Firefly

View Fireflies at Isshiki, Minobu town 身延町一色のほたる on YOUTUBE, shot by Yamanashi "Home of Mt.Fuji" Sightseeing Net 富士の国やまなし観光ネット

We can see fireflies(hotaru)蛍 (2 kinds as Genji-botaru & Heike-botaru) in Yamanashi from late May to late July, especially in June. We would be drawn into the fantastic scenery just as we see fireflies flying and lighting up. Moreover I'm sure there would be a lot of people who would think that the scenery overlaps the images of "Hotaru no Haka 火垂るの墓 (Grave of the Fireflies)". Many Japanese cannot help feeling nostalgia for good old days.

You will be able to see fireflies in Hokuto city, Nishikatsura town, Dōshi village & Hayakawa town from now.

- Photos on the web -
・Hotaru(firefly),Yamanashi 蛍,山梨 on Flickr

***** Reference data *****
The web site of Yamanashi "Home of Mt.Fuji" Sightseeing Net 富士の国やまなし観光ネット

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

Be with You (Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu)

"Be with You (Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu いま、会いにゆきます)" is a Japanese movie, which was released in 2004. This movie in which Yūko Takeuchi 竹内結子 and Nakamura Shidō II 中村獅童 played the leading roles was mostly shot in Yamanashi & Nagano Prefectures.

■You can buy the DVD from the below link.

Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu Standard Edition
*Region Code: 2 (Japan, Europe, Middle East, and South Africa only)

Specifically, the scenes in the sunflower (himawari ひまわり,向日葵) -field in full bloom which was shot in Akeno, Hokuto city, provide spectacular beauty(refer to the site of PHOTO CONTEST in Akeno/Hokuto city in 2008).
View Akeno Sunflower Festival on YOUTUBE, shot by Yamanashi "Home of Mt.Fuji" Sightseeing Net 富士の国やまなし観光ネット The festa is held from late July to late August every year. This year it'll be held from July 25 to August 31. We'll be able to see more than 300 thousand sunflowers.
Edit4 :
明野のひまわり畑　Akeno Sunflower festival. (HD) by AQUA Geo Graphic on YouTube

・Akeno, Sunflower 明野、ひまわり on Flickr

Edit3 :
Hokuto city's official site (Japanese / English / Korean)
※You may be able to get detailed informations of the Sunflower festival if you follow the following steps : Click the link "English" (at the top of the page) →　Click the link "English Translation of the Webpage powered by Google" at the middle of the page →　Click the link of the picture "Sunflower Festival 2009"

Then in Akeno, there are "Haiji-no-mura ハイジの村 (Heidi 's Village)" (Yamanashi Prefectural Flower Center), "OBSERVATORY of Institute for Cosmic Ray Research by University of Tokyo" and a lot of spots to get glorious view of Japanese-Southern-Alps. These facilities & spots benefit from the fact that Akeno has the best insolation conditions all over the country and we can have a lot of fine days throughout the year. In autumn, we can harvest Asao-Daikons(浅尾大根 a type of Japanese radishes), from which takuan (たくあん,沢庵 yellow pickled radish) is often made.
・Haiji-no-mura ハイジの村 on Flickr

View 　Sunflower-field & Heidi's Village in Akeno 明野のひまわり畑とハイジの村 on Google Maps

Edit : on local TV news broadcasts on June 12, it was reported that sunflower's seeds were sown on the grounds in Akeno on the day and its flowers would start in blooming in about late july.

Edit2

"Direction of the Southern Alps 南アルプス方面" shot by chipo at Prefectural Flower Center,
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.