Sobakisai Hayakawa

Japan Travel | Two must-try family-friendly noodle shops in the small town where "My Neighbor Totoro" was filmed   This time I came to Higashimurayama to check in the "My Neighbor Totoro" filming location and strolled around this down-to-earth small town. The streets near Higashimurayama Station are full of life, and there are various shops along the street to visit. While walking and exploring the shops, I ate at two very humane noodle shops, both of which are husband-and-wife shops opened by locals. I highly recommend them.   One is the hand-made udon noodle shop "はや川そば季彩" next to Higashimurayama Station. The shop is decorated in Japanese style and the atmosphere is very warm. I ordered the seasonal "kiss fish" tempura set meal. The tempura skin is thin and crispy, and the fish meat wrapped in it is very tender and smooth. It tastes great when paired with the chewy and refreshing buckwheat cold noodles! Walk along the subway station to the nearby Kumegawa-cho, where there is a time-honored hand-made udon noodle shop "ますや". This shop has been open for 46 years. The owners are an 80-year-old couple. The grandmother is 88 years old this year. She likes to chat and told us that she went to the Great Wall and Shanghai more than ten years ago. Her wish is to go to Sichuan to see pandas and Jiuzhaigou one day. Both old people are very cute. They only serve 5 types of noodles. The signature hand-made udon noodles are recommended, which are very chewy~   ①「はや川そば季彩」 Address: 2 Chome−1−14 Honcho, Higashimurayama, Tokyo   ②「ますや」 Address: 4 Chome-33-10 Kumegawacho, Higashimurayama, Tokyo