I discovered this custom recently in Japan. Whenever a Japanese person moves into a neighborhood, that new resident makes a noodle dish for their new neighbors. This dish is called Hikoshi Soba (lit. Hikoshi-Moving Soba- noodles)
The origin behind this custom is that the word for noodles in japanese is "Soba". In addition to meaning "noodles", "soba" also means "nearby/next to/next door". Therefore, the new resident that moves into the neighborhood makes soba for the "nearby/next door" neighbors as a gift as a token of appreciation. So in this context, it's something like saying, "Thank you for allowing me to live here". You can see a picture of Hikoshi Soba in this article.
Hikoshi (pronounced like He-Ko-She)
Soba (pronounced like "so-bar" but minus the "r")
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