Kaiji & Kyoho

Kaiji 甲斐路 & Kyohō 巨峰 grapes

A bunch of grapes

Kobaiyaki

Kōbaiyaki 紅梅焼 which has rustic sweet taste is a Japanese traditional snack and something like a large soft biscuit, and appears in Botchan 坊っちゃん which was written by Natsume Sōseki.



At Takekawa Kashi-ten 竹川菓子店, you can buy fresh-baked Kōbaiyakis.

In the vicinity of the shop, there are some spots associated with Dazai Osamu.

■View Kōbaiyaki 紅梅焼 on Google My Maps

PLUMS

In Yamanashi, plums (Sumomo すもも 李) can now be picked. The yield of plums in Yamanashi takes up 30% of that in Japan.

GRAPES IN THE RAIN

YAMANASHI PEACH CAFE (Shinjuku, Tokyo)

"Yamanashi Momo(peach) Cafe やまなし桃カフェ" opens, for a limited time only, from today to 31th July at Shinjuku Southern Terrace shop 新宿サザンテラス店 of TRAVEL CAFE. You can eat a parfait and drink juices & cocktails, made from peaches grown in Yamanashi.

■HOURS : Weekday & Saturday 10:00～23:00 / Sunday & National Holiday 10:00～22:00

■MENU
Day Time Menu
Night Time Menu(17:30~)
(Japanese versions only)

■View Yamanashi Momo(peach) Cafe やまなし桃カフェ on Google My Maps

PEACH

My neighbor gave me & my family a lot of peaches last night. This is my family's first time eating peaches this year and we are thankful for the neighbor.

I heard that these peaches were unsalable to consumers due to the irregular shapes, sizes and (though very small) blemishes. The taste, color and smell are very fine and no problems at all....

CHERRY

Yamanashi is a kingdom of fruits. Grapes, peaches, Japanese persimmons...etc. In these fruits of Yamanashi, cherries have the earliest harvest period. Every year, they are picked from early June.

My friend who is a fruit farmer in Minami-Alps city sent the cherries in below picture to me today.


This year's cherries are very sweet & juicy. I would like you to eat the cherries in Yamanashi. There are a lot of farms which have U-Pick sweet cherries in Yamanashi. Please come to Yamanashi!

RICE

Rice is made throughout Japan. Especially, Koshihikari from Uonuma in Niigata Pref is famous as the high brand rice, but rice from Yamanashi also has received nearly-equal rating at rice fairs. However, because its shipping volume isn't very large, people in other prefectures have less opportunity for eating it.


Mukawa-mai 武川米


Boiled rice of Mukawa-mai

I & my family have eaten Mukawa-mai 武川米(rice from Mukawa) for several years. Mukawa is one of towns in Hokuto city, where there are fertile soil & abundant supply of mineral-rich water from Southern Alps.

- Photos on the web -
・Mukawa-mai rice festival, Hokuto city 北杜市むかわ米・米まつり, taken by hokuto tourism association's photostream, on Flickr

Chuo Line

"Super Azusa", shot by DD51612. This work is licensed under a GNU Free Documentation License.

When you come from Narita (international airport) or Tokyo to Yamanashi, it is convenient to use the railway of Chūō Line (Chūō Main Line) and highway express buses.

The Chūō Line runs between Tokyo and Nagoya, but it is much slower than Tōkaidō Shinkansen and Tōkaidō Main Line because it runs through the mountain region. Kōfu can be reached in about one hour and a half by the Limited Express "Azusa", "Super Azusa" or "Kaiji" train from Shinjuku Station, which is main connecting hub for rail traffic between central Tokyo and its western suburbs and Yamanashi & Nagano Pref. With luck, you might be able to see beautiful scenery from a train window.

There are many tunnels on the railway, some of them are more than 100 years old. Therefore, some old ones was replaced with another new ones. And now one of unused tunnels has been reborned as "Katsunuma Tunnel Wine Cave 勝沼トンネルワインカーヴ".

SUSHI & MAGURO

Maguro まぐろ 鮪(tuna) is one of the most common sushi items and I love it very much. In Japan, it is appreciated not only as sushi nigiri but as sashimi, chirashizushi, donburi (for example, kaisendon 海鮮丼, tekkadon 鉄火丼) & onigiri おにぎり (for example, tuna-mayo ツナマヨ tuna & mayonnaise).

In Yamanashi, there are a lot of fine dining and belt-conveyor sushi restaurants. Though Yamanashi pref. holds no ocean coast, the prefectural capital, Kōfu, is No.1 city in Japanese prefectural capitals in terms of the average annual amount, per household, of maguro that had been purchased (2003-05), according to Yomiuri Shinbun Newspaper. That reminds me, my grandpa & grandma also used to eat maguro sashimi very often.

Please come to Yamanashi to eat good maguro dishes.

Sushi restaurants in & near Yamanashi - Google Maps

Wagashi

Wagashi 和菓子 is a traditional Japanese confectionery. This time, I'll introduce to popular and folksy wagashis that we can get in Yamanashi.


Daifuku だいふく (大福)


Kusamochi くさもち (草餅)


Kuzu[Kudzu]mochi くずもち (葛餅)　---　There are some types & shapes. (refer to the different type) Kuzumochi is made from kudzu starch.

These fillings are an[ko] 餡[子] (sweet bean paste).

You can get these wagashis 和菓子 at the following wagashi shop on Asahi-Dōri shopping street 朝日通り商店街 , Kōfu city.

View Wagashi shop 和菓子屋 on Google My Maps