My trip to Japan in January of 2019 was one for the ages. After spending three days in Tokyo, I traveled south and spent two days exploring both Kyoto and Osaka, before I headed back to Tokyo to explore the prefectures, or states, around the city. It’s one of my favorite adventures I’ve ever been on and I’m thrilled that I get to share this amazing country with you guys!
My first full day in the Yamanashi Prefecture began in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, which sits in the shadow of Mount Fuji. There, I began another freezing day with a trip to the Ide Sake Brewery, which is the only sake brewery in the Five Lakes of Mt. Fuji region!
The Ide Sake Brewery dates back over 300 years and 21 generations and used to produce miso before they started making sake. Sake-making dates back 2,000 years and began in Shinto shrines around the country.
There are only 1,200 sake breweries in Japan, and only 15 in the Yamanashi Prefecture. We visited the fermentation room, where they have giant barrels, each of which has a different sake in it. The room smells like fermenting rice!
They make 8 different types of sake at Ide Brewery. We then visited the holding tanks where they age the sake. The aging process is different than that of wine and whiskey. It takes 2 years and can be aged in either bottles or tanks.
Then it was time for the tasting. My new friend Haley and I started with a 40%, which was the best sake I’d ever had! The second one was also really great. I bought a bottle of each of their two best sakes at only $33 each for my wife, a sake cup and pourer, as well as a little sake barrel for my house!
Next, we headed to the Fuji-San Deck, an observation deck that looks out at Mount Fuji. We had to run because we were running late! It takes five minutes to get to the top. The view is incredible! They were the best I’d had so far during my time in Japan. You can also see other mountains and lakes in the area. It’s stunning!
From there, it was time for lunch at a houtou noodle restaurant called Houtou Fudou. The restaurant is beautiful and has two types of dining hall. On the left is traditional, samurai-style seating, and on the right is regular seating.
I started with inarizushi, which is sticky rice inside a deep-fried tofu pocket that has a sweet sauce on it. It was incredible. The sauce on the outside was almost like honey. I loved it with ginger and it was super filling!
Then it was time for the houtou! Houtou is a hot pot dish that consists of udon noodles and vegetables in miso broth that originated in the Yamanashi Prefecture. The noodles are huge, flat, and thick and it smells amazing! It comes with red chili flakes on the side, which I added to my bowl. The houtou was incredible!
I put a lot of spice in it, but it was still phenomenal, even if the size of the bowl was a little overwhelming! It was served boiling hot and also contained fried tofu, mushrooms, carrots, and more. It’s a nice, hearty meal that’s perfect for the winter!
The dish is so big because samurais would eat it before going into battle. It contained all the vitamins and nutrients they needed, and they wouldn’t eat again for another day or more, so they needed a filling meal. This was my favorite miso soup with noodles!
My lunch cost 1,500 Yen, or roughly $13.50 U.S., for both the inarizushi and the houtou. The houtou by itself is 1,200 Yen, or just under $11 U.S.
Then it was time to head to the station to catch another train to another Japanese prefecture!
I hope you enjoyed coming along with me as I explored more of the Yamanashi Prefecture! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up, leave me a comment below, and please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss any of my upcoming food/travel content!
The reason why this hot pot is so big is because the samurai, what they would do is they would
eat this before going to battle.
They would eat this, it gives them a lot of nutrients, all the essential vitamins they
need, and then they would go into battle.
Most likely they wouldn't eat for a day or two, you know, so they had to have a really
filling meal.
Good morning everyone, David Hoffman here from David's Been Here in beautiful Yamanashi
Prefecture, Japan.
Today I'm extremely excited because I'm going to start it off right here at Asaki Brewery.
Then from here I'm going to Observation Deck to see Mount Fuji, which is right over there,
and then after that we're going to eat some wheat noodle hot pot.
I've never been to Asaki Brewery, I love Asaki, I've never had wheat noodle hot pot.
It's really a special thing here in Yamanashi, and as you can tell, it's right now, it's
freezing, it is like 32 Fahrenheit, literally zero Celsius, and we're going to the Asaki
Brewery.
Let's go!
Amazing!
It's so cold!
I know!
Wow, so we're just like walking through the back of this village, it's really amazing
out here.
Wow, what are they doing?
So many things going on.
The brewery is back here somewhere, oh here it is.
We also have media here.
What's up man?
You good?
Alright, let's do this.
This brewery dates back over 300 years, and before they produced sake, they used to produce
miso.
This guy, the owner, he's the 21st generation, so like, it dates back, you know, great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
Really amazing.
And he was telling us that sake dates back over 2,000 years, the history of sake.
It started in Shinto shrines.
The monks there, like, started producing sake, and that's how it all started.
So you know, America has bourbon, France has wine, here in Japan, it's sake, rice wine.
And as you can see here, they have a lot of sake for sale.
I think I'm taking this bottle, because it looks so amazing, I think I need to give this
to my wife, because she's the best, and she deserves the best, because it's so good.
Now we're going to see the barrels in the brew house, is that what it is?
At first, we make sure we put this clean, and he's going to put some water.
Those breweries, 98% make sake in winter season.
If we make sake in summertime, there's many bacteria in the air, or water.
In Japan, there's only 1,200 breweries, or sake breweries.
In this prefecture, there's 15, and we're at one of the best.
So this is the fermentation room, as you can see, there's huge barrels, and each one is
a different sake.
Wow, this one is ginormous.
Wow, look at all that rice.
Beautiful, smells really sake.
Yeah, yeah.
It smells like fermenting rice, like it's a mix between rice and alcohol.
This brewery makes 8 different types of sake, and each one of these is a different stage
in the process.
This room is aging room, sake aging is in those tanks.
These are the holding tanks, and this is basically where they age the sake, and sake aging is
very different than wine and whiskey, it's six months to two years, and they have two
different ways, you can either do it in these tanks, or you can do it in bottles.
I mean, these are massive tanks, massive, wow, like inside the aging room, look at this,
wow.
Sake have two types of brew, one is Junmai brew, this one, other one is Honjozo brew,
sake have two types.
We're starting with Daiginjo, which is the best, 40%.
This is amazing.
So, I don't drink that much, and we're starting from the top.
Kampai, Kampai, Kampai, Kampai.
Oh my god, the best sake, ever.
Oh, that's really good.
It's so good.
That's really good.
Number two, Kampai, Kampai, Kampai, and this is Junmai Ginjo, this is the second best.
So, once you're done trying the sake, it's time to buy, right?
So, I'm going to get their two best, this one, and this one, and it's $33 for each bottle,
so $66.
I'm also going to get this guy right here for my house.
This is a sake, like, barrel, right?
Arigatou, arigatou.
Arigatou gozaimasu.
Thank you very much.
Arigatou.
Thank you so much.
So, I bought two bottles of sake for my wife, I bought a sake cup, a sake pourer, and I
bought a little mini barrel of sake, and what the cool thing is about the barrel is
that it's something I can put in my house, and it has, like, the logo of this sake brewery,
which dates over 300 years, I mean, what an experience, and it's really affordable, I
mean, $33 US dollars for the best bottle they have is extraordinary, because I go to any
winery in the world, and I feel like the best bottle is usually like $200, $300, $400, $500.
Same thing with, like, whiskey, port, even worse.
So I highly recommend, when you come out to Japan, if you're into, you know, alcohol,
into alcoholic beverages, you gotta try sake, you know, it's a tradition dating back over
2,000 years, and, yeah, let's go to the observation deck.
Okay, now we are heading for the Kawaguchiko Arboretum, and in this, they have a nice observatory,
so you see another beautiful view of the Mount Fuji.
We're gonna see the observatory here, get amazing views over Mount Fuji, but we literally
have four minutes, because we're really late for our next appointment.
Okay, let's do it.
Got a room up here.
Oh my god, I'm winded.
Wow, this place is beautiful.
Really beautiful.
Wow, there it is.
But we're not there yet.
Up.
It's called the Fuji Sundesk?
Fuji Sundesk.
Arigatou, arigatou.
Wow.
Five minutes?
It takes five minutes to get to the top.
Okay.
So this is the top of it.
Wow.
This is Mount Fuji.
Look at Mount Fuji.
Incredible.
So we are in the Fuji Kawaguchiko.
On the right side, you see the beautiful Kawaguchiko Lake.
It's a volcano lake.
Around 9th century, there is a big eruption, and they stopped the river, and they have
a nice lake.
And on this today, look at the beautiful Mount Fuji from here.
Yeah, I mean, this is definitely the best views I've gotten of Mount Fuji.
As you can see, you look over everything.
I mean, just clearly see it.
Beautiful.
So you see the top of Mount Fuji is full of snow right now.
We have a nice little wet, and like, you see mountains and mountains and mountains.
Over here, we have the beautiful lake.
We stayed right over there at the hotel, La Vista.
And it's just gorgeous.
We're like inside a valley.
It's really amazing.
And this deck is just perfect.
I mean, it's not so high, but it looks over all the trees from here to Mount Fuji.
So now we're going to lunch?
Yes, so Yamanashi, the Kawaguchiko is very famous for the hoto.
Hoto is a wheat noodle.
And it is said around there is a famous samurai, Shingen.
And he used to eat this hoto before he went to battle.
So let's go in the hoto restaurant.
And you see the big sign in here.
It's amazing.
Yes, and you can take a look.
The top is Mount Fuji, and that is representing the Kawaguchiko, the lake.
So let's go inside.
The restaurant has two different types of dining halls.
So here on the left, we have like the samurai style.
You know, take off your shoes and go down and sit like.
And then over here, we have like regular seating, you know, the chair.
And right here, we have our food.
Oh my god.
So it's a hot pot.
Woo, look at that.
Alright, so here we have Inari Sushi, which is basically like rice in the middle.
And then you have fried tofu with a sweet sauce.
I actually had it in Tokyo.
It's freaking amazing.
Look at this.
Here we go.
Mmm.
Oh my god.
It almost tastes like honey.
Honey with tofu and sticky rice.
I'm gonna add some ginger to it.
It's so good.
So good.
So I'm just gonna stuff it.
I stuff the ginger in there.
Pick it up like that.
It's really filling.
So amazing.
And this is the spoon for the hot pot.
Whoa.
Grab some of those.
Oh my god.
The noodles are ridiculous.
Look at that.
Oh my god.
They're huge.
Nope.
They don't want to get inside the plate.
In the little bowl.
Here we go.
Wow.
That's incredible.
Smells amazing.
Look at the size of these noodles.
They are like giant noodles.
This is something you get in China.
I've had a lot of this in China.
So we also have some like super red chili flakes here.
Oh my god.
And it comes with a little scooper.
That's good.
Wow.
The noodles are so thick.
It's amazing.
Wheat noodles.
The spice.
I put a lot.
People eat this whole bowl?
Of course.
They eat the whole bowl?
Yes.
The bowl is ginormous.
And what else is in here?
I see a piece of tofu.
Right?
Right.
This is tofu.
I'm a local.
Chinese cabbage.
Mushroom.
Wow.
Carrots.
Potatoes.
Green beans.
It's incredible.
And pumpkin.
But it's a little overwhelming.
The size.
The size is just like.
And then right here we have a nice piece of fried tofu.
That tofu looks delicious.
So this lunch cost 1,500 yen for the combination with the inari and the wheat noodle hotpot.
You can just get the wheat noodle hotpot for 1,200.
So $15 or $12.
I suggest the combination.
And let this like.
Like open this up and let it just chill because it's really boiling.
It's really hot.
So it's wheat noodles with mushrooms, tofu, vegetables in a miso soup.
Right?
Everything is miso because they produce miso.
Oh but it's still too hot.
Nice like that.
It's a really hearty meal.
Like especially for.
For this.
For winter.
You know?
The reason why this hotpot is so big is because the samurai.
What they would do is they would eat this before going to battle.
They would eat this.
It gives them a lot of nutrients.
All essential vitamins they need.
And then they would go into battle.
Most likely they wouldn't eat for a day or two.
You know?
So they had to have a really filling meal.
Go at it right?
The miso soup.
So good.
I mean this is my favorite like noodles with miso.
The best.
I'm gonna have one last noodle.
One last noodle.
Done.
Where are we going?
We're going to the station to catch a train.
Oh I need my sweater.
My jacket.
I'm freezing out here.
Alright guys.
So it has been an amazing day.
We tried some delicious sake at a sake brewery.
That was just phenomenal.
The taste there was just so different.
You know?
Coming straight from the brewery.
A different world.
Then we saw an amazing view of Mount Fuji from that observation deck.
And then we had delicious wheat noodle hot pot.
Samurai portion.
I mean ginormous.
What an amazing time out here in the Yamanashi Prefecture.
And I hope you guys love this video.
Because right now we're about to go to another state in Japan.
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I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Japan.
Peace.
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