Food & Drink Oct 24, 2020
Top 5: Tokyo’s best soba restaurants
by Robbie Swinnerton
Soba noodles are Tokyo’s original fast food, simple and filling. Whether you prefer them hot or cold, here’s five soba shops worth a trek across town.
Food & Drink | TOKYO FOOD FILE Feb 29, 2020
Izakaya Aobadai: Classic soba, new-wave sake and cherry-tree views
by Robbie Swinnerton
It's an excellent sign when the first sight that greets you at a restaurant is a gleaming refrigerator filled with some of the best sake in Japan. When the next thing you see is a room set aside for rolling out and cutting soba ...
National Dec 15, 2019
60% of Japanese eat something special for Christmas, poll finds
A recent Jiji Press survey has shown that 57.4 percent of people in Japan eat something special for Christmas and that about half of such people buy take-out food. The proportion of respondents who said they have a special meal to celebrate Christmas every year ...
Food & Drink | TOKYO FOOD FILE Jul 20, 2019
Aoyama Kawakami-an: Sobaya that lets its hair down at night
by Robbie Swinnerton
Arrive at Aoyama Kawakami-an at midday and you'll find a typical upmarket noodle shop. But return after nightfall and it has a very different feel.
Food & Drink | OSAKA RESTAURANTS Apr 27, 2019
Aozora Blue: Hand-made udon with a soba inflection
by J.J. O'Donoghue
At Aozora Blue, chef Hirofumi Matsui draws on his soba-making experiences to offer an exquisite, handmade udon noodle in an elevated setting.
People | WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN? Apr 20, 2019
Shuichi Kotani: Taking soba noodles worldwide
by J.J. O'Donoghue
From working at McDonald's in Himeji to making noodles for Japanese restaurants in America, Shuichi Kotani has always looked for and taken opportunities.
Food & Drink Jan 6, 2019
High school soba champ shows she's a cut above the rest
by Junko Horiuchi
Rurika Koike, 18, is a one-of-a-kind champion. She won the all-Japan high school tournament this summer for excellence in the art of making soba. In the annual championship, 154 students from 32 schools from northern to southwestern Japan don caps and white aprons to test ...
National | Regional voices: Chubu Aug 5, 2018
Using their noodles: Fukui school's soba club hopes to roll to national title
Noodle club members from a high school in the city of Fukui are hurriedly honing their soba-making skills to prepare themselves for the national high school championship in Tokyo later this month. The noodle club, a rarity even in noodle-crazed Japan, was launched two years ...
Food & Drink | TOKYO FOOD FILE May 5, 2018
Sobagami: Soba noodles served with quiet formality
by Robbie Swinnerton
Sobagami is a soba noodle specialist — this you can guess from the name — but it is also an offshoot of the very genteel Ginza Kamiya, a high-end kappō that takes pride in doing things the right way.
Food & Drink Dec 31, 2017
A decade on, Shonan surfer is still making waves in the world of soba
by Robbie Swinnerton
Fate intervened when the heavens opened, guiding Ippei Hayashimoto on his path to mastery in the art of pure buckwheat noodles.