Japanese Chinese cuisine or Chūka is a style of Japanese cuisine served by Chinese restaurants popularized in Japan in the late 19th century and more recent times. This style of food is different from modern Chinatown Chinese food in Japan which is considered "authentic Chinese food", e.g. Yokohama Chinatown. The Shippoku style of cooking displays heavy influence from Chinese cuisine. Many of these Chinese dishes were introduced to Japan by Chinese immigrants, others were brought in by returning Japanese soldiers from the Japanese invasion and colonization of China. Overview is the adjective for Japanese style "Chinese" dishes, or the restaurants in Japan which serve them. Chuka dishes originated in China, but have become modified over the years to suit Japanese taste, often with Japanese or even Western foods. Japanese cooking styles have been added, such as in the case of miso-ramen. In other cases, only the noodles are "Chinese", as in the case of hiyashi chūka, which was invented in Sendai in 1937, and uses Western food influences such as sliced cured ham. As meat (other than fish) was not common in Japanese cooking until recently, many meat dishes, particularly pork dishes, are of Chinese origin or influence. Though formerly Chinese cuisine would have been primarily available in Chinatowns such as those in port cities of Kobe, Nagasaki, or Yokohama, and a number of the dishes are considered meibutsu (regional specialties) of these cities, Japanese-style Chinese cuisine is now commonly available all over Japan. As Japanese restaurants are often specialized to offer only one sort of dish, cuisine is focused primarily on dishes found within three distinct types of restaurants: Ramen restaurants, Dim sum houses, and standard Chinese-style restaurants. Ramen Ramen (拉麵）(ラーメン), a dish of noodles in broth, usually with meat and vegetable toppings, is occasionally referred to as Chuka Soba (中華そば, lit. "Chinese noodles.") In Japan, ramen is one of the most popular fast-food options. Though every Japanese city has numerous inexpensive ramen restaurants specializing in these noodles, numerous varieties of instant ramen (much like the Japanese equivalent of the frozen TV dinner) are available. The ramen primarily derives from the noodle soups of Cantonese noodles Cantonese cuisine but these noodles have changed much since their origin in China. Four main types of ramen are widely available in Japan: shio ("salt"), shōyu ("soy sauce"), tonkotsu ("pork bone") and miso ("soybean paste"). While the toppings used in ramen are generalized