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Drink · Japan
Nihonshu
Japanese sake, a fermented beverage made from rice, koji and water. It is an official geographical indication of Japan and is served chilled, at room temperature, or warm, in small cups.
Flavors · Nagasaki
Champon
Thick noodles cooked in their own rich broth, with pork, seafood, kamaboko and many vegetables sautéed in the same pan. A Nagasaki dish tied to the city’s history as an open port.
Traditional dish from Nagasaki, Nagasaki
Also known as: Nagasaki champon, ちゃんぽん, 長崎ちゃんぽん
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Champon — Nagasaki, Japan
Champon is made in a single pot. First pork and seafood — such as squid, shrimp, clams or oysters depending on the season — plus Nagasaki’s colorful kamaboko, cabbage, scallions and bean sprouts are sautéed. Then the broth, based on pork or chicken bones, and the thick, firm noodles are added; the noodles cook in the broth itself. The bowl is generous, with more ingredients than noodles.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, champon is said to have been created in 1899 by the owner of a Chinese restaurant in the city to give Chinese students an inexpensive, nutritious meal. Its root is a noodle-in-broth dish from Fujian cuisine, adapted with a stronger broth and more ingredients. The name has several explanations: it may come from a Chinese word for eating a simple meal, or from a Portuguese word related to mixing.
According to Japan National Tourism Organization, Nagasaki developed as an international port from the late 16th century, and champon reflects the city’s links with Chinese cuisine. The dish became everyday food in local homes and later served in restaurants across Japan.
In the prefecture there are said to be two main styles: Nagasaki champon, with a richer broth, and Obama style, in Unzen, with a lighter chicken-based broth. Some people add a raw egg on top.
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Where it comes from
Nagasaki , Nagasaki
A Nagasaki dish tied to the port and the city’s Chinese community.
Ingredients
Thick champon noodles, pork- or chicken-bone broth, pork, squid, shrimp, clams or oysters, Nagasaki kamaboko, cabbage, scallions, bean sprouts.
How it is eaten
Served in a large, very hot bowl, with chopsticks and a spoon.
When it is eaten
All year round; more popular in cold months.
Your questions
Questions about Champon
What is the difference between champon and ramen?
In champon the noodles are cooked in the broth in the same pot where pork, seafood and vegetables are sautéed. In ramen the noodles are cooked separately and served in the broth with toppings.
What is the difference between champon and sara udon?
Both come from Nagasaki and use similar ingredients, but champon is a noodle soup. Sara udon is served on a plate, with crispy or soft noodles topped with a thick sauce.
Flavors of Japan
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Dish · Japan
Ramen
Wheat noodles in a hot broth seasoned with shoyu, miso, salt, or pork bone, served with slices of pork, scallions, and bamboo shoots. It’s one of Japan’s most common dishes, with regional styles throughout the country.
Dish · Japan
Sukiyaki
A shallow pot of thinly sliced beef, scallion, grilled tofu, shirataki and leafy greens, cooked in a sauce of soy sauce, sugar and sake. Each piece is dipped in beaten egg before eating.
Dish · Japan
Tempura
Shrimp, fish and seasonal vegetables coated in a light batter of wheat flour, egg and cold water and fried to order. They are eaten with tentsuyu broth and grated daikon or with salt, and also served over rice as tendon.
Dish · Aizuwakamatsu
Kozuyu
Aizu festive soup, made with dried scallop and dried shiitake broth, taro, carrot, mushrooms, bracken shoot, ginkgo and wheat-gluten balls (mamefu), served in the region’s lacquered bowls.
Dish · Akita
Kiritanpo nabe
A pot of chicken-bone broth with mashed and toasted rice sticks (kiritanpo), burdock, mushrooms, scallions and seri. A dish from Akita, made at the time of the new rice harvest.
Sweet · Dazaifu
Umegae-mochi
Thin rice‑cake filled with sweet azuki bean paste and toasted on both sides in an iron mold stamped with a plum blossom, the symbol of Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine. It’s the sweet of the shrine avenue in Dazaifu.
Dish · Ehime
Tai-meshi
Red snapper and rice in two Ehime versions: in the north, the whole fish is cooked with the rice and shredded in the pot; in the south, raw slices marinated in soy sauce and egg are placed over the hot rice.
Dish · Fukui
Echizen oroshi soba
Cold soba with grated daikon radish, quite spicy, cold broth, katsuobushi and green onion. It’s the most eaten soba in Fukui, served at weddings, at the end of the year and at winter Buddhist ceremonies.
Dish · Fukuoka
Hakata ramen
Rich, milky pork-bone broth ramen with thin, straight noodles, chashu and scallions. It’s named Hakata, another name for Fukuoka, and is eaten in ramen shops and the city’s yatai stalls.
Dish · Hiroshima
Okonomiyaki
Layered pancake cooked on the griddle: thin wheat batter, lots of cabbage, slices of pork, fried noodles and egg, with a thick sweet sauce. In Hiroshima, it’s everyday food, served in specialized restaurants and eaten with a spatula.
Dish · Hokkaido
Jingisukan
Grilled mutton or lamb on a rounded iron griddle, with vegetables that cook in the juices that run off. It’s Hokkaido’s best-known dish, eaten at home, in restaurants and on picnics.
Dish · Ise
Ise udon
Very thick, soft udon served with almost no broth, topped with a dark, thick tamari–dashi sauce and scallions. A dish from the city of Ise, served for centuries to shrine pilgrims.
Dish · Iwate
Wanko soba
Soba served in one-bite portions in small bowls, refilled by the server until you cover the bowl. A tradition from Iwate that began as a way to welcome guests.
Dish · Kagawa
Sanuki udon
Kagawa udon: firm and elastic, with a smooth surface, served hot or cold, in iriko broth or simply with soy sauce. Kagawa is called the udon kingdom, with udon shops throughout the prefecture.
Drink · Kagoshima
Satsuma shochu
Sweet-potato shochu from Kagoshima, distilled using rice koji or sweet-potato koji. Satsuma is Japan’s official geographical indication for the shochu of the prefecture, which is enjoyed with hot water, on the rocks, or with cold water.
Sweet · Kagoshima
Shirokuma
Shaved ice topped with condensed milk, colorful fruit, agar jelly cubes and azuki beans. The name, polar bear, comes from how it looks from above. A summer sweet from Kagoshima.
Dish · Kanagawa
Shirasu-don
Bowl of rice topped with shirasu — translucent sardine fry, raw or cooked — served with soy sauce and ginger. A coastal Shonan (Kanagawa) dish made with the day’s catch from Sagami Bay.
Dish · Kanazawa
Jibuni
Duck dusted in flour and cooked with sudare-fu (wheat gluten), vegetables and mushrooms in a slightly thickened shoyu broth, served with wasabi. A dish of Kaga cuisine, traditional in Kanazawa.
Dish · Kochi
Katsuo no tataki
Bonito quickly seared over a high flame, often using straw, browned on the outside and raw inside, cut into thick slices and served with salt or a citrus soy sauce, garlic and scallion. Dish from Kōchi.
Dish · Koya
Goma-dofu
Firm sesame cream made from ground sesame, kuzu starch and water, served in cubes with wasabi and soy sauce. A dish from the vegetarian cuisine of the monks of Koyasan, the sacred mountain of Shingon Buddhism.
Dish · Kumamoto
Karashi renkon
Lotus root with the holes filled with miso and Japanese mustard, breaded in a yellow batter and fried, served in slices. A dish from Kumamoto, traditionally linked to the Hosokawa lords.
Dish · Miyajima
Anago-meshi
Grilled conger (anago) with shoyu sauce, sliced and arranged over rice cooked in broth. A Miyajima specialty, sold since 1901 as a train-station snack at the boarding point for the island.
Dish · Miyazaki
Chikin nanban
Breaded and fried chicken, dipped in a sweet-and-sour vinegar sauce and topped with tartar sauce. A Miyazaki dish, originating in Nobeoka in the 1950s and 1960s.
Dish · Miyoshi
Iya soba
Thick, short soba made only from buckwheat from the Iya Valley, without binding wheat flour, served in hot broth with fried tofu, kamaboko, scallions and mountain greens. A dish from the Iya Valley, in Miyoshi.
Dish · Nagano
Oyaki
Dumpling made from wheat flour, sometimes mixed with buckwheat, filled with vegetables seasoned with miso or soy sauce, or with sweet bean paste; baked, steamed, or both. A dish from Nagano, from mountain villages.
Sweet · Nagasaki
Kasutera
Rectangular castella sponge cake, moist with a yellow crumb, made of eggs, sugar, flour and starch syrup, with the top and bottom well browned. A sweet from Nagasaki that arrived with the Portuguese in the 16th century.
Dish · Nagoya
Miso-nikomi udon
Firm udon, made without salt, cooked in an earthenware pot in a dark soy miso (haccho miso) broth, with chicken, fried tofu, scallion and egg. A dish from Nagoya and Aichi.
Dish · Nara
Kakinoha-zushi
Small pressed sushis of salted mackerel on seasoned rice, each wrapped in a persimmon leaf. A dish from Nara, served at the summer festivals of Gojō and Yoshino.
Drink · Okinawa
Awamori
Rice spirit from Okinawa, made with black koji and sometimes aged for years (kusu). Ryukyu is Japan’s official geographical indication for awamori from the prefecture.
Dish · Okinawa
Goya champuru
Stir-fry of goya, the bitter melão-de-são-caetano, with firm Okinawan tofu, egg and pork. It’s the best-known champuru from Okinawa, made at home and served in restaurants across the prefecture.
Dish · Okinawa
Okinawa soba
Thick wheat noodles, not buckwheat, in a pork-and-dried-bonito broth, topped with simmered pork belly, kamaboko, scallions and pickled red ginger. It’s an everyday dish in Okinawa.
Dish · Osaka
Takoyaki
Dough balls made from flour, egg and dashi with pieces of octopus, cooked on a griddle with round hollows and topped with sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed and dried bonito flakes. It’s Osaka’s best-known flavor.
Dish · Kyoto
Saba-zushi
Salted and vinegar-marinated mackerel sushi on a rice log, wrapped in bamboo sheath. A celebratory dish of Kyoto, tied to the Saba Kaido, the route that brought mackerel from the Wakasa Sea.
Dish · Sendai
Gyutan
Sliced beef tongue, seasoned and grilled, served with barley rice, pickles and oxtail soup. It’s Sendai’s signature dish, created after World War II.
Dish · Shiga
Funazushi
Nigorobuna carp from Lake Biwa, salted and fermented for months with rice: an ancient form of sushi with a strong taste and aroma. A dish from Shiga, deeply rooted in the prefecture’s culture.
Dish · Shimane
Izumo soba
Dark, aromatic soba made from whole-ground buckwheat with the husk, served cold in stacks of round bowls (warigo) or hot, straight from the pot (kamaage). A dish from the Izumo region in Shimane.
Dish · Takayama
Hoba miso
Koji miso with scallion and mushrooms, roasted on a dry magnolia leaf (hoba) over a small tabletop brazier. A dish from the Hida-Takayama region in the mountains of Gifu.
Dish · Toyama
Masuzushi
Pressed sushi of cured trout on seasoned rice, in a round wooden box lined with bamboo leaves. It’s Toyama’s most famous dish, sold in specialty shops and as a train snack.
Dish · Tóquio
Edomae-zushi
Nigiri in the Edo style, from old Tokyo: a small ball of vinegar-seasoned rice topped with cured, cooked, marinated, or raw fish. It originated as street-vendor food and spread around the world.
Dish · Tóquio
Monjayaki
A very thin batter of wheat flour and broth, with cabbage and other ingredients, cooked on a griddle at the table and eaten bit by bit with small spatulas. A Tokyo dish associated with the Tsukishima neighborhood.
Dish · Yamagata
Imoni
Taro stew with meat, konnyaku and scallion, cooked in large pots on riverbanks in autumn at Yamagata’s imonikai. Inland it includes beef and shoyu; on the Shonai coast it uses pork and miso.
Dish · Yamanashi
Hoto
Thick, wide wheat dough cooked with pumpkin, vegetables and mushrooms in a miso broth, served in an iron pot. It is the most representative dish of Yamanashi, at the foot of Mount Fuji.
Beyond the guide
