Japanese people love noodles, and there are quite a few types. Here are the typical types they eat often in Japan.
1. White flour base
1-A. Udon
According to a research conducted in Japan a few years ago, Udon is the noodle they eat the most. (https://dime.jp/genre/454736/) It is made of white flour, salt and water. Since there are a few kind of noodles made of flour, there is a guideline of the definition of Udon by the government. The width of Udon should be 1.7mm or wider. Quite wide or thick noodles such as “Kishimen” from Nagoya area or “Hou-Tou” from Tohoku area belong to this Udon category. You can eat Udon in cold, or in soup, or fried. You can find in dried, frozen or fresh in a supermarket store. Otherwise you can make it at home as it is quite easy.
Link to How to make Udon : http://www.momokoto.com/how-to-make-udon-noodle-with-just-flour-water-and-salt/
1-B. Hiyamugi
Hiyamugi is cut Udon in thinner, and it should be 1.3-1.7mm in width. They eat in cold mostly by dipping in a sauce made of dashi, sake, soy sauce and a little of sugar.
1-C. Somen
Somen is the thinnest Japanese noodle, and it should be less than 1.3mm. It is made in very thin noodle by stretching a lot. It is a symbolic dish in hot summer. They float the noodle in a very cold water, and eat it dipping in the sauce, same as Hiyamugi.
2. Ramen, Chinese noodle
As it is said, it is originally from China. Made of flour, lye water, salt, water, and sometimes egg. It started becoming popular in Meiji-era in 19th. You can easily find it dried, frozen or fresh. Also instant noodle such as ‘Chicken Ramen’ is very popular. You can eat it as a typical ramen, Tsukemen, or in cold or stir fried “Yaki-soba”. “So-Ki Soba” from Okinawa containes lye water thus it is in Ramen category. For ramen, each region has their unique ramen, for example Shoyu (soy sauce) soup from Tokyo, Tonkotsu (pork broth) from Kyusyu, or Miso soup from Hokkaido.
3. Soba
This is the other authentic Japanese noodle like Udon, and made of buckwheat and some amount of flour thus normally it looks brown. They eat soba in hot or cold, and if it is ordered as cold, usually it is serve on a bamboo colander.
4. Others
There are some others looking like noodle.
4-A. Shirataki (sometimes called as Konjac noodle)
Shirataki means ‘a white waterfall’ and it looks translucent white nooddle. It is made from Konjac/elephant yam. Japanese people eat it in a hot pot like Sukiyaki, or braised with meat or vegetables. Recently it became well-known outside of Japan because of its super low calories.
4-B. Harusame (glass noodle)
Harusame means ‘spring rain’, and is made from starch of beans, sweet potato or potato. You can find it dried and very thin in a plastic bag in a store. Before cooking, first you soak in a water to make it softer. Sometimes it is in hot pot, in salad, or stir fried with some vegetables and meat.
4-C. Kuzukiri
This is made of Kuzu starch (Japanese arrowroot starch). Due to the limited production of Japanese Kuzu, sometimes you can find it containing potato starch at a reasonable price in a store. It is served in cold with dark molasses.
4-D. Tokoroten
Tokoroten is made from seaweed, and it is a typical snack in summer. In Kanto area (east Japan), they eat with the sauce made of vinegar and soy sauce while people in Kansai area (west Japan) eat with dark molasses.
