/u/op00to: This is challenging because ramen is classified by a mix of base, seasoning and thickness.
Roughly bases can be: bones of chicken, pork, fish or in rare instances beef. Often there is blend of these bases
Seasoning: sea salt (shio), soy sauce (shoyu) and miso
Thickness is a spectrum ending with: kotteri (thick) and assari (light)
Now, how to pick a light broth? This will be highly context dependent. Most shops in Tokyo where I'm living right now are specialists so research will show you upfront whether it's tonkotsu (heavy pork), chicken paitan (heavy chicken), hakodate (light fish), tonkotsu-gyokai (blend of pork and fish).
If you're in Japan, I recommend the Ramen Beast app which has location based recommendations, high quality reviews and lists for lighter ramen.
If you're in NY and looking for a lighter bowl: I can vouch for most of the bowls at Nakamura, the yuzu shoyu at Mr. Taka, and all of the bowls at Yuji Ramen.
Seasoning: sea salt (shio), soy sauce (shoyu) and miso
Thickness is a spectrum ending with: kotteri (thick) and assari (light)
Now, how to pick a light broth? This will be highly context dependent. Most shops in Tokyo where I'm living right now are specialists so research will show you upfront whether it's tonkotsu (heavy pork), chicken paitan (heavy chicken), hakodate (light fish), tonkotsu-gyokai (blend of pork and fish).
If you're in Japan, I recommend the Ramen Beast app which has location based recommendations, high quality reviews and lists for lighter ramen.
If you're in NY and looking for a lighter bowl: I can vouch for most of the bowls at Nakamura, the yuzu shoyu at Mr. Taka, and all of the bowls at Yuji Ramen.