Kanbei Udon: Fukuoka’s Hidden Gem
This post is one I should’ve written long ago. It’s about a restaurant which, like U.S. Burger, was pivotal to my JET Program experience. This place is a hub for my local JET community and served my favorite bowl of udon anywhere in Japan. I frequented this place as often as twice weekly, yet I failed to do it the justice it deserved. Even this blog post doesn’t do Kanbei Udon justice. I highly encourage you to watch the 17-minute documentary linked in this post.
That place? Kanbei Udon (also romanized as Kanbe Udon), located in Kasuya-machi, just 15 minutes away from Hakata Station in Fukuoka.
About Kanbei Udon
To my surprise, Kanbei Udon has an English-language website! I encourage you to check it out and learn more about this humble joint.
I also encourage you to watch this documentary about Kanbei Udon, created by Jack, a former JET Program Participant (2017-22).
Ogawa-San is Like Us JETs!
Kanbei Udon opened its doors in Kasuya’s Chojabaru-higashi neighborhood in 1977. Ogawa-san, the owner and one of the friendliest men I’ve ever met, wanted to start his own business, so he moved to Fukuoka and opened his udon shop shortly after.
Much like mea nd my JET friends, Ogawa-san wasn’t from Kasuya. He settled here to make a new life for himself, to change his destiny. This made Ogawa-san more relatable to use JETs, many of us are not from Japan or East Asia. Like Ogawa-san before us, we came to Japan to start our lives, to find ourselves, to seek our destiny so to speak.
As with many JETs, Ogawa-san was a novice in his craft. He opened his shop with little experience making udon. Like a first-year JET fumbling through their classes, Ogawa-san would struggle with making quality udon. After years of trial and error, he would become a master of his craft and, as with a JET teacher, become a vital pillar to his community.
Also like us JETs, Ogawa-san struggled. Kasuya-machi, once a small suburb east of Fukuoka City, became overrun with big business. Japan’s first Costco opened in neighboring Hisayama-machi, followed by two large malls. This resulted in a decline in business in the mid-2000s. Yet Ogawa-san and his shop persisted.
In 2006, Ogawa-san hired Rob, a former (non-JET) Assistant Language Teacher from the United States. This decision would make Kanbei Udon famous in the community. Much like the novelty of having an American run a burger restaurant in Japan, Rob brought with him media attention. Japanese media went crazy over the white guy making udon at a local udon shop.
How did I find Kanbei Udon?
In August 2021, I received my successor packet from my JET predecessor, a chap from the United Kingdom who served for the full five years as an ALT at my senior high school. He mentioned Kanbei Udon as a recommendation for a local restaurant.
In his brief description, the chap said it was popular with the JET community and, prior to the pandemic, many ALTs would do community Eikaiwa (English conversation practice) with the community. Due to the pandemic, the eikaiwa tradition died out, yet this is a tradition current JETs are striving to bring back from the dead.
My First Kanbei Visit
I first visited Kanbei on the day I moved to Fukuoka, October 11, 2021, with my co-ALT and supervisor. We went here after a long day of shopping for furniture and supplies. I was delighted by my warm bowl of shrimp tempura udon served with a side of rice. That bowl was my first dinner here, I remember that bowl fondly, and it was a nice way to end a busy day.
I can also attest to how sweet and caring Ogawa-san is. In Japan, it is customary to clean your plate when eating. Failure to do so suggests you didn’t like the food. Unfortunately, I felt unwell during my early days in Fukuoka through no fault of anyone, so it was a common occurrence for me to not finish my udon. Ogawa-san alerted my co-ALT about this because he was concerned I didn’t like his food.
Ogawa-san, if you (or Rob) are reading this, I love your food. I simply did not feel well at the time. I’m sorry.
Upon learning about this, I met with him on a Monday to discuss and explain my situation. He was understanding and we talked. Ogawa-san would go on to be a guardian of sorts, always checking in with me and looking out for me.
The Kanbei Pillar
Early on, I met Rob because of me not finishing my food. Ogawa-san would send Rob out to talk with me to ensure I enjoyed my meal (which I did). I was shocked to see an American working here and got to know Rob.
Rob wound up giving me important advice for living in Fukuoka, much of which I would incorporate in my own blog posts for you to read. For example, Rob told me to seek out university-affiliated hospitals because they offered the highest quality medical care. He would also tell me I could deposit coins at any ATM at a bank branch, and that I could do it for free (check your bank first). Rob would play a vital role in my settling into Japanese life, especially in English.
Additionally, I would eat at Kanbei regularly, usually once weekly, with my friends. This tradition became known as “Kanbei Monday” and would eventually become weekly dinner with my friend Rahma. In fact, “Kanbei Monday” became our way of saying “want to grab dinner?” We didn’t always eat at Kanbei, and dinner wasn’t always on Monday, but whenever Rahma and I met for dinner, we called it “Kanbei Monday.”
The Food
Fukuoka is famous for ramen, a fact I’ve talked about many times before in other posts. Did you know Fukuoka is also famous for udon? Udon originated in modern-day Fukuoka and it’s prepared differently here than elsewhere in Japan. Hakata-style udon is a regional fast food. Here, udon noodles are overcooked, resulting in a softer texture intended for faster consumption. Less time chewing means more customers through the door!
Kanbei is well-known for their black udon noodles, made with bamboo charcoal. These noodles have a unique taste and texture and are a treat to eat. I haven’t found noodles like these anywhere else in Fukuoka!
There are lots of varieties of udon on the menu, including chicken udon, curry udon, kitsune udon, hot udon, cold udon, you name it. Want a larger portion? You can request that here! Want a smaller portion? You can have that too!
I often ordered the shrimp tempura udon, or the tonkatsu set. I became famous for eating my side of rice with tonkatsu sauce, something which the staff would serve me when I ordered white rice by itself! It was a non-traditional way of eating rice, but it was my way.
Kanbei serves comfort food. Warm and homey, it’s where the community goes after work. It’s where we’d share our stressors as well as our highlights. It’s where Ogawa-san would introduce us as teachers to the community members and us introduce our friends to Ogawa-san.
In addition, Kanbei is inexpensive. A bowl of kake-udon (plain udon) costs less than 500 yen (about $3 USD), and the tonkatsu set sets you back 1,100 (about $7 USD).
Why did I wait so long to write this post?
Simply put, I felt Jack did more justice for Kanbei Udon than I ever could. I also wanted to maintain some privacy as this shop was located close to where I used to live. Recently, I mailed Christmas cards to my friends and important people during my three years in Japan, and Ogawa-san was one of those recipients.
I learned how meaningful that card was to Ogawa-san. He was so excited to share my card with my friends. A 2024 JET whom I never met remarked that “this is what it means to make the most of your experience in Japan.”
This is to say, your Japanese experience isn’t just the awesome travels or the classes you teach. If you’re a CIR, it isn’t just the events you plan or the documents you translate. Your Japan experience is, in part, the friends you make along the way. Without Kanbei, I wouldn’t have been able to make the most of my time in Japan. It would’ve been harder to settle in and find the resources I needed to not only survive but thrive. Without Kanbei, there would’ve been a weaker community.
Ogawa-san, and Rob, arigatou-gozaimashita!