The shop curtain reads, ‘If the cuckoo (hototogisu) won’t sing, I will want to make it sing’. This maxim, which summed up the character of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who unified Japan in the 16C, also exemplifies the chef’s labour of culinary love. The clam soup evolved out of endless trial-and-error to find just the right umami components. Each bowl of ramen finely tunes the affinity of the noodles with the more than 60 other ingredients.