But the Japanese ramen theory has some complications. During the same time period, ramen was not the widely popular phenomenon in Japan as it is known today and would not be considered a food Japanese immigrants immediately associate with their homeland. To drive this point further, if indeed Japanese immigrants were attempting to recreate ramen in Hawaii, the common Japanese language did not use the word "ramen" (ラーメン) until about the 1950s. In Japan it was first known as "shina soba" (支那そば), literally 'Chinese soba'. Saimin noodles themselves are closer in characteristic to the curly yellow-colored Chinese egg noodles found in wonton noodles as opposed to the straight white wheat noodles consumed in Japan, giving Chinese immigrants an edge as the first developers of saimin.