The ramen shops of Asahikawa Ramen Village

During the ramen boom, there were many ramen theme parks all over the country, but now only a few are left. Among them, "Asahikawa Ramen Village" has been bustling as a popular facility for tourists and locals since it opened in 1996.

What makes Asahikawa Ramen Village different from the other ramen villages is that all the ramen shops in the village are local!

Currently, there are eight shops: Aoba, Itetsuan, Ishida, Tenkin, Santouka, Saijo, Heiwa, and Umekoken.

Name: Asahikawa Ramen Village
Address: 119-48, Nagayama 11-jo, Asahikawa-shi
Phone: 0166-48-2153
Business hours: 11: 00-20: 00
Regular holiday: Open all year round
Parking: Yes

Founded in 1947, "Asahikawa Ramen Aoba” began as a stall. The main store is now located in the famous 2jo building street of 2-jodori 8-chome.

The main store is also popular with tourists because it is close to the JR Asahikawa Station.

"Asahikawa Ramen Aoba" ramen is a double soup, a characteristic of Asahikawa ramen, made from pork bones, chicken bones, Rishiri kelp, dried bonito flakes, dried sardines, and various vegetables.

You can choose between the soy sauce, salt, and miso ramen, but here you should order the "soy sauce ramen for 750 yen” to have a taste of the original Asahikawa Ramen.

This is the soy sauce ramen from "Asahikawa Ramen Aoba Ramen Village".

From the tabelog informations (a Japanese gourmet website) it seems that the ramen at the main store has no soft-boiled egg marinated in mirin/soy sauce and the seaweed has the green leaf logo. It's slightly different.

Store name: Asahikawa Ramen Aoba Ramen Village
Address: Asahikawa Ramen Village, 11-jo 4-chome, Nagayama, Asahikawa-shi
Phone: 0166-47-2681
Business hours: 11: 00-21: 00
Regular holiday: Open all year round
Parking: Yes

In addition to Asahikawa, "Ramen Santouka" has 11 stores in Tohoku, Kanto, and Okinawa. The ramen shop spread its name overseas too: it has restaurants in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand.

At "Ramen Santouka” in the Ramen Village, soft drinks are free! Since our reporter hasn’t eaten at another shop branch, we don’t know if the drinks are free there.

Santouka is priced a little higher than other ramen shops, so this is a nice service.

Santouka is well-known for its salt ramen, made with a cloudy pork bone stock soup unlike the traditional Asahikawa ramen, it isn’t a ramen you see everyday!

While it's not the old-fashioned Asahikawa ramen type, but it's a ramen that you'll want to eat once in a while.

Store name: Ramen Santouka Asahikawa Ramen Village
Address: Asahikawa Ramen Village, 11-jo 4-chome, Nagayama, Asahikawa-shi
Phone: 0166-47-7405
Business hours: 11: 00-21: 00
Regular holiday: Open every day
Parking: Yes

The first in years ? Heiwa opened this year in the ramen village, the main store opened in January 2019. It is a ramen shop with momentum now.
The main store is located in Suehiro 1 Jo 1-chome.

The main store in Suehiro is popular for pork bowls, so our reporter ordered the miso ramen with the pork bowl set.

A set of medium-sized ramen and a small pork bowl is at 1,000 yen. Half size ramen costs 800 yen.

Our reporter is a small eater and ordered a set with a regular sized ramen but couldn't eat all of it. Women and small eaters should order the half ramen + pork bowl (small) set for 800 yen.

A slightly thick flat noodle is used in the Miso ramen, unusual in Asahikawa.

Our reporter don't know about Asahikawa ramen lovers, but tourists from outside of Hokkaido like these noodles.

Name: Heiwa Asahikawa Ramen Village
Address: Asahikawa Ramen Village, 11-jo 4-chome, Nagayama, Asahikawa-shi
Phone: 0166-46-5395
Business hours: 11: 00-15: 00
Regular holiday: Tuesday
Parking: Yes

Locals tend to think that it is better to go to other shops than to line up with tourists in the ramen village. However, the number of tourists is significantly decreased due to the effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. This may be an opportunity to give Asahikawa Ramen Village a chance, don’t you think ?