A JAPANESE man has slurped his way through more than 5,600 different instant noodles in his quest for the perfect bowl of ramen.

    Toshio Yamamoto, 55, has spent 20 years on his quest and has tried noodles from 40 different countries.

    The noodle fanatic has penned two books on the subject and has now quit his job to concentrate on documenting his noodle experiences full time.

    Yamamoto, from Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, has been fascinated with noodles from a young age.

    According to Japanese news site, The Asahi Shimbun, it was a chance encounter with a novel brand of instant noodle, which Yamamoto hadn’t seen before, that prompted him to document the many renditions he’s eaten.

    He started using every opportunity to travel with his job as a design engineer for electric appliances to search out new brands of noodles, both within and outside of Japan.

    At one point, he was eating instant noodles for breakfast seven days a week, although he has now cut this down to five.

    Yamamoto started the i-ramen blog in 1996 and later added a YouTube channel under his user name Tontantin.(SD-Agencies)