日本 日本家庭料理 美食之旅

This experience in Yawatahama completely was so memorable. We came to pick mikan and make marmalade and left with so much more. Yoko-san and Gen-san are incredible hosts. Their farm and restaurant are so special and you can see the care and effort put into growing and harvesting Mikan and making marmalade. Naomi-san’s English interpretation was great and let us connect with everyone beyond just learning the process. Our tour guides from Yawatahama tourism were also amazing. Everyone answered all our questions about the mikan, the marmalade making process, and the farm. Picking mikan straight from the trees and then turning them into marmalade was so fun and fulfilling. The food prepared fresh from the restaurant was delicious and picnic style meal overlooking the sea was lovely. The whole day felt relaxed, genuine and so authentically Japanese. We would love to come back again, hopefully during peak season in November. If you’re visiting Ehime or Shikoku, or honestly even japan in general, do not skip this experience. 🍊

The day trip with Tako was fantastic and delightful! Before the tour, she already shared many insights and detailed instructions on how to get to the meeting point. She was ever so curious, and we had no problem at all finding newer and newer topics to discuss about each other's cultures. The program is well-organised, and Tako has prepared additional materials to demonstrate Japanese culture – we learned so much about the blend of Shinto and Buddhism, sake and soy sauce making, the history of the country trails, and more. The ladies at the temple were charming, friendly, helpful, and generous. I felt so lucky and grateful to get to meet them and the story behind building such a strong community. We ate the best vegetarian menu set in Japan, with beautiful plating, which they guided us through each step. 🍱 I highly recommend this day trip to anyone who wants to move farther from the main tourist attractions to get indulged with more local stories, which may or may not include a half-eyed frog. 🐸 Thank you, Taki, for the experience! ✨

We had such a great time on this tour and had so much wonderful food. Hannah G. was an excellent guide! We were especially appreciative of her knowledge of vegetarian options. Also, she shared great tips on eating vegetarian as we traveled and even recommended a signature dish for the next prefecture we were headed to. And the tea surprise to finish the tour was such a special experience. Highly recommended.

We greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this experience to all citrus lovers. We received heartfelt welcome at the station and were taken to a farm of one of the local families, where we enjoyed a stunning view over the sunny hillsides full of mikan trees (you can see the bay and the islands), picked the fruits, squeezed and drank some of the fresh juice on the spot. Invited in a traditional, over 100 years old house of the family, we ate a delicious locally made bento lunchbox. Thanks to our translator we were able to comunicate effortlessly and learned about the culture. Later we were warmly received by local ladies in a community kitchen and were guided through the process of making marmelade from the fruits we picked. We used Haruka, a sweet refreshing yellow fruit. We also tasted Beni-Madonna, a locally developed mikan variaty with exquisite sweetness and softness. The ladies are members of the Japanese Marmelade Association and have won many awards. Of course, through their experience, our marmelade turned out a success! Therefore we were encouraged to try our luck at this year's competition. The last lucky guest won a silver medal last year! We even got fruits to enjoy at home and some more presents from the community. We cannot believe that this experience is so little known, it really is a hidden gem. It is very well organised, everybody is so kind and made us feel very welcome. Thank you, people of Yawatahama!

Ehime Mikan Picking, Marmalade Making is a wonderful opportunity to interact directly with a Shikoku mikan farming family and meet some of the welcoming folks living in the Yawatahama region of Ehime. About an hour by train southwest of Matsuyama, the experience includes the chance to pick and eat a variety of citrus fruits the region is famous for. The terraced orchard provided spectacular views of the ocean and small islands separating Shikoku from Kyushu. Under sunny skies, our hosts spread a tarp and mats on the orchard floor and we dined on a most delicious obento lunch box featuring regional specialties. These included a tempura of shrimp and vegetables, fried chicken with mikan juice and mikan rice balls. Following the harvest and lunch, we were chauffeured to a spotless commercial kitchen operated by the Yawatahama Ward office. There, the kind ladies of the community guided us through the marmalade making process and we bottled multiple jars using Haruka variety mikans. We were also invited to try other varieties created by some of the gold medal winners from last November's Dalemain World Marmalade Awards and Festival. Our product was entered in the "homemade division" for the next festival. Loaded up with our marmalade and several bags of fresh fruit, our hosts returned us to the train station. With the increasing popularity of Japan as a tourist destination, this is a special opportunity to get off the beaten path and away from the crowds to see the real Japan.

Aaron was a great guide! He knew lots of information about the history of ingredients and food preparation. We learned about spice preparation with some interesting anecdotes too. Be warned, do not eat before you go.

Yoko was our guide when we did the Tokyo Old Town tour and we had an amazing time! It was a lot of fun, we got to meet lots of great people and eat absolutely delicious food. I think the tea ceremony was a once in a lifetime experience, the tea bowl I drank from was over 180 years old! We also learn about dining etiquette and Japanese food in general from Yoko. We really enjoyed ourselves while learning and eating! Even though our whole trip to Japan was fantastic, thinking back on it we always say that this food tour was our favorite highlight.

We have been on a few different sized group tours and thought we wanted to try doing a private tour. When we booked this tour we thought that it wouldn't be a private tour but when we arrived we were happy to discover that it was! A nice surprise when we came early to the picup spot. We met Yoko who was our guide through Yanaka and the local shopping area. We tried different foods, sake, and a lunch with delicious sashimi!