Ramen  "Ramen" is a Japanese adaptation of Chinese wheat noodles. One theory says that "ramen" was first introduced to Japan during the 1660s by the Chinese neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Shunsui who served as an advisor to Tokugawa Mitsukuni after he became a refugee in Japan to escape Manchu rule and Mitsukuni became the first Japanese person to eat "ramen", although most historians reject this theory as a myth created by the Japanese to embellish the origins of "ramen". The more plausible theory is that "ramen" was introduced by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th or early 20th century at Yokohama Chinatown. According to the record of the Yokohama Ramen Museum, "ramen" originated in China and made its way over to Japan in 1859. Early versions were wheat noodles in broth topped with Chinese-style roast pork. The word "ramen" is a Japanese transcription of the Chinese "lamian" (拉麵). In 1910, the first "ramen" shop named "RAIRAIKEN" () opened at Asakusa, Tokyo, where the Japanese owner employed 12 Cantonese cooks from Yokohama's Chinatown and served the "ramen" arranged for Japanese customers. Until the 1950s, "ramen" was called "shina soba" (支那そば, literally "Chinese soba") but today "chūka soba" (中華そば, also meaning "Chinese soba") or just "ramen" (ラーメン) are more common, as the word "支那" ("shina", meaning "China") has acquired a pejorative connotation. By 1900, restaurants serving Chinese cuisine from Canton and Shanghai offered a simple dish of noodles (cut rather than hand-pulled), a few toppings, and a broth flavored with salt and pork bones. Many Chinese living in Japan 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" (チャルメラ, 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.