Kinoji-ya, which opened in April in a gourmet building in Ueno Park, Tokyo, has an open atmosphere with glass-paneled exterior walls and doors. Shop workers wear a flat cap, a white shirt and an apron when serving customers. The style is modeled on a Spanish-style bar, with the staff's uniforms coordinated by a stylist who has been active in fashion magazines.
"We wanted the shop to be a stylish stand-up soba shop, where both men and women of any age can come for casual dining," said Shinsuke Tomita, an employee of Kumagai Corp., which operates the shop.
Among its menu items, morisoba (cold soba with dipping sauce) and kakesoba (hot soba in hot broth) are both regular items of a classic soba shop, and they sell for 400 yen (about $3.70), including tax. The soba served at the shop is made from buckwheat flour alone.
At night, however, the shop also serves wine and various dishes blending Japanese- and Western-style cooking that goes well with alcohol, such as foie gras terrine pickled in Kyoto-style sweet white miso for 700 yen and red kidney beans flavored with Gorgonzola cheese for 480 yen, both with tax included.
A 64-year-old woman dined at the shop with her 38-year-old daughter after they toured some museums.
"I'd thought stand-up shops were only for male office workers, but this shop has an open atmosphere, so women don't hesitate to come," one of them said.
What attracts customers' attention as soon as they enter Sobadokoro Minato-ya, another stand-up soba shop in the office district of Tokyo's Nishi-Shimbashi, is its large, black marble table. Natural light is brought into the store through long, narrow windowpanes. The atmosphere reminds customers of a cafe bar.
Takashi Kikuchi, 40, the shop owner, opened it 12 years ago. When he opened the stand-up soba shop, he decided to give it a relaxing atmosphere.
"I wanted to make this shop completely different from ordinary stand-up soba shops, which have an image of eating quickly and leaving quickly," Kikuchi said.
The shop's menu is unusual. Tsumetai nikusoba (cold soba with meat), the most popular item, is firm, chewy soba dipped into a spicy sauce with chili oil for each bite. It sells for 870 yen, tax included.
The shop emits a strange vibe in that there are no chairs in such a sophisticated space, but Kikuchi said he has no plans of using chairs because he wants customers to concentrate on eating.
Megumi-ya in Tokyo's Kyobashi district shows music videos featuring rock bands popular in the 1970s and 1980s, such as Deep Purple and Queen.
Kiyoshi Ishizaka, 49, the shop owner, said it was an ordinary stand-up soba shop when it first opened 13 years ago. He played his favorite rock music CDs, and people who liked the music began eating there. After a while, he started showing music videos.
The shop's soba is made only from buckwheat flour.
"I want to serve items that you can eat every day and is good for your health," Ishizaka said.
Yoshinori Sakazaki, author of "Chotto Soba demo" ("Let's Have Some Soba"), a book on stand-up soba shops published by Kosaido Publishing Co., said: "These days, there are more and more fashionable stand-up dining facilities serving alcohol. So women can come to these shops without hesitation. As more people, particularly young women, are feeling less and less hesitant to eat at stand-up soba shops, I think there will be more unique shops in the future."
