Cooked rice from the fertile Odate Basin is pounded and formed into tubes. The tubes are placed on an Akita cedar skewer and cooked next to a charcoal fire. One traditional way to eat kiritampo is to brush it with a miso paste made with soybeans and rice. Hotpot made with kiritampo is also very popular. The meat of high-quality Hinai Jidori chickens and locally grown vegetables are added to a broth made with Hinai Jidori chicken bones for a hot, hearty meal.
Himaga Island is known as the “octopus (tako) island,” and visitors can enjoy looking for octopus characters on manholes and sundials throughout the town. The island is surrounded by reefs and is known for its abundance of seafood, especially octopus, which is delicious all year round. The taste of octopus is said to be sweet and does not become hard even after boiling, and many octopus dishes are available, including boiled octopus, sashimi, deep-fried octopus, octopus shabu, and octopus with vinegar.
Located between Ise Bay and Mikawa Bay, the fishing grounds Minamichita is blessed with boast one of the largest catches of whitebait in Japan. Spring and fall are the two delicious times of year, when the small but plump spring whitebait and the fatty fall whitebait have different tastes. Minamichita, with its many fishing grounds, continues to maintain high quality of Minamichita whitebait as exemplified by its fresh raw whitebait and processed products.
At 700 meters above sea level, Hakuba’s high elevation, cold climate, and clear, alpine streams together form a setting which imparts superior flavor to the locally grown buckwheat known as “Hakuba soba.” Flour ground from the soba is used in several regional specialties, and a soba festival is held every autumn. Soba noodles (often simply called “soba”) are served by numerous shops in town and may be eaten hot or cold. Hakuba locals will insist, however, that the crisp air of winter brings out the noodles’ best flavor.
Fruit trees growing apples, grapes, peaches, and other fruits are grown under favorable conditions, such as sloping terrain with good sunlight and drainage, as well as a large difference in temperature between day and night. In addition, the mineral-rich melt water from the Shiga Kogen Highlands, which is registered as a UNESCO Eco Park, nurtures these trees and produces sweet and delicious fruit. Enjoy the exquisite fruit produced by the land of the Shiga Kogen Highlands.
Sukagawa, Yamanouchi is located near the entrance to the Kita-Shiga Kogen Highlands, where buckwheat has long been grown and handmade soba noodles are served at celebrations and other occasions. Sukagawa soba, made from 100% local buckwheat flour and using the fibers of oyamabokuchi leaves as a thickener, has a strong texture and is served at soba restaurants and guest houses.Hard-boiled shredded daikon radish is mixed with buckwheat flour dissolved in water. It is called “Hayasoba” (fast buckwheat noodles) because the amount of daikon (radish) is larger than that of buckwheat flour, making it look as if it is cut into buckwheat noodles, and because it can be made in a short period of time. Sakae Village and Sukagawa in Yamanouchi Town are the only places in Nagano where it is made, and it cannot be found outside of the prefecture.
A galette is a crepe-like dish of French origin made with buckwheat flour. As the flavorful buckwheat flour produced in Hakuba is perfectly suited to galette, the Hakuba Galette was born, a regional specialty topped with local ingredients. This new dish is gaining popularity in hotels and bed and breakfasts around Hakuba.
Shinshu salmon is a new variety of salmon that crosses easily farmed, high quality rainbow trout with disease resistant brown trout, inheriting the strengths of both. It has beautiful silver scales and flesh with a delicate, melt-in-the-mouth texture and is getting attention as a fish that goes well with Japanese-Western crossover cuisine. Don’t miss your opportunity to try it while visiting Nagano.
On the Shimabara Peninsula, a hot spring resort area, there is a “onsen steamed food” that takes advantage of the hottest spring temperature in Japan. This is a popular local method of using hot spring steam to cook local vegetables and seafood in a healthy way. The “steaming kettles” in the Obama hot spring resort use hot spring water that rises to about 105°C (221°F). The food is placed in a steamer basket and placed in the kettle, where it waits for a while to be steamed until it is hot and ready. There are many restaurants specializing in steamed food in the area, and visitors can enjoy a variety of steamed dishes.
Kanzarashi is a traditional sweet that has been made in the Shimabara area in the past. It is said that “Kanzarashi” originated from the wisdom of the residents of Shimabara, who used to make dumplings from rice flour and eat them in spring water to keep the rice scraps from spoiling. The recipe for the honey used on the dumplings differs from household to household and from store to store, making it possible to enjoy a variety of flavors, which is one of the charms of this sweet.
