Who founded the first specialized ramen shop, Rairaiken?

Kan'ichi Ozaki founded Rairaiken, the first specialized ramen shop, in Asakusa, Tokyo, in 1910.

Rairaiken helped transform Chinese-style noodle soup into a dish adapted for Japanese customers. Ozaki employed twelve Cantonese cooks from Yokohama’s Chinatown, and the shop served noodles in broth with toppings such as sliced roast pork. Ozaki also helped popularize the name “Shina soba” for the dish, replacing the earlier term “Nankin soba.”

Rairaiken was not simply the first place in Japan to serve any noodle soup; Chinese restaurants and food vendors had already been serving related dishes. Its significance was that it was an early restaurant specializing specifically in ramen-style noodles. The original shop closed in 1976, but descendants of Ozaki later revived Rairaiken at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum.