Akita, Yamagata, and Niigata Prefectures are all prominent rice producers in Japan. Visitors to the Uetsu area are welcomed by the sight of beautiful rural landscapes where this rice is produced. Here you can enjoy delicious rice made by the natural fresh air and clear waters of the land.

The “tsuyahime”, “koshihikari”, “hitomebore”, and “haenuki” varieties of rice all get their roots from the “kame no o” (literally “Turtle’s Tail”) variety. This variety of rice was cultivated in the Meiji period by farmerKameji Abe. Recently, the rice has been getting praise for its use in sake brewing, leading to its use by sake breweries all over the country. The rice is known for its grains that don’t lose flavor easily, making it the variety of choice for Koikawa Brewing and over 30 companies across Japan brewing a type of sake called “ginjoshu”. Sake made using Turtle’s Tail is also exported to Europe and North America.

In the center of Shonai’s plains lies the town of Mikawa. Two-thirds of Mikawa’s land is made up of farm fields. The town of Mikawa presents the treasures of these fields, which are perfect for those who wish to use Furusato Tax, a tax reduction given to taxpayers who donate to local municipalities.

Nikaho City is known as the northern limit for fig production. Found in the Otake region near the base of Mt. Chokai are the white zenoa variety of figs. Known for their small size and resilient fruit flesh that doesn’t burst even when cooked, they are often made into candied figs. In recent years, the area has cultivated figs that can been eaten raw in their ripest stage.

Kanakabu turnips are cultivated using the slash and burn agriculture, in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The resulting layer of ash provides the fertilization for the turnips to grow into their unique horn shape. They have a peculiar sharp taste and a chewy texture. They’re mainly sold in a pickled form between October and January.

The sakura masu is known as the fish that signals the start of spring and can often be found at Shonai area spring festivals and celebrations. The standard sakura masu dish, Niramasu, is sakura masu garnished with boiled Chinese chive.

Wakame can be enjoyed all year, but it’s peak season is in spring. Because every household harvests wakame at the same time in the middle of March, the village becomes enveloped in the smell of the wakame shores. Each household in Awashima cultivates wakame, and when November comes, they wrap ropes in wakame seedlings and cultured until spring. Wakame is delicious in miso soup, but it can also be quickly boiled and used in wasabi soy sauce, as well. It can be enjoyed at every restaurant and inn, or it can be bought as a souvenir at local shops.

This shrimp’s meat has good flavor, and can be eaten as sashimi or sushi, roasted, fried or in miso soup. Because it doesn’t stay fresh for long, this rare shrimp doesn’t really appear in markets, usually only being found fresh in local areas.

The peak season for oysters in this area is the middle of summer. The Sea of Japan receives water from underground loaded with minerals, making the oyster meat plump and richly flavored. You can enjoy freshly caught oysters at fresh fish shops and roadside stations during this season.

You can find ego seaweed washed up on the shores of the Sea of Japan. In summer, you’ll often see ego in it’s sun-dried form, which is taken and prepared into the local dish, “egoneri” (called “okyuto” in Kyushu). You can taste the aroma of the seashore as you eat it at local restaurants and inns, and you can also buy it packaged at local shops.

This squid makes its way up north from Kyushu and can be found in herds in the Sea of Japan from May to July. Because of this, it’s also called the “summer squid”. Squid that are found on the coasts of Shonai during the start of summer are still young and growing, so their bodies are soft and delicious.

In autumn, you can view salmon migrating upstream at Kawafukuro River (Nikaho), Ushiwatari River (Yuza), and Miomote River (Murakami). You can also enjoy several types of seasonal salmon dishes in each of these areas.

Dongara is the taste of winter in the Sea of Japan area. In this area, plump cod caught from the freezing waters are put entirely into nabe hot pot soup. Because the cods entire bodies and carcases (“gara” in Japanese) are put into the soup, it’s known as “dongara soup”. There are also many events that can be enjoyed during the winter revolving around dongara.

Shonai’s natural torafugu (tiger globefish) are caught using a special method that doesn’t harm the body of the fish. Fish that don’t meet the size standards are set free, protecting the land’s resources. Along with Dongara, the torafugu caught using these thorough methods are also one of the Shonai area’s top winter dishes.

These Japanese sandfish spawn in late fall and make their way to the sandbars in large groups. They are eaten baked with sweet miso coating, or boiled with soy sauce on top.

Buri (Japanese amberjack) can be enjoyed every year from April to December, but the most delicious kind is winter’s “kanburi”. The sight of fisherman braving the cold and raging winter waves holding a single fishing pole really makes for a compelling sight! The large kanburi who swim through these rough winter waters have a very rich flavor. There are also uncommon giant kanburi. If you’re really lucky, you might be able to eat one at a local inn.

Sakata’s many French restaurants have given birth to the name for the area’s French cuisine, “Sakata French” The start of French cuisine in the area was in 1967, when the son of a distinguished family, Kyuichi Sato, wanted to start a French restaurant in Sakata and invited chef and coworker at the Tokyo Nissay Theater, Masahiro Oota, to return to Sakata with him to open the restaurant.

And with that, a new genre of French-esque cuisine made with local Shonai ingredients was born. The fresh Shonai ingredients have attracted famous food critics like Takeshi Kaiko and Saiichi Maruya to the area, making Sakata French known across the country. Even now, master chefs are continually creating new ideas and recipes, ensuring the Sakata French culture will live on.

Sakata’s ramen got its start in 1927 when a Chinese immigrant opened a Chinese ramen restaurant. The techniques for making this ramen were learned and handed down until present day. 80 percent of Sakata’s ramen shops use hand-made noodles, and just about every restaurant uses a high water to wheat flour ratio (about 40 percent water). This gives the noodles their characteristic plump and springy texture. The soup is a clear, soy based broth, and often includes dried sardines, fried flying fish, and konbu seaweed.

THINK SAKATA NO RAMEN ASSOCIATION
http://www.sakatano-ramen.com/

Shonai is well known for its rice, but also well known for its sake. Every July, all 18 sake breweries in the Shonai area hold a sake festival. Here you can sample over 100 varieties of local sake, as well as seasonal foods that go well with sake at food booths, making it a popular family trip in the summer.

At this event you can try many of Nikaho’s seafood, including iwagaki oysters, and enjoy stage events, panels, and food booths. You can try grilled iwagaki oysters, or even grill for yourself in the grilling space, as well as many other fun activities.

This event celebrates the release of the Tsuruoka Asahi area’s specialty product, Gassan wine, made from mountain grapes, as well as the various improved varieties of the grape. Here you can enjoy first-rate red, white, and rose Gassan wines, as well as mountain grape juice.
There are casks of wine and grape juice placed everywhere inside the venue, and everything is all-you-can-drink. Pour a glass of wine straight from the cask while enjoying the barbeque to your heart’s content.
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“Ichijiku Ichi” is an event focusing on local businesses that started in 2016. Besides ichijiku figs, you can find the best coffee shops, food, and crafts within and outside of the prefecture all in one building.

The town of Yuza has been home to salmon incubation business since the Meiji period. From early October to late December, tens of thousands of salmon make their way up the rivers to lay eggs. The Sake no Tsukamidori Taikai event lets you experience this phenomenon firsthand. 300 salmon are released into the Kasen Park Canals located behind Yuza Middle School, where you can try catching the fish by hand. Every year children come with their parents and enjoy the challenging ”scuffles” with the vigorous salmon. The venue also sells salmon soup and salmon cooked in outdoor ovens.

At this event, you can enjoy eating Sekikawa’s fine food in a Meiji period mansion. The Nationally-designated Important Tangible Cultural Property Watanabe Residence “Toukeien” provides homemade cooking using carefully selected local ingredients. The food served is usually eaten during special celebrations and events in Sekikawa. Experience Sekikawa’s luxurious, traditional culture and food while viewing the falls leaves in the garden.

This festival gives you the chance to try Tozawa village’s limited soba handcrafted by top soba artisans. The “Tozawa Seasonal Market” that runs at the same time showcases Tozawa local autumn products such as mushrooms, fall vegetables, processed goods, and more. They also offer a free taste of the local Nameko soup.

At this festival, you can enjoy the taste of winter in the Shonai area, Kandara soup, made by putting entire cod fish into boiling soup. Eating the hot soup outdoors makes it even better. In Sakata, the sake festival runs at the same time.

This strange festival got its start approximately 300 years ago in the Genroku era. On this day, shipowners, praying for safety on the seas and a large catch of fish, carry about 10kg of caught kangara cod fish from Konoura Port and walk 2 kilometers to Konourayama Shrine to give the fish as an offering. After the offerings, cod soup booths and other festivities are held.

This all-you-can-drink sake tasting event is held by 11 breweries in the Kan Chokai region (Yurihonjo, Nikaho, Sakata, Yuza) that wraps around Mt. Chokai.

When you think of winter in Murakami, the first thing that comes to mind is salted salmon. Every year you can see the salted fish hanging from under the overhangs of roofs on every house, creating a “salted salmon road”.
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Salted salmon and other processed sea products caught from the Murakami area of the Sea of Japan are sold for reasonable prices here. The approximately 1,000 salted salmon fish sold here draw big crowds of customers.
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The Ooyama district is a historical sake brewing area blessed with quality rice and water. Prospering under the shogunate in the Edo period, there are still four big name breweries (Fuji Brewing, Kato Kahachiro Brewing, Watarai Honten Co.,LTD, Haneda Brewing) that still brew sake in the area. On the brewery tours, you can tour the four breweries while trying new and reputable sake varieties to your heart’s content. There are long lines to get in every year. Events such as the “Enjoy Ooyama’s New Brew of Sake Event”, which lets you enjoy local cuisine while drinking a new brew of sake, and the “Ooyama Four Breweries Top Selection”, where you can try the top sake by each brewery, are also held.

The Tsuruoka Food Culture Market, located in Japan’s only UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, is where you can eat the city’s local cuisine at first-rate restaurants and shop for fresh local ingredients. Cooking classes taught by top chefs from specialist shops and other seasonal events are also held both indoors and outdoors.
Tsuruoka Food Culture Market FOODEVER
http://foodever.info/
Tsuruoka Creative City of Gastronomy Promotion Committee
http://www.creative-tsuruoka.jp/