Later this summer, Humboldt’s fast-casual Japanese food company Obento will open in the former G Street Arcata home of Japhy’s Soup and Noodles. 

And, for all those concerned, the beloved abundance-of-veggies mural adorning the space’s south wall will stay.

The former Japhy’s, soon-to-be Obento Northtown Arcata location. Photo: Obento via Instagram.

“We’re so excited for this new step, and can’t wait to bring our food to the community in such a beautiful location!” Obento wrote in a July 2 Instagram post announcing the move.

The opening, planned for August or early September, will be the first time Obento offers in-person dining in its own storefront, marking a big moment in the story of a business that has faced its fair share of obstacles, as co-owner Maya Matsumoto told the Outpost in a phone interview.

Obento’s beginnings can be traced back to its owners’ childhoods. Both Matsumoto and her partner Shin Tamura grew up cooking and eating Japanese food. 

“I’ve been making sushi since I was probably like 12,” said Matsumoto, adding that she originally learned the art from her grandma in Japan. After apprenticing in a Sonoma County sushi spot in high school, Matsumoto journeyed north to attend Humboldt State and continued working in restaurants locally, including Hana (a Japanese fusion Eureka restaurant that closed permanently in 2020) and the Diver Bar & Grill.

As for Tamura, “Shin likes to say he was born in a restaurant in Japan, moved to California and continued growing up in a Japanese restaurant,” Obento’s website states. 

Like Matsumoto, Tamura also came north for Humboldt State, and, after they met, the partners realized they shared a fantasy of owning a Japanese restaurant.

“It had always been kind of a conversation, in the back of our heads,” Matsumoto recalled. “But then one day, we were like, ‘Hey, what if we actually, really tried to do this?’ Like, ‘What would our name be? What would our menu be like?’”

So, in 2019, Obento got its start in the City of Arcata’s Foodworks culinary facility, a site that’s spawned many iconic local businesses – from Humboldt Hot Sauce to Desserts On Us (creator of Lacey’s Cookies). 

Initially, the company catered lunches solely to offices – a business model made difficult by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered most workplaces the following year. 

After a period of closure and regroup, Obento re-opened in fall 2020 as a “ghost kitchen,” with customers placing orders over the phone, through their website or via DoorDash. The following year, the business moved into the Depot on Cal Poly Humboldt’s campus. 

“It’s cool to be connected to the campus and the students,” Matsumoto said of the return to their alma mater.

Matsumoto said that the university’s early closure this spring in response to student protests led to an unexpected loss of sales and product for Obento, giving her and Tamura an added push to find an off-campus location (a plan already semi-in the works). 

After Japhy’s, an Arcata mainstay for 25 years, announced their closure on Instagram – spurring a flood of comments such as “I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOUR CHICKEN CURRY” – Matsumoto said that the esteemed noodle spot’s former owners Josh and Miwa reached out to Obento about the open space. 

“They wanted it to pass on to a business they had confidence in,” she said. “We did tell the former owners that we would keep the mural, but we’ll probably do a little bit of painting on the other side and add more decor and lighting to make it our own.”

Along with lunch and dinner seating, the G Street location will continue to offer Obento’s signature grab-and-go, bento box-style dining, inspired by Japanese Family Mart-type stores and the “authentic and affordable” motto that has always been core to the business.

“A big reason we started Obento was to showcase that Japanese food doesn’t need to be so expensive. There’s a kind of thought process around going out to eat sushi that it’s kind of a fancy thing…And it really doesn’t need to be like that,” Matsumoto said. “Japanese people eat Japanese food all the time, every day, and there are a lot of dishes besides sushi that are delicious and inexpensive and that can be a little bit more casual.” 

“We have a lot of really great sushi places in town that have a sit-down feel and a lot of very fancy things on the menu,” she continued. “I think that side has been covered in Arcata.”

Obento’s Northtown location will create about ten new staff positions, according to Matsumoto, and the business will continue to serve at the Depot this school year.

“Good luck Maya and Shin,” Japhy’s wrote on Instagram, “We can’t wait to eat there.”