I went to Daio Wasabi Farm in the city of Azumino, Nagano

With friends of mine, today I went to Daio Wasabi Farm in the city of Azumino, Nagano, the Prefecture situated next to Niigata Prefecture where I live. Taking an expressway, it took a few hours to get there by car.

Azumino Daio Wasabi Farm

Azumino Daio Wasabi Farm is the Japan’s largest wasabi farm and nationally famous as a popular sightseeing spot in Nagano. As for me, this was my 7th or 8th visit to the wasabi farm.

Alhough it was a weekday today, there were a lot of people visiting there. In the wide parking lot, quite a few cars from various areas in Japan were parked.

Soon after entering the wasabi farm, this food court with a roof welcomed us, where some food stands were selling various dishes and each had its specialty food featuring wasabi.

For example, this ice cream parlor’s specialty was soft ice cream with wasabi flavor.

Another shop was selling a wasabi-flavored croquette as a specialty. Actually, this food court is especially famous for these 2 wasabi-flavored specialty foods.

There was a souvenir shop right next to the food court, where you can purchase a wide range of foods using wasabi.

Passing through the souvenir shop, we reached the entrance to the wasabi field, where there was an information map so we decided where to go next.

From the place where there was the map, we had a distant view of the wasabi field and enjoyed the full picture.

When you head to the left side from the entrance, in a few minutes you can find the famous brook and water mills that appear in the film directed by Akira Kurosawa “Yume (夢 : Dreams)” (Amazon.com).

If you go to the right side from the entrance, you can soon arrive at the open space with a bronze statue of wasabi, next to which there were some restaurants.

One was serving buckwheat soba noodles with plenty of wasabi.

Another restaurant’s specialty was a rice bowl dish topped with hon-wasabi called “Hon-wasabi Don (本わさび丼)”.

After we enjoyed the sightseeing tour there, we left the farm and headed to a popular soba restaurant in the city to eat buckwheat soba noodles, where I ordered the above “Ten-zaru (天ざる : Tempura Zaru Soba)”. It tasted great!

After I came home from Nagano, I enjoyed the pickled wasabi that I purchased at the souvenir shop in Azumino Daio Wasabi Farm together with chilled beer. Today was a very satisfying day off for me!

If you have a chance to go on a sightseeing trip to Nagano, Azumino Daio Wasabi Farm is one of the must-visit sightseeing spots in the prefecture and I will highly recommend the sight!