One of the bowls that shaped Tokyo's ramen history is served two minutes from Ogikubo Station's north exit. Harukiya opened as a street stall in 1949, and its main shop has spent more than seven decades refining a soy-sauce chuka-soba built on a fragrant niboshi (dried sardine) broth.
What kind of shop it is
Harukiya began as a street stall in postwar Ogikubo in 1949, founded by Itsuo Imamura. It is widely credited with making "Ogikubo ramen" famous nationwide and remains a defining name in classic Tokyo-style shoyu (soy sauce) ramen. The soup combines stock drawn from niboshi and other ingredients with a soy-sauce kaeshi (seasoning base) for an aromatic, Japanese-style flavor, and the noodles are kneaded in-house every morning, adjusted for the day's weather and humidity. The shop's guiding idea is "a taste that is always just as delicious": keeping the core flavor unchanged by constantly fine-tuning it. In an interview, the second-generation owner explained that the shop never keeps buying the same niboshi from the same source indefinitely, and even makes the noodles slightly thinner in summer.
What to order
The signature bowl is the chuka-soba (classic soy-sauce ramen) at ¥950. Wonton-men (the same ramen topped with wontons, ¥1,350) and chashu-men (with extra roast pork, ¥1,450) are the other staples — all prices include tax and are current as of July 2026; the official site notes that items and prices can differ between branches. Toppings such as seasoned egg (¥180) are also available. Seasonal bowls are a tradition here: the summer-only chilled chuka-soba went on sale on June 17, 2026, while miso chuka-soba appears in winter and tsukemen in spring. Check the official website for the latest menu and prices.
Tips for visiting
With only 18 seats, the shop is small, so allow extra time. Hours are 11:00 a.m. to 9:20 p.m. (last order 9:00 p.m.), with no fixed closing days; temporary schedule changes are announced on the official website and social media, so check before you go. The most important practical point is payment: since August 8, 2024, the Ogikubo main shop has been completely cashless, and cash is not accepted. Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Amex), e-money (iD, QUICPay, and transit IC cards such as Suica and Pasmo), and QR code payments (PayPay, Rakuten Pay, d-barai, and others) all work. The official website also has an English page listing the main menu items.