Photo/Illutration A bowl served at the Shironishi Kinchan Ramen store in Yamagata on Feb. 6 features homemade noodles and roast pork. (Masahiro Takahashi)

YAMAGATA—Cheers erupted just after 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 7 at the city government’s office, where Yamagata Mayor Takahiro Sato was hosting a gathering of ramen shop operators.

They promptly unfurled a banner in the building to celebrate “our retaking Japan’s No. 1 spot in ramen consumption.”

Ramen is serious business in Yamagata Prefecture.

The internal affairs ministry releases its annual statistics on household income and spending each February. Municipalities nationwide vie for the leading spots in a range of spending topics, including gyoza.

The competition for top spender on ramen has also become quite competitive.

The ministry’s results released on Feb. 7 showed that each household with two or more members in Yamagata city spent an average of 13,196 yen ($98.50) on ramen in 2022, the highest level among prefectural capitals and other major cities.

Niigata city placed second at 12,573 yen per household, 623 yen lower than that of Yamagata, followed by Sendai.

“Our winning result could be produced only through a city-wide endeavor,” said Toshihiko Suzuki, 46, manager of the Mentatsu ramen store, at the city office.

Yamagata city touts itself as the “Ramen Kingdom.” The prefectural capital topped the in-store ramen spending list for eight straight years to 2020.

But in 2021, the unthinkable happened. Niigata city knocked Yamagata off the top spot, by 300 yen.

“I could not believe our municipality ranked second,” said Hideyuki Araki, the owner of the Shironishi Kinchan Ramen store, which has operated in Yamagata for 25 years. “I had taken it for granted that we would place first. The situation was unforgivable.”

Yamagata city and businesses quickly started a joint project to promote local ramen and regain the title.

The effort paid off.

LOCAL SPECIALTY

According to the Yamagata prefectural government, ramen, also called “chuka soba,” is a local specialty often served to entertain relatives and friends, much like barbecue and sushi.

Locals not only eat ramen at restaurants, but they have it delivered to their homes.

A 2017 survey based on NTT TownPage Corp.’s database showed Yamagata Prefecture had 67.4 ramen restaurants per 100,000 citizens, the highest rate in Japan. The national average was 25.2 per 100,000 residents.

Many soba restaurants in Yamagata Prefecture also offer ramen.

One summer delicacy of Yamagata city is a bowl of cold ramen noodles and soup. 

The chilled ramen was developed at the Sakaeya Honten “soba” buckwheat noodle shop in 1952, after a patron requested “cold ramen because cooled soba is already available in summer.”

In 1933, the city experienced Japan's highest temperature ever, a record that stood for more than 70 years.

A type of ramen called Tori Chuka, which uses Japanese-style broth for soba, is beloved by locals in Yamagata Prefecture.

The northern area of the prefecture is famous for its chicken entrails ramen, while a bowl topped with hot miso is popular in the southern part.

A ramen dish featuring thin, manually-treated waved noodles is common in and around Yonezawa, while Sakata Ramen, which contains a seafood-based soup, is well known along the coast on the Sea of Japan side.

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