Japan’s bean sprout shortage hitting Jiro-style ramen businesses hard

Could this spell doom for one of the most beloved ramen styles? Bean sprouts , known as “moyashi” in Japanese, make an excellent addition to several dishes with their delightful texture and pleasantly mild flavor.

It’s kind of like the Ichiro of the topping world, in that it’s a consistently clutch player that crucially supports a meal, even if it doesn’t stand out too often.

And one dish which has embraced the joys of bean sprouts wholeheartedly is ramen .

We’re talking about “Jiro-style ramen” to be exact, a genre of ramen in which almost absurdly high piles of bean sprouts are sometimes placed atop the bowl. ▼ Other toppings are also included, but bean sprouts play a major role.

Jiro-style ramen has built up a cult-like following over the years, to the point people are willing to keep eating it even when the restaurant is on fire .

This is thanks in no small part to the noble bean sprout.

This year, however, cracks in the bean sprout supply chain began to emerge.

Saiki Shokuhin, a major producer of bean sprouts in the Kanto region around Tokyo, has apparently suspended operations without warning since last June and now appears to be completely shut down .

Many other Jiro-style ramen restaurants have been posting about the dire bean sprout situation on social media as well.

Some owners have had to scour local supermarkets in search of bean sprouts in an effort to keep their loyal customers happy, because Jiro-style ramen without a giant pile of bean sprouts is, well… just ramen.

This crisis seems to have been a long time coming.

From 2009 to 2026, the number of bean sprout producers in Japan fell from 235 to 86.

Among their other positive traits, these immature plants are also known to be extremely cheap, with packs selling for well under 100 yen (US$0.63).

The rapid inflation of recent years and even more recent issues with fuel have pushed some producers to the breaking point. ▼ This pack cost Mr.