A Bhutanese farm official visited Japan last summer to learn about techniques for cultivating and processing buckwheat, a former staple in the tiny South Asian country's highlands — and the key ingredient in "soba" noodles.

The Bhutanese government hopes to apply that knowledge toward its efforts to raise production of buckwheat products, including soba, said Gaylong, an Agriculture Ministry official who like others in the country goes by only one name.

"It's hard to cut," he said as he struggled to cut the noodles with a knife at a restaurant last August in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, a region known for its soba culture.