Kitakata

Kitakata is a city located in Fukushima, in northern Honshū, Japan.

The city is well-known for its distinctive ramen. The area within its former city boundaries has the highest per-capita number of ramen establishments in Japan. Ramen has such prominence in the region that locally, the word soba usually refers to ramen, and not to actual soba which is referred to as nihon soba. Kitakata's ramen consists of rather thick, flat, curly noodles served in a pork and niboshi broth.

The city has over 2600 kura storehouses which are now typically used as sake breweries, living quarters and workshops. The municipality has recently introduced the use of lacquerware in school meals served in the city, as a precaution against possible endocrine disruptors which may be present in common chemicals.

In 1882, more than 3,000 peasants gathered at the Danjo-ga-hara Field in Shiokawa and then marched on the Kitakata Police Station to rebel against the oppression of the prefectural government. Known as the Kitakata Incident of 1882, it was the first people's rights movement in the Tohoku area.