Don’t worry about pleasing your palate in this mountain community with its local sake, game meat, river fish, fresh produce, gohei mochi, and all the bounty of the area’s forests and clear waters. And don’t forget shopping at farmers’ markets.
01 Shitara’s long-standing brewery
Experience unpasteurized, undiluted sake sold by quantity and sake brewing itself
Sekiya Brewery has made Shitara Town home base since its establishment in 1864. The brewery may be best known for its Horaisen brand famous not only around Japan but around the world. Unpasteurized, undiluted source sake is available for purchase by quantity at the store and patrons rave about the service sealing your bottle right before your eyes. Plus, nearby Shitara Rest Stop even lets you take part in prepping your own sake brew or creating your own amazake, a sweet, low- or non-alcoholic sake, at its Horaisen Sake Laboratory.
02 River fish
Mouthwatering brand-name salmon and sweetfish from the clear streams of Okumikawa
Of the flavorful fish like salmon, red spotted masu salmon, and char swimming through the rivers of Shitara Town, the local Kinuhime Salmon brand is one you can’t afford to miss. Thick filets without any gamey taste and moderate fat define the salmon brand, known for its light flavor profile. Taste it for yourself at Shitara Rest Stop and Yagumoen Restaurant. Plus, you can grab ayu, or sweetfish, with your own two hands and relish its flavors salted and grilled in summer.
03 Game meat
Shitara: Not only a town but a kingdom of game meat like wild boar and deer
Ninety percent of Shitara Town is made up of forest which makes for much wildlife and abundant game meat. Savor quality cuts of meat, smoked meat, ham, and other game products available at Okumikawa Highland Foret Gibier’s shop, restaurants, and during dinner at different accommodations. Boar Hot Pots are a staple, local culinary masterpiece of Shitara Town in winter.
04 Fresh produce
Delicious vegetables thanks to an alpine difference in temperature with plentiful mushrooms and other bounty from the mountains
Tengu Eggplants, a traditional vegetable with a branch of the fruit protruding out like the long nose of legendary Tengu spirits of Japanese folklore; alpine tomatoes brimming with umami; and savory sweet corn are just some of the fresh, proud produce of this area possible due to a cool climate with varying warm and cold temperatures. Purchase these culinary wonders at rest stops and farmers’ markets or order dishes prepared with them at restaurants. And remember to add some of the Shitara area’s meaty shiitake and a wide variety of other mushrooms harvested from logs to your plate.
05 Gohei mochi
Tastings featuring miso, soy sauce, and perilla sauce differing by establishment
Gohei mochi is the soul food of the Okumikawa region. But what is it? Rice is mashed up and shaped onto a flat skewer before being slathered in a miso sauce and grilled. This fare takes its name from gohei, a religious Shinto tool entailing a wooden wand with zig-zagging rice paper hanging off it, which looks much like the skewered rice cakes. The sauce is a mixture of miso paste, soy sauce, and other ingredients differing by the eatery. Aguri Station Nagura Rest Stop uses a perilla sauce made from locally sourced perilla leaves in addition to its popular perilla soft serve ice cream.
