We are currently working on a project to create a tour of Minamiboso City, Chiba, focusing on gastronomy. Titled “Minamiboso gastronomy experience program to witness the essence of Japanese food culture,” the project aims to introduce Minamiboso City’s local food culture, rich with seafood, and as a part of it, we invited our international members on a two day trial tour (September 10th – 11th).
The tour’s highlight was a special “Shijo knife ceremony” which has been held since the Heian period (794-1185) at Takabe Shrine, the one and only shrine in Japan dedicated to the God of Culinary and Cooking. Participants also enjoyed going on a local fisherman’s boat, fish, cook the fish they caught into traditional Japanese dishes and enjoy them themselves! They participated in a gibier (wild game meat) experience, where local wild animals that damage local crops are eaten as gibier meat, and also enjoyed a hakko (fermented) food workshop to learn and experience the process of making fermented food like miso and shoyu, which are deeply rooted in Japanese cuisine.
The tour included enjoying local food, such as a special lunch menu using local aji (horse mackerel), organic dishes using locally grown vegetables at a historical house built 300 years ago.
Throughout the tour, participants were able to learn about the food culture of Minamiboso from the locals, and made them understand how the Japanese appreciate food, and give them a moment to think about how our daily food is prepared. We were able to confirm that gastronomy in Minamiboso has the potential to become a tour that will let participants experience the Japanese way of thinking about food.
Based on the feedback we received, we will improve the contents of the trial tour to make it more enjoyable, and introduce it to the world soon!
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We are welcoming “international members” who can participate in our trial tour like this one!
If you’re interested, please register from below.
https://wawojapan.co.jp/en/monitor-form/
