A forty minute drive southwest from our cabin on the lake took us to a little village called Togakushi. This village is famous in Japan for two things: hand woven bamboo baskets and the best handmade soba noodles of all of Japan. 

A short history of soba noodles in Japan can be read in the photo above.  It basically says that during the Edo period (early 1700's) the Nagano area was praised for having the best soba noodles in Japan and within Nagano the village of Togakushi was the "best of the best".  That is an impressively long history of soba noodle excellence. 

Our delicious handmade soba noodle lunch.