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Ramen

Ramen  is a Japanese noodle dish that originated in China. It is served in a meat- or fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as sliced pork ( chāshū?), dried seaweed ( nori?), kamaboko, green onions, and occasionally corn. Almost every locality in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen of Kyūshū to the miso ramen of Hokkaidō.

Though of Chinese origin, it is unclear when ramen was introduced to Japan. Even the etymology of the word ramen is a topic of debate. One hypothesis is that ramen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese: la mian, meaning hand-pulled noodles." A second hypothesis proposes  laomian, "old noodles" as the original form, while another states that ramen was initially lǔmiàn, noodles cooked in a thick, starchy sauce. A fourth hypothesis is lāomiàn, "lo mein" means to "dredge up" and refers to the method of cooking these noodles by immersing them in boiling water before dredging them up with a wire basket.

Until the 1950s, ramen was called shina soba ( literally "Chinese soba") but today chūka soba ( also meaning "Chinese soba") is more common. By 1900, restaurants serving Chinese cuisine from Canton and Shanghai offered a simple ramen dish of noodles (cut rather than hand pulled), a few toppings, and a broth flavored with salt and pork bones. Many Chinese also pulled portable food stalls, selling ramen and gyōza dumplings to workers. By the mid 1900s, these stalls used a type of a musical horn called a charumera (from the Portuguese charamela) to advertise their presence, a practice some vendors still retain via a loudspeaker and a looped recording. By the early Shōwa period, ramen had become a popular dish when eating out.

After World War II, cheap flour imported from the U.S. swept the Japanese market. At the same time, millions of Japanese troops had returned from China and continental East Asia. Many of these returnees had become familiar with Chinese cuisine and subsequently set up Chinese restaurants across Japan. Eating ramen, while popular, was still a special occasion that required going out.

In 1958, instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-Japanese founder and chairman of Nissin Foods. Named the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century in a Japanese poll, instant ramen allowed anyone to make this dish simply by adding boiling water.

Beginning in the 1980s, ramen became a Japanese cultural icon and was studied from many perspectives. At the same time, local varieties of ramen were hitting the national market and could even be ordered by their regional names. A ramen museum opened in Yokohama in 1994.

Tokunoshima landing strip too narrow, U.S. says

The United States has raised doubts over the width of the landing strip at Tokunoshima Airport, a site that is part of the Japanese government's relocation plan for some functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station, sources said Tuesday.

The government had planned to use the airport on Tokunoshima island, Kagoshima Prefecture, to host part of Futenma's helicopter unit, or to move training exercises there from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture. However, the United States has been reluctant to accept the plan, saying it would be inconvenient for military operations because the proposed site is about 200 kilometers from Okinawa Prefecture.

As Washington is now raising technical issues in addition to the distance problem, the relocation plan involving Tokunoshima seems to be facing even higher hurdles.

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, questions were raised over the landing strip's width during a working-level meeting between Japanese and U.S. diplomatic and defense authorities on May 4.

The airport's landing strip is 150 meters wide. Under this nation's Civil Aeronautics Law, airplanes are only allowed to perform visual landings at that width. Flying by instruments requires at least 300 meters. Helicopters are allowed to take off and land from a strip 150 meters wide under any circumstances.

However, the United States appears to want the new relocation site to handle instrument landings by transport planes and other types of aircraft for operational reasons, even though only part of Futenma's helicopter unit or some training functions would be moved there.

China is pulling ahead in worldwide race for high-speed rail transportation

Last year, China surpassed the United States as the world's largest automaker. The country is aggressively making jets to compete with Boeing and Airbus. And in recent years, with little outside notice, China made another great leap forward in transportation: It now leads the world in high-speed rail.

High-speed trains were once the preserve of Japan, with its "bullet train," and France, with its TGV. But China's trains are the world's fastest, its network of tracks the longest and its expansion plans the most ambitious. By 2012, just four years after it began its first high-speed passenger service, China will have more high-speed train tracks than the rest of the world combined.

After years of major investment in highways, China is now investing billions in a cutting-edge network of trains and subways designed to boost exports and revolutionize the flow of people and goods in the world's fastest-rising economic powerhouses.

"Just like our investment in the highway system in the 1950s and the rail system in the late 1800s, this will pay huge dividends for China to years to come," said Tim Schweikert, chief executive of GE Transportation China, which signed a deal last year to invest in China's rail expansion in exchange for using Chinese trains and technology to bid on high-speed rail projects in the United States.