7 Must-Try Local Ramen Delights from Across Japan

Sapporo miso ramen is one of the most sought offer bowls among all of Hokkaido’s local ramen. It’s made with semi-thick, crinkled noodles that meld perfectly with the rich broth, made with deeply aromatic miso and a base of pork bones or chicken.
A classic bowl is served up high with heaps of sauteed vegetables. As an all-time-favorite, many people come for Miso Butter Corn Ramen, a bowl topped with Hokkaido’s signature staples, butter and corn, for a taste that’s always a hit.

Stamina Hiyashi Ramen features thick, chewy noodles that are boiled and then quickly cooled with cold water, then finally served with a hot sauce poured on top. This sauce is generously filled with ingredients like liver, pumpkin, garlic chives, and carrots, among other green and yellow vegetables, all tied together with a sweet and savory soy sauce flavor. This dish is one local favorite where you can enjoy the combination of the chewy noodles against the many textures of the various ingredients.

This spicy noodle dish, with its distinctive red broth, originated in the Katsuura region of Chiba. Designed to warm fishermen and divers during cold months, it has a clear, spicy chicken broth loaded with ingredients like onions, minced meat, garlic chives, and leeks.

Sanma-men is a lip-smackingly good bowl of noodles born in Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, a city beloved for its bustling Chinatown. Inside each bowl you’ll find pork and stir-fried veggies like bean sprouts, cabbage, and wood ear mushrooms cooked until still lightly crispy, which are then thickened into a sauce and dredged over thin noodles. This gravy-style goodness means the toppings fill you up and stay hot longer, which is why so many locals have come to love this menu item and more and more Chinese-style restaurants in the region tend to keep it on hand.

Wakayama Ramen, locally known as "Chuka Soba," is a regional ramen variety that offers two main types of broth: a clear soy sauce-based broth and a cloudy pork bone/soy sauce broth. You’ll also know you’re here in Wakayama when one of the many local spots serves up Hayazushi, mackerel slices cured in vinegar, as a side to your bowl.

Kyushu is a bursting hub of great local delicacies, but many would say that the most famous of all is Hakata Ramen. Each bowl is packed with a velvety white pork bone soup, straight, thin-cut noodles and popular toppings like char siu pork, green onions and red pickled ginger. At many ramen shops you can even enjoy “kaedama”, a refill of extra noodles that’s ready to order when you get down to just the broth.

One way you’ll know you’re in Okinawa is that the noodles used in Okinawa Soba are made solely from wheat flour. The broth features a tasty medley made from pork bones, bonito flakes, and a seasoned blend of salt and soy sauce that sings with the rich umami of pork bones. Most commonly you’ll find your bowl topped with fish cake, green onions, and pickled red ginger, but when topped with stewed pork rib meat, it's popularly referred to as "Soki Soba".