BODY: Few magazines can turn a bowl of noodles into a cultural event quite like BRUTUS. The lifestyle bible from Magazine House dropped its latest love letter to Japan's most obsessed-over dish on May 15, and this time it's recruited some of the country's most recognizable faces to weigh in on what makes a perfect bowl.
Titled "愛と欲望のラーメン。" ("Love and Desire: Ramen."), the issue's centerpiece feature "It's a RAMEN TIME." gathers actor Yuki Katayama, comedian Mogura Suzuki of the duo Kūki Kaidan, actor Yuma Yamoto, and veteran actor Eiichiro Funakoshi to talk about the bowls they return to again and again. Each celebrity walks readers through their personal ramen philosophy, from neighborhood haunts to the specific elements—broth depth, noodle texture, the particular char of a piece of pork—that turn a meal into a memory.
The lineup itself is a study in contrasts. Funakoshi, at 65, brings the gravitas of a screen veteran whose face has been familiar to Japanese audiences for decades. Katayama and Yamoto represent a younger generation of working actors increasingly visible in indie cinema and streaming dramas. Suzuki, meanwhile, brings the comedian's eye for absurdity to a topic that Japanese fans take very, very seriously.
Beyond the celebrity feature, the issue surveys ramen culture at large—shop profiles, regional styles, and the kind of obsessively detailed maps and rankings that BRUTUS readers have come to expect from the magazine's themed issues.
The insider take
BRUTUS ramen issues are events in Tokyo. The magazine has covered the dish multiple times over the years, and each edition tends to sell out at conbini and Tsutaya shelves within days, then circulate as a de facto guidebook for foodies for months afterward. The celebrity-favorites angle is shrewd: in a city with thousands of ramen shops, a recommendation from Funakoshi or Katayama can transform a quiet neighborhood spot into a two-hour line overnight. Expect shop owners featured in the issue to be quietly bracing themselves.
Originally reported by 映画ナタリー - 最新ニュース (Japanese).