Do you remember us telling you about former New Yorker Ivan Orkin and his ramen? This gaijin runs a ramen shop, Minami-Karasuyama, in Tokyo, and the locals love it. They stand in line daily to get a bowl of this white guy's ramen! He became popular, was featured on television, and in his own way became more Japanese than the Japanese. Kinda.

This Amerika-jin has now hit the big time with his own brand of instant ramen, called Ivan Ramen. FG says that his stuff is on shelves at Circle K Sunkus stores now for 250 yen. Stocks are limited to a run of 200,000, so I don't expect them to last.

It's crazy to think that an American has his face on his own brand of Japanese instant dishes in Japanese stores. Our hats (and ramen bowl lids) off to Ivan!