Sawataya

One of my favorite overnight trips from Tokyo is to Kofu in Yamanashi, west of Tokyo. Yamanashi is famous for Fuji san (Mount Fuji), wine, big blue skies, mountains, fruits like grapes and muskmelons, and great local dishes like hoto noodles, basashi horse sashimi, and simmered chicken offal.

Kofu city is easy to navigate and much can be visited by walking. Sawataya is a traditional confectionery sweets shop that is part of our ritual when visiting Kofu. There is a café and retail shop. In summertime we get a kakigori shaved ice. On this visit we could try a cool fermented beverage made with fermented azuki beans and koji with grapes. We picked two sweets to enjoy including their signature kurodama black ball filled with a sweet green bean paste made from uguisu beans. 

On this day there was a cool food-themed art exhibit on the second floor. Drawings by #ItsuoKobayashi and sculptures by Yamanashi artist #EriSakamoto.

Sawataya @sawataya

Yamanashi-ken, Kofu-shi, Chuo 4-3-24

Sawataya is also just down the street from the famous Inden shop which has been printing cool designs in lacquer on deerskin to make bags, wallets, and more. 

Inden 

Yamanashi-ken, Kofu-shi, Chuo 3-11-15

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