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PAID CONTENT FOR KANSAI TOURI SM BUREAU
Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a thousand years, and it remains the capital of traditional Japanese gastronomy. Many chefs still look to the city’s rich culinary past for inspiration with their cooking today. To savour the city’s distinctive cuisine,
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head to Manshige Kyoto-style Cuisine — a traditional restaurant with beautifully designed rooms with tatami floors. The restaurant has been operating since 1937 and is now guided by a third-generation master chef. Here, visitors can dine on the signature simmered sea bream — once beloved by successful businessmen of the textile industry — or embark on a kaiseki banquet, in which an array of small and intricate dishes are shuttled to your table.
Poised midway between the modern metropolises of Osaka and Nagoya sits Soni, one of Japan’s most beautiful rural villages. This picturesque pitstop is home to scenic mountain trails and renowned pampas grass, used in ages past to thatch nearby rooftops. This region is the birthplace of urushi, a natural lacquer integral to Japanese crafts — a tradition that traces back to the Heian period (795-1185). Visitors can explore the expansive Soni
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Highland, home to a sweeping plateau covering 99 acres towards the base of Mt. Kuroso. Expert guides offer tours, sharing tales of local folklore and insights into conservation efforts. Later, visitors can relax at Okame-no-yu, a highland onsen (hot spring), for a rejuvenating retreat.
N A R A P RE F E C TU RE HIKE THROUGH HIGHLANDS
K YOTO C I T Y TASTE TRADITIONAL CUISINE
An essential component in many sushi and sashimi dishes, bluefin tuna can be as precious as gold in Japan — a single fish sold for £2.36 million in 2019. To see these tuna as they swim, head to
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Kushimoto, a town at the farthest end of the Kii Peninsula, with its harbour strung along a natural isthmus. Notably, this town was the first place in the world where Pacific bluefin tuna were successfully fully farmed. Visitors can feed the bluefin tuna here, weighing between 10kg and 40kg each. Afterwards, travellers can head south
to the Shionomisaki Lighthouse, located on Cape Shionomisaki — its blinking light stands sentinel at the southernmost point of Japan’s main island, Honshu.
Nothing to do with the Argentine dance of the same name, the Tango Peninsula is a thumb of land jutting out into the sea, crowned by emerald hills and edged by sandy coves. It’s well known for Tango Chirimen, an elegant silk crêpe that has been woven here for around three centuries, with the drumming of looms a rare disturbance to the serenity of this rustic nook. The silk weaves its way to all corners of
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Japan, with some 70% of the fabric used for all kimonos coming from Tango. The material is highly prized for its finely textured surface and its dye-ability. In the town of Kyotango, visitors can tour the Tayuh factory, which has been in business for almost a century. Here, the diligent work of master craftspeople can be witnessed.
K Y O T O P RE F E C TU RE LEARN ABOUT AGE-OLD CRAFTS
WA K AYAMA P RE F E C TU RE TASTE FRESH BLUEFIN TUNA
Below, from left: Shirahige Shrine on Lake Biwa; pilgrims making a journey to the temples in Shikoku. Opposite, clockwise from top left: Autumn fields of pampas grass in Soni Highland; fishing for tuna in Wakayama Prefecture; Tango Chirimen, a silk crepe woven in the Tango Peninsula; a traditional kaiseki banquet at Manshige Kyoto-style Cuisine, a restaurant in Kyoto City
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