Pasta la vista, Takasaki

A beautiful city that is less than an hour away from Tokyo. A shinkansen interchange for those travelling between the prefectures of Niigata and Nagano. A city filled with daruma dolls and once upon a time was a huge producer of silk in Japan. Known as the "City of Good Luck", Takasaki City (高崎市 Takasaki-shi) of Gunma Prefecture (群馬県 Gunma-ken) is a quiet and unassuming city between the bustling megacity of Tokyo and the picturesque nature of Japan’s countryside.

Soup pasta. (Image credit: Visit Gunma)

Gunma Prefecture produces most of Japan’s wheat and because of that, the existence of pasta is surprisingly significant in Takasaki. In fact, Takasaki is known as the City of Pasta! They love their pasta so much that every year, they hold a contest called King of Pasta. Every year in November, all the Italian restaurants in the city would gather at this event to pit the flavor and appeal of their pasta against each other.

While there are the usual Italian sauces like carbonara or the usual Japanese ones like mentaiko to try, the city has a unique dish called ‘soup pasta’. Unlike macaroni soup, this is a noodle dish served on a flat dish with a sauce that is more of a broth that is no less flavourful than a sauce but light enough to drink.

Mt. Haruna. (Image credit: JNTO)

If you are not a fan of pasta but love cars, you would know that Mt. Haruna is the mecca for Initial D fans! The fictional Mt. Akina is actually based on Mt. Haruna in Takasaki. Simply pick up a car from a car rental nearby Takasaki Station and you’re on your way to reliving Fujiwara Takumi’s daily tofu delivery routes! If you don't drive, you can simply opt for a direct bus ride to the base of Mt. Haruna and enjoy a pleasant ropeway journey up and down the mountain. One of the places to stop by along the way is the D'z Racing Cafe Garage at the neighbouring city of Shibukawa, which is an Initial D-themed cafe with tons of memorabilia, cars and cool things to check out.

D'z Racing Cafe Garage. (Image credit: Facebook / D'z Racing Cafe Garage)

Whether you're a pasta fanatic, a car geek, or simply an Initial D fan, you just have to visit the beautiful lucky city! Just take a short shinkansen ride from Tokyo will bring you directly to Takasaki City. With a JR East Pass (Nagano, Niigata area) or JR East Pass (Tohoku area), you can travel at a discount not only to Takasaki but also to other parts of east Japan that is covered by your JR East Pass as well! For more information, visit the JTB Rail Pass Counter in JAPAN RAIL CAFE today!

Header image credit: JNTO / Yasufumi Nishi

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