Did you know that Soja City is known as a “city of bread” and attracts attention not only from within Okayama Prefecture but also from outside the prefecture?
In this city of just under 70,000 people, there are many bakeries, from small neighborhood shops to large-scale bread factories, and bread culture is deeply rooted here.
There is one bakery that bread-loving Soja residents name first.
It is “Bakery Tongu.”
Bakery Tongu is popular with people of all ages, from children to older adults, regardless of gender. It is so beloved that many customers buy up a large number of items in a single visit.
There can’t be many bakeries so beloved by their local community.
Bakery Tongu is a long-established bakery founded more than 90 years ago.
Locals affectionately call it “Tongu,” “Tongu bread,” or “Tongu Bakery,” and it has many popular products that have been loved for years.
And for me, a Soja native, Tongu was also the source of the bread served in my school lunches, making it a nostalgic taste.
Here, I introduce Bakery Tongu, the oldest bakery in Soja and a true local soul food.
The information provided was current when this article was published in September 2025. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Bakery Tongu: A long-established bakery founded in 1928 and beloved by Soja residents
Bakery Tongu (hereafter referred to as “Tongu”) is located in front of JR Soja Station.
It was founded in 1928 and has a history of more than 90 years as a long-established bakery.
According to my uncle, in the prewar and postwar years, people could bring wheat flour or azuki beans grown at home and exchange them for bread or cash.
Tongu has also made bread and rice for school lunches at elementary and junior high schools in the Soja area for many years. I was born in Soja and grew up eating Tongu bread and rice in school lunches.
For Soja residents, Tongu is truly a local soul food.
Incidentally, the shop’s name, “Tongu,” comes from the founder’s surname.
The surname Tongu is commonly seen in Soja.
Tongu has also operated from the same location ever since it was founded.
There used to be another shop to the south, but now its only directly operated store is the one in front of the station.
Around 1985, a factory was built about 50 meters north of the shop to make packaged bread and bread and rice for school lunches.
In addition, Tongu now sets up stalls at events in Okayama Prefecture and the Kanto region.
The current head of Tongu, Yoshida Nobuhiro, is the third-generation owner.
While preserving products that have been loved for many years, he is also actively developing new ones.
▼You can find information about new products and events on the Facebook and Instagram accounts run by Yoshida himself, so be sure to check them out.
Tongu’s customers include not only residents around Soja City but also many visitors from outside the city.
Soja City is currently promoting itself as a “city of bread” and running a project called “Bread World Soja.” As a result, Tongu, a long-established bakery representing Soja, is attracting attention from customers outside the city as well.
Popular and recommended items at Bakery Tongu
Tongu sells many different kinds of bread.
Tongu offers a wide variety of breads, from classic long-time bestsellers to newly created products.
Here are some of its popular and recommended items.
Although I couldn’t feature it in this article, Tongu also sells loaves of bread.
Packaged bread
First, let’s look at sweet breads sold in bags, commonly known as “bagged bread.”
They are all long-running favorites that have been loved for many years.
Bagged bread accounts for Tongu’s top five bestsellers.
The designs on the bags all have a retro feel.
In fact, although the bag material has changed, the designs have remained the same.
▼The bagged bread is also displayed in the shipping containers called banju.
Bagged bread sells well, so this traditional system makes it easy to restock by simply replacing an empty banju.
Here are some of the bagged bread varieties. There are others as well.
- Sweet bean paste
- Butter roll
- Triangular jam bread
- Pine cone
- Calpis × pine cone
- Fruit roll
- Cream bread
- Anpan
- Uguisu bean paste bread
- Banana roll
- Jam roll
- Chocolate roll
- Coffee roll
Jo-an (fried bread)
“Jo-an” is Tongu’s most popular product.
Also known as “abura-pan,” it has been a bestseller since the bakery was founded.
It is loved by people of all ages, from children to older adults.
As its other name, abura-pan, suggests, it is an anpan deep-fried in oil, but it doesn’t taste overly greasy.
It is generously filled with homemade smooth red bean paste, with just the right amount of sweetness.
The distinctive flavor is addictive: smooth, pleasant-textured red bean paste inside the bread, a chewy dough, and a subtle hint of cinnamon all come together in perfect harmony.
Jo-an is by far the most popular of Tongu’s products. According to Tongu’s head, Yoshida Nobuhiro, more than 1,600 are sold on an average day.
Butter roll (makura-pan)
“Butter roll” is the next most popular item after jo-an.
For many years, it has been one of Tongu’s two signature bestsellers, alongside jo-an.
The butter roll is shaped like a long, narrow koppe-pan, and the dough contains butter.
When I ate it, I could smell the sweet aroma of butter, and it tasted nostalgic.
There are spots where the buttery sweetness and flavor are stronger, which is part of the pleasure of eating it.
The butter roll is fairly large and filling.
It used to be rectangular in shape, and because it looked like an old-fashioned pillow, it was also commonly called “makura-pan” (pillow bread).
According to Yoshida, more than 600 butter rolls are sold on average each day.
Triangular Jam Bread
Tongu's third most popular bread is its “Triangular Jam Bread.”
Triangular Jam Bread has also been a long-selling favorite since the bakery opened. A square piece of bread is cut diagonally, and two triangular pieces come in each package.
The surface is covered with soboro, giving it a distinctive flavor. Inside is sweet strawberry jam.
It is thick, and with two pieces in each package, it is a substantial and good-value product.
Matsukasa
Tongu's fourth most popular bread is “Matsukasa.”
This bread is generally called melon bread, but Tongu sells it under its own distinctive name. The name comes from the bread's resemblance to a pine cone.
Until I was grown up, I didn't know that “melon bread” was the general name for this type of bread.
There is also a Calpis factory in Soja City.
There was also a product called “Calpis × Matsukasa,” a collaboration between Calpis and Tongu.
Inside the Matsukasa is cream blended with Calpis.
The combination of the cream's sweet-and-sour, refreshing flavor and the crisp texture and sweetness of the Matsukasa's surface is interesting.
Fruit Roll
The “Fruit Roll” is Tongu's fifth most popular bread.
A cream with fruit is sandwiched inside a long, narrow koppe-pan roll.
The cream is distinctive for containing several kinds of finely chopped dried fruit, such as raisins and oranges.
It also contained cherries and butterbur. The cream's sweetness and texture are distinctive, too.
The sweet-and-sour flavor and texture of the dried fruit add a nice accent to the sweet cream.
This is probably a product you won't find at many bakeries other than Tongu.
Cream Bread
“Cream bread” is one of the classic bakery items.
The bread is generously filled with custard cream. The cream's bright yellow color and glossy finish are striking.
I like its rich, custard-like sweetness.
Uguisu Anpan
“Uguisu anpan,” filled with green chunky bean paste, has also been around for a long time.
The paste, made with Alaska peas, has a simple sweetness that makes it easy to enjoy.
I polished it off in no time.
Banana Roll
Banana rolls are famous in Okayama Prefecture, especially those made by Kimuraya.
Tongu also sells banana rolls, and they are one of its popular items. Tongu's banana roll is also a koppe-pan roll filled with banana-flavored cream.
The sweet aroma wafting from the banana cream whets my appetite.
Agepan
Tongu sells two types of fried bread, and they are popular.
- School Lunch Fried Bread
- Kinako Fried Bread
The fried bread is exactly the same as the kind served in school lunches.
“School Lunch Fried Bread” is a koppe-pan roll that is deep-fried and coated with sugar. “Kinako Fried Bread” is coated with kinako (roasted soybean flour) and is also characterized by a hint of cinnamon.
According to Yoshida, about 10 years ago, when Tongu set up a stall at the “Retro Road” event held in Soja Shopping Street, they sold fried bread—a popular school lunch item—to match the “retro” theme.
It proved far more popular than expected.
Many customers asked them to sell it as a regular item at the shop, not just at events, and it was eventually added to the product lineup.
Once students graduate, they no longer have the chance to eat fried bread that was on the school lunch menu.
Many customers seem happy to be able to enjoy a once-popular school lunch item again.
Okayama Koppe Series
Despite being a new product, it has become one of Tongu’s signature items: the “Okayama Koppe” series.
Okayama Koppe are products made by filling koppe-pan rolls with a variety of ingredients, and there are a great many varieties.
They were originally sold at event stalls, but proved popular, so Tongu began selling them in the shop as well.
According to Yoshida, the origins of Okayama Koppe lie in the school lunch menu item “self-serve sandwich”.
I used to eat it at school lunches too, so it brings back memories.
A self-serve sandwich is a koppe-pan roll with a slit, which students fill themselves with school lunch ingredients.
Yoshida thought customers might enjoy filling koppe-pan rolls with their favorite ingredients, just like a self-serve sandwich.
So they tried serving them at an event, and they became popular.
At events, customers chose the ingredients they wanted, and staff filled the rolls on the spot. Since that was difficult to do in the shop, Tongu decided to sell them already filled with a variety of ingredients.
As a result, they quickly became one of Tongu’s signature products.
The Okayama Koppe series makes the most of Tongu’s unique strength: its many years of supplying koppe-pan rolls for school lunches.
Tongu still sometimes sells Okayama Koppe directly to customers at events, so check the information on its official Facebook page.
Incidentally, some Okayama Koppe varieties are meant to be eaten chilled.
Of the many Okayama Koppe varieties, these three are especially popular:
- Local Chicken and Crisp Cabbage
- Peanut Butter
- Fried White Fish
Local Chicken and Crisp Cabbage
“Local Chicken and Crisp Cabbage” is a product made with sliced local chicken and shredded cabbage in a koppe-pan roll.
According to Yoshida, many people in Okayama Prefecture like chicken.
When they added it to the lineup, it became their most popular item.
Although we visited in the morning, it had already sold out.
That gives you an idea of just how popular the Local Chicken and Crisp Cabbage is.
Peanut Butter
Another popular Okayama Koppe, alongside Local Chicken and Crisp Cabbage, is “Peanut Butter.”
When customers were asked what they would like in a koppe-pan roll, many said peanut butter or strawberry margarine.
So Tongu created an Okayama Koppe with peanut butter.
The defining feature of Tongu’s peanut butter is that it contains large pieces of peanut.
As a result, you can enjoy a stronger peanut flavor, aroma, and texture than with other brands of peanut butter.
Tongu adds the peanut butter by hand, which allows them to include large pieces of peanut.
White Fish Tartar
“White Fish Tartar” is a koppe-pan roll filled with white fish and seasoned with sweet chili sauce and tartar sauce.
Many Okayama Koppe varieties were inspired by meals prepared for employees.
Some were also inspired by foods they bought and tried from supermarket deli sections.
Yoshida had tried this White Fish Tartar himself and enjoyed it, so he decided to add it to the Okayama Koppe lineup.
As a result, White Fish Tartar became one of their popular items.
Savory Breads
In addition to packaged bread, Tongu also offers a wide selection of savory breads.
One item that particularly stands out is the “Japanese Cuisine Kikui × Tongu Passionate Collaboration Curry Bread,” a collaboration with Japanese Cuisine Kikui in Okayama City.
Japanese Cuisine Kikui × Tongu Passionate Collaboration Curry Bread
The “Japanese Cuisine Kikui × Tongu Passionate Collaboration Curry Bread” came about through the connection between Mitsunori Kikui of the Okayama City Japanese restaurant “Kikui” and Yoshida of Tongu, who had once worked at the same workplace.
When Kikui and Yoshida, who had not seen each other for some time, met again, they came up with the idea of creating a collaborative product together.
This curry bread was created after about three months of trial and error.
Even the packaging conveys the care and passion behind it.
The curry filling contains generous chunks of meat, making a striking impression and providing a satisfying meal.
Desserts
Tongu also sells chilled desserts.
Its main products are “pie choux” and “pudding.”
Both the pie choux and pudding are made in-house.
The pudding is made with milk from Yasutomi Farm (Ashimori, Okayama City), domestically produced cane sugar, and eggs from Soja.
Tongu also sells seasonal desserts.
The 10th of Every Month Is “Tongu Day”
At Tongu, the 10th of every month is designated “Tongu Day.”
Tongu Day features services such as the following:
- 10 yen off all products
- Sale of products available only on Tongu Day
- Gacha machines for children are set up in summer and at other times
In addition to the above, various monthly promotions are also held on Tongu Day.
Tongu Day was planned as a way to address declining customer numbers due to the expansion of AEON MALL Kurashiki and the successive arrival of major companies in Soja, which increased the number of people working there.
The name combines “To” from Tongu with “to” from the Japanese word for the 10th day of the month, tooka.
Thanks to Tongu Day, many customers began coming back, and the promotion has now become firmly established among them.
Tongu has many popular menu items.
We interviewed Nobuhiro Yoshida, Tongu’s representative director.
Bakery Tongu Information
| Name | Bakery Tongu |
|---|---|
| Address | 1-2-3 Ekimae, Soja City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | 0866-92-0236 |
| Parking | Available 10 spaces |
| Hours | 8:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m. |
| Closed | Monday, Sunday For other closures (long holidays, Obon, year-end and New Year holidays, etc.), see official Facebook page |
| Payment methods |
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| Website | Bakery Tongu, a bakery established over 80 years ago near the station in Soja City, Okayama Prefecture |
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