Aizu region is one of the leading areas for sake production. Aizu’s climate, and the fact that it was the castle town of the Aizu clan in the Edo period have contributed to the growth of Sake making in the area. Each distillery keep honing their skills and they have won the gold medal at the Annual Japan Sake Awards. There are a number of high-quality, award-winning distilleries and ther sake in Aizu.
Dengaku is a signature dish of Aizu Wakamatsu. Ingredients like konnyaku, fried tofu, mochi, satoimo are skewered, glazed with a sauce of akamiso, sugar and yakumi spices, then grilled over a charcoal fire.
Here at Wado Farm, you can enjoy picking various brands of strawberries like Amao and Kaorin. Using organic soil, their focus is their customers’ health and safety. Enjoy the literal fruits of labor by farming professionals who have been studying and researching organic soil for years. Also, they provide grape picking of Yama Ruby, which is Chichibu’s own brand of grapes. Please visit their website for more information.
Miyamotoke is a farmhouse of the Miyamoto family that’s been around since the Edo period. They renovated the house and turned it into a farmhouse-style hotel where you can have an immersive experience in farming. You can observe historic artifacts from the Sengoku and the Edo period in their gallery. Besides participating in an immersive farming experience, there is a Goemonburo, a traditional Japanese-style bath, so you can fully experience the lifestyle from the old days.
This is a magnificent winter natural object created by spring water frozen by the winter cold where appears near the headwaters of the river. Some viewpoints such as seen from suspension bridges, while it illuminated, it can be enjoyed by variety of perspectives. Please be careful when you moving by car while the road were freezing over.
NIPPONIA – a Japanese-style old house/storage house renovated and turned into a hotel. With no TV or clocks in the rooms, it’s reminiscent of the old days and you can take a break from busy city life. From beams, interior decoration to furniture, they’ve been kept intact for over 150 years and they have a remarkable old feel to them. The hotel has a café and a French restaurant that uses locally produced ingredients.
The immersive amusement park is located in the Chichibu Valley. You can enjoy various thrilling activities – walking across Canyon Walk, which is a bridge built with wires and woods, or Canyon Bungee, where you can experience the 50-meter jump, etc. Also, they offer footage of your experience recorded by a drone.
River boating down the Arakawa River in a Japanese-style boat manned by a skilled Sento-san (boatman) is one of the best ways to truly experience Japanese nature. You get to watch the mountainous scenery while the boat hits occasional rapids – it’s almost like rafting. In the winter, slow and calm rapids offer you a relaxing experience. The boats in the winter are equipped with kotatsu, which keep you warm while you enjoy the famous Iwadatami.
Hitsujiyama Park, a popular spot in the spring is about 500 meters away from Seibu Chichibu station, a terminal station in Chichibu. Since the park is built on a hill, you can view the city of Chichibu. In the spring, 10 different shibazakura (moss phlox) come in full bloom and paint the ground in various shades of pink.
This festival, which was registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016 with a history of 300 years, colored the nights of Chichibu with spectacular floats and fireworks. There are numerous legends about the origins of the festival, including that it is an annual meeting between the female deity of the shrine (Myoken Bosatsu = female deity of the Big Dipper and patron god of sericulture) and the male deity of Mount Mukou (Ryujin = male deity of water). Another legend has it that the festival is a way of returning the water that brought about a good harvest to the mountain (Mt Mukou). Fireworks and colourful floats brighten up the night in Chichibu.
