Soba is a popular Japanese noodle. Usually, visitors eat at a soba restaurant where has a historical and traditional atmosphere. However, there is some type of eating soba spot.
In this article, we introduce Japanese original culture “Eki Soba ” which is to eat soba at one place inside a station. And we report how to eat Eki-Soba!
What is Eki-Soba (Station Soba Culture)?

Visitors can eat soba and udon noodles at the train station. A feature point is cheap and fast. Usual soba is average 200yen ~ 300yen. From you buy a ticket to start eating soba is about 2 minutes! If you didn’t eat soba while Japan trip, the train station soba is the last chance of eating soba!
How to eat “Eki-Soba(Station Soba)”?

Today. we visited Ueda Station that is one of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Station in Ueda city, Nagano prefecture. Nagano is well known as a famous soba area in Japan. Let’s take a look at how to eat!

1 You should look to Eki soba in the train station where is often a big station

2 Near the entrance, there is a ticket for this machine. You need to choose a menu and press a panel.
3 Giving the ticket to staff who stand inside a counter.
4 Visitors stay in a table until the dish. Water is free and self-service.
5 It depends on the place, you can increase leek for free.
6 After eating, Place empty dishes on the counter.
Menu tips at the station soba (Eki-Soba)
Kitsune きつね (“fox soba”) | Topped with fried deep-fried tofu |
Tsukimi つきみ or 月見 (“moon-viewing soba”) | Topped with raw egg |
Sansai さんさい or 山菜 (“mountain vegetable soba”) | Topped with or wild vegetables such as Warabi, Zenmai, and Takenoko |
Tempura てんぷら or 天ぷら | Topped with tempura, usually one or two prawns |
Tororo とろろ | Topped with Tororo, the puree of yamaimo (a potato-like vegetable with a mucilaginous texture) |
Let’s eat Eki-Soba (Station Soba)!

If you want to know more about Soba and Nagano’s Soba culture, please read the below articles.