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