“Katsu tama mix,” a beef bowl topped with a pork cutlet and a fresh egg plus curry sauce, is a popular menu item at Sanpin Shokudo, as seen in this photo taken on Nov. 27, 2025. (Mainichi/Koichi Shinoda)
TOKYO — A restaurant next to Waseda University in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding this year, having been beloved by students and others over generations. As the eating habits of young people are said to be diversifying, why has the place been able to maintain its popularity for decades?
“Even as the times change, young people like beef bowls and pork cutlets. I believe it’s important not to change the taste of these items,” Masao Kitakami, 79, the second-generation owner of Sanpin Shokudo, explained.
Originally a school cap shop when it was inaugurated, it eventually became an eatery when it was run by Kitakami’s late mother, Kiyoko. The name of the establishment, Sanpin Shokudo (literally three dishes eatery), derives from the fact it initially only offered three dishes on its menu — beef bowl, pork cutlet over rice, and curry and rice. Eventually, menu items such as “katsu gyumeshi” — a beef bowl topped with a pork cutlet — and “katsu mix” — katsu gyumeshi plus curry sauce — became wildly popular.
Masao Kitakami, center, the second-generation owner of Sanpin Shokudo, his wife Junko, left, and their daughter Natsumi, who helps with the restaurant, pose together on Nov. 27, 2025. (Mainichi/Koichi Shinoda)
The super-large “aka katsu tama mix” with a fresh egg topping weighs some 1.2 kilograms and is priced at 1,600 yen (approx. $10.17). “Aka” (red) derives from the fact the largest bowls at the eatery used to be red. “We still serve one to two of that each day,” Kitakami said.
In recent years, a wide variety of boxed lunches are available at nearby convenience stores and the number of female students has increased, leading to the diversification of Waseda University students’ palates. Even so, there is deep-seated demand for the taste of time-honored establishments.
While the sauce is basically made of soy sauce, sugar and water, Sanpin Shokudo adds reddish-brown miso (aka miso) as a “hidden flavor.” The exquisite balance of sweet and salty flavors makes it irresistibly appetizing. The restaurant is popular among not only male but also female students.
A 19-year-old female freshman student at the School of Commerce, who was trying “tamagyu” (a beef bowl topped with a fresh egg), commented, “My father, who is also from Waseda University, recommended this place, so here I am. It’s surprisingly delicious.”
Cards signed by regular customers and Waseda University alumni are seen inside Sanpin Shokudo, on Nov. 27, 2025. (Mainichi/Koichi Shinoda)
A former employee of a major steel company, Kitakami took over the restaurant after quitting his job. His eldest daughter, Natsumi, 37, has seen him over the years up close.
“I once asked him, ‘Why did you take over the shop?’ He said he wanted to keep his ties with people who leave with smiles, saying, ‘It was delicious.’ I believe we’ve been able to reach our 60th anniversary thanks to everyone’s warm feelings,” she said.
The restaurant also went through hard times. In 2020 and 2021, students vanished from the campus as the COVID-19 pandemic moved classes primarily online. The restaurant managed to weather through the period by selling “meal tickets” for students to use once the pandemic was over.
Inside the shop, numerous cards signed by regulars and alumni adorn the wall. When it held a party celebrating its 60th anniversary on Nov. 23, Waseda University President Aiji Tanaka and Akira Ota, a silver medalist in wrestling in the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, were among those who attended, recounting their memories such as, “I frequented here during my college days,” and, “Part of my body is made of Sanpin.”
A school cap shop, which was the predecessor to Sanpin Shokudo, is seen along Sodai Nishimon-dori avenue in around 1960. (Photo courtesy of Masao Kitakami)
Today, this time-tested restaurant continues to act as a magnet for students, faculty members and locals in a corner of the student district.
*Sanpin Shokudo is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, as well as on the first and third Saturdays.
(Japanese original by Koichi Shinoda, Foreign News Department)
AloJapan.com