06-07-2025
Onion soup flows from tap at Hokkaido's Memanbetsu Airport
OZORA, Hokkaido -- A tap dispensing onion soup recently debuted at Memanbetsu Airport in this Hokkaido town. When turned on, the faucet releases warm soup made with locally grown onions.
According to operator Hokkaido Airports Co., this is the first airport in Japan to install an onion soup tap.
Visitors to the airport can now enjoy "Hokkaido Onion Soup," a signature product of food company Greens Kitami, from the tap. The company processes the "Kitami onions" grown in the area -- known as the largest onion producer in Japan. These onions accounted for 46% of national onion production in 2023.
Hokkaido Airports came up with the project to promote local specialties in a unique way and prepared for the tap's launch in collaboration with Greens Kitami. Yuta Maruyama from Greens Kitami stated, "We want people to enjoy the excitement, and hope it promotes Japan's leading onion-producing region."
In a corner set up in the airport's departure lobby on July 1, tourists and local residents who came to see off travelers turned on the tap to enjoy the soup. A woman in her 20s from the nearby city of Kitami, the first to try it, said, "It's fun and very delicious." Wataru Yoshimura, 32, a company executive visiting with his family from Osaka, commented, "I'm not fond of onions, but this soup is tasty. It makes me want to come back."
The soup is available on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and two times each day on weekends and holidays, at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., until supplies last. Hokkaido Airports' Kumi Inui, who was involved in the project, commented, "I hope the onion soup tap becomes a fun memory of people's trips."
