About two weeks after moving to Kurashiki City in late November 2023.
I wanted to meet others who had experience moving here, and maybe even enjoy some of Kurashiki’s delicious food… but I was so busy just getting used to daily life.
Perhaps seeing how overwhelmed I was, someone from the Kurashiki City Office’s “Kurashiki Relocation and Settlement Promotion Office” introduced me to a relocation experience event in Kurashiki City. The accommodation serving as the base for this tour was “DENIM HOSTEL float.” When I visited Kurashiki as a tourist in the summer of 2022, I stayed at this hotel and was moved by the delicious food and the leisurely pace of life. That experience was one of the reasons I decided to move to Kurashiki.
“I’d love to take part!” I readily agreed and joined the tour.
The information presented was current when this article was published in February 2024. Please note that it may differ from current information.
A journey to meet the people connecting Kurashiki’s “food × culture”
The journey to meet the people connecting Kurashiki’s “food × culture” took place over three days, from Saturday, December 9 to Monday, December 11, 2023.
The tour was organized by Kurashiki City, and came with attentive support from staff of TURNS, a magazine and web magazine that connects people interested in local communities and relocation with everyday life and the regions they live in. They accompanied the group throughout the tour.
Eleven people from outside Okayama Prefecture who were interested in moving to Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture took part.
The day’s itinerary
The Kurashiki Relocation Experience Tour: Journey to Meet People Connecting Kurashiki’s “Food × Culture” was a three-day experience of Kurashiki’s signature cuisine, from traditional foods rooted in everyday life to foods attracting attention as new local specialties. Participants were given the chance to experience the diversity of Kurashiki’s food culture and meet the people who preserve and share it.
I joined the second day’s program.
GRAPE SHIP
Our first stop was “GRAPE SHIP,” a natural wine winery in the Keio district of Funao, Kurashiki City.
Here, they make natural wine using Muscat of Alexandria grapes, which have been grown in Funao for more than 130 years.
On this tour, we got to try transferring the grapes used for wine into barrels and bottling the wine. The participants seemed nervous at first, but as they got used to the work, they began calling out to one another and working together.
The large grapes we usually eat are mostly water. By contrast, when grapes are pressed to make wine, it is apparently best for each grape to contain less water so that its flavor can be drawn out. For this reason, they are deliberately grown to be smaller.
The Muscat of Alexandria wine, made using only ingredients produced in Kurashiki, was wonderfully aromatic and truly deserved to be called “drinkable grapes.” It had a rich flavor and was delicious.
After the hands-on activity, we enjoyed the original spice curry at “pile,” the restaurant inside DENIM HOSTEL float, a hotel run by Yamawaki Yohei, co-representative of ITONAMI Inc. and the tour’s local coordinator.
The float staff put the finishing touches on the freshly made curry at the entrance to the winery. The three kinds of achar (Indian pickles and preserves) added a nice accent, and we enjoyed a variety of flavors by mixing the achar with the curry.
Kurashiki Cheese Kobo Harupal
After filling up on wine and curry, the participants headed to “Kurashiki Cheese Kobo Harupal” in Suyama, Tamashima, Kurashiki City.
Here, cheese is made using high-quality milk from Miyake Farm, a farm that has been run by three generations since 1958 (in May 2021, it received an Excellence Award in the 2020 China Region Quality Raw Milk Shipper Awards from the Chugoku Raw Milk Sales Agricultural Cooperative Federation). Representative Haruka Miyake was born and raised in Kurashiki, then went to university in Hokkaido to study dairy farming before returning to her family’s Miyake Farm. She has experience as a U-turn migrant.
This time, we tried making mozzarella cheese.
We were told that cheese is delicate, and its flavor changes depending on how it is mixed, the temperature and amount of hot water, and how it is torn apart. Everyone worked with great concentration. As we worked, the cheese became glossier and glossier—it was like magic and so much fun.
We also got to taste the cheese we made right there. The mozzarella topped with wasabi soy sauce, recommended by Miyake, was so rich it practically melted in our mouths.
Bikan Historical Area
Next, we headed to the Bikan Historical Area. This was free time, so everyone explored at their own pace.
We also happened to see some beautiful autumn leaves.
Bookshop “aru”
Before returning to the hotel, we also stopped by the bookshop “aru,” run by Yuka Akashi, who splits her time between Kojima in Kurashiki and Tokyo.
It was a time of day when we were starting to feel a little tired after a packed program, but the quiet space, with views of the calm Seto Inland Sea, soothed our hearts.
DENIM HOSTEL float
That evening, a networking event was held at DENIM HOSTEL float. Among those who came along were people who had moved to Kurashiki before us, including Akashi, the owner of aru.
The restaurant pile inside float had created a special menu for the occasion. It also featured mozzarella made by the participants at Cheese Kobo Harupal and wine from GRAPE SHIP.
Every dish was delicious and went perfectly with wine. We spent nearly three hours enjoying ourselves, gathered around those who had already experienced moving to the area.
From the Writer
This luxurious Kurashiki relocation experience tour let us savor Kurashiki’s food not just with our taste buds, but with all five senses. I was especially struck by how every producer and those who had moved here before us loved the city of Kurashiki and took pride in the products cultivated here.
In particular, the wine from GRAPE SHIP, the cheese from Cheese Kobo Harupal, and the dishes at pile that we visited this time were all handmade, one by one. I completely fell in love with the appeal of food that can only be experienced by living in Kurashiki.
GRAPE SHIP wine and cheese from Kurashiki Cheese Kobo Harupal are also available for purchase online.
If you’re interested, why not give them a try?
Kurashiki Relocation Experience Tour: A Journey to Meet People Connecting Kurashiki’s “Food × Culture” — Information
| Name | Kurashiki Relocation Experience Tour: A Journey to Meet People Connecting Kurashiki’s “Food × Culture” |
|---|---|
| Dates | December 9 (Saturday)–11 (Monday), 2023 |
| Location | Kurashiki Tamashima Kojima |
| Participation fee (tax included) | Participation fee: ¥10,000 |
| Website | Kurashiki Relocation Experience Tour: A Journey to Meet People Connecting Kurashiki’s “Food × Culture” |
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