🇯🇵 Saitama

Saitama's food

Saitama prefecture, next to Tokyo on the north, is an inland prefecture. It has no sea, but for that very reason it has food raised by its rivers and plains. From a history of supplying vegetables to Edo, it is rich in crops such as sweet potato (Kawagoe imo), and as a wheat-growing area its udon consumption is in fact among the highest in the country. The "Little Edo" streets and sweet-potato confections of the castle town Kawagoe, the mountain bounty of Chichibu, the local dishes of Gyoda and Fukaya — a plain but deep food spreads out. Here, Saitama starts with the food walk of that Little Edo, Kawagoe.

Starting from Kawagoe

For the way into Saitama, we chose Kawagoe. The Ichibangai lined with black kura merchant houses, its emblem Toki no Kane, and the Candy Alley of sweet shops. Here the food of Kawagoe gathers tightly — from imokoi, imokenpi and purple-potato ice cream to thick-noodle yakisoba and old-house unaju. About an hour from the city by train, walking streets that keep the look of Edo while you nibble sweets — sightseeing and the food walk overlap neatly, and that is Kawagoe's charm.

A town of sweet potato and kura

What stands for the food of Saitama and Kawagoe is sweet potato. The tradition of "Kawagoe imo," popular in Edo, lives on in the town today as sweet-potato confections. Warm imokoi, honey-glazed imokenpi, purple-potato ice cream, smooth sweet-potato pudding. Candy Alley's charcoal-grilled dango and the "Japan's longest" gluten sweet, old-fashioned treats, suit the kura streets well. With so many sweets, slipping in a savoury plate — thick-noodle yakisoba or unaju — keeps you walking to the end without tiring of it.

How to go

Kawagoe is close to the city, so holidays, long weekends and the time of the Kawagoe Festival are very crowded. For an unhurried walk, a weekday or the early morning is better. Some Candy-Alley sweet shops still take cash only, so small change is reassuring. Cars pass on the Ichibangai kura street too, so eat what you buy at the roadside or shopfront. The Seibu, Tobu and JR lines all reach it, and the kura streets are within walking distance of the station.

More to come

For now, Saitama starts with one route, Kawagoe. Saitama still has Chichibu's waraji-katsu bowl and soba, Gyoda's "zelly fry" and fry, and Fukaya's leek dishes — several more food towns to walk. Routes will be added over time. For now, take Kawagoe and taste the "Saitama plate" of sweet potato and the kura streets, each tied to its shop.