Daio WASABI FARM in Japan 🌱 | Exploring RURAL JAPAN by Bike on a Day Trip from Matsumoto

Today we’re visiting the largest wasabi farm in the world: the Daio Wasabi Farm located in Azumino just half an hour north of Matsumoto.

This was such a fun and easy day trip, plus we got to enjoy a taste of rural Japan. So join us as we spend the day cycling to the wasabi fields, learning to grate wasabi root, and trying wasabi ice cream. All in a magical landscape at the foot of the Japanese Alps!

🚆 Getting to Daio Wasabi Farm from Matsumoto 🚆
Take the JR Oita Line from Matsumoto Station to Hotaka Station. It’s a 30-minute train journey and costs ¥330.

🚴‍♂️ Biking to Daio Wasabi Farm 🚴‍♂️
Once you arrive at Hotaka Station, you’ll find 3 different bike rental shops right outside the station. Hire a bike for a few hours or for the day and cycle to Daio Wasabi Farm. It’s a 3-kilometre journey first through the town and then down farm fields. You can pick up a map at Matsumoto Station in the Visitor Centre.

🌱 Things to do at Daio Wasabi Farm 🌱
– Visit the on-site restaurant and grate fresh wasabi on your dish.
– Walk the paths that run through the wasabi fields.
– Visit the Hachiman Daio shrine and cave.
– Visit the watermills.
– Try wasabi ice cream.

#ruraljapan #wasabifarm #matsumoto

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Today we’re visiting the largest Wasabi Farm in the world the Dao Wasabi Farm located in azumino just half an hour north of Matsumoto this was such a fun and easy day trip plus we got to enjoy a taste of rural Japan so join us as we spend the

Day cycling to the Wasabi Fields it looks like a pretty chill Town not a whole lot of traffic so I think this will be easy learning to GRE Wasabi Roots here it comes here comes the Wasabi and trying Wasabi ice cream that is it real potent Wasabi yes all in this magical

Setting at the foot of the Japanese Alps all righty so we are here at Matsumoto station because today we’re going on a little day trip to a Wasabi farm and first we need to take a train and then we’re going to rent some bicycles so that is our plan Today so one thing to keep in mind is that you cannot use your IC cards uh on this line for the day trip we’re going on on the oo line so we bought tickets from the machine super easy to do you just have to search the name of the

Station you’re going to and you’re all set so we got a nice little pin as a gift at the station and we earned it by doing a survey from a very helpful volunteer who was helping us with our train tickets and she’s like we have a short little survey they’re basically

Just trying to improve tourism in the area um talking about the information for visitors and transportation and how they get through how to do the hiking and the mountain passes and so we answered that questionnaire and we got this cool little pin nice so yeah and we also found out some great information

About where we’re going because the L’s from there so we’re really excited to be going there and oh there’s a train I don’t think that’s us but I don’t Know to get to the Wasabi Farm we rode the Jr oo line from Matsumoto Station to hotak station it was a 30-minute journey to get there and the scenery was beautiful we traveled past rural Villages farmland and we even got our first glimpse of the Japanese Alps along

The way this was a really nice introduction to Nagano prefecture and we got quite lucky with the weather as well blue skies and sunshine perfect for a cycling Adventure so beautiful All righty so our update we made it to hotaka and we were able to rent bicycles right across from the station we are paying 900 Yen for 4 hours four precise hours four precise hours you come back on time you let us we picked it up at

1050 and we are to bring it back at 250 250 precise precisely so yeah we’re just going to start biking to the Wasabi Farm it looks like a pretty chill Town not a whole lot of traffic so I think this will be easy wonderful weather sunny but

Not too hot and I should also mention you can rent by the hour or for the day and if you’re looking to rent by the hour you can go for 300 by the hour or if you want to do the whole day 1,500 but we decided for The Sweet Spot of 4

Hours that should give us enough time to do lots and uh pay a little bit less yeah also I’ll mention they do have electric bikes those are just slightly a bit more but I mean if you’re going a very long distance and you want the extra help that’s a good option to Consider the journey to Dao Wasabi Farm was super easy we picked up a map in Matsumoto that showed a few different cycling routes in the area plus we had our Google Maps open so there was no getting lost it was maybe a 15 or 20

Minute ride it only took us a bit longer because we kept stopping for photos of the Mountains and the farm Fields okay time for a little update from the countryside yeah it didn’t take us long to escape that little town it’s not like we were trying to escape cuz it’s

Beautiful but we’re already out here in the countryside check this out we have rice fields we have some traditional houses and we have mountains in the background so this is awesome and we’re getting closer to the Wasabi Farm which is the main thing we plan to visit today

Yes and we’ve got wo check that out lots of hawks out today that’s Exciting so first stop at the Wasabi forum is a restaurant because you know us that’s just how it goes so we came to the restaurant and ordered some traditional dishes Sam got the Wasabi rice bowl and I got the soba noodles and we’ve just been given instructions on how to make Wasa

Mishy so you’re going to get the rice bowl you’re going to spread the Pickled Wasabi stems on the warm rice then add a small amount of soy sauce oh no out of order sorry Next Step you add your condiments uh dry Bonita flakes green onions shredded seaweed then you add a

Small amount of soy sauce and then freshly grated Wasabi so we’ve been given Wasabi this is this is what it looks like this you got to make it yourself so it almost it looks like like a root or I don’t know a piece of carrot yeah and they said in circular motions

Oh like so we’re going to go like yeah it kind of looks like a cheese what do look like when you’re done oh oh I’m going to have to do this for a while yeah so it’s just going to accumulates here eventually comes off and then we

Add it to our food fascinating yeah first time doing this yes first time seeing Wasabi so yep we are at the Wasabi Farm wow this is fun look at that and it comes here it comes here comes to Wasabi slow but Sure Okay so now that you’ve mixed the the rice the horn Wasabi machine yeah time to try it the four or five step process I’m really excited to try it comes up beautifully mixed all kinds of ingredients oh that’s delicious wow so many flavors and textures I really feel the potency of the Wasabi

I’m enjoying the bito flakes the Pickled Wasabi oh and also the the seaweed too the Nori it’s so tasty it’s like having it’s having it’s almost like having like like a gourmet fried rice but it’s not fried obviously just enhanced with enhanced with ingredients fancy rice and

You can add as much mavi as you want like I’ve got this much left so add it to your heart’s content did you overdo it or no that was about right I could probably even put a little more in to be honest nice yeah very good though B Appetit Oh Oh good idea cold soba noodles and we’re just going to dip them in this lovely sauce here with Wasabi of course yes I have to add Wasabi that’s real good I love the addition of Wasabi I think I’m going to add even more cuz I like that cake and

Cold noodles on a summer day it’s just wonderful it’s the perfect meal really holds you down especially after biking yes so I like this good food here all righty so this is the Wasabi field covered in a black mesh we’ve got a little explanation here in this sign

Apparently it’s because Wasabi is grown in the mountains and it likes 7 Days of shade 3 days of sunlight so they need to protect it from the summer sounds like me am I I’m the human form of Wasabi always looking for shade yes there you go yeah so it looks like it

Requires a lot of water there’s just water flooding these fields right now wow from May until October yeah May until October keep the water running temperature below 15° C Wasabi is finicki you guys who knew okay so now that we finished that fabulous meal it is time for price point

I will say this has probably been our priciest meal so far here in Japan and really it wasn’t even that pricey it was 2800 Yen and I mean we are at a major tourist attraction here and it was a lot of food so yeah if you’re going to be

Visiting the Wasabi Plantation be sure to check out the restaurant on site da Wasabi Farm is the largest commercial Wasabi Farm in the world covering 15 hectares the fields are constantly watered bya a network of small streams that flow down from the north Alps from May to October the

Fields are protected from the Sun by using black tarps clearly growing wasabi is no easy feet and you need to have the perfect growing conditions the da Wasabi Farm dates back to 1915 and aside from being a working farm it’s also a tourist destination with plenty to see so let’s show you around

Another attraction you’ll encounter is the doo Shrine a Shinto Shrine where the spirit of hachiman Dio The namesake and protector of the farm is said to be enshrined plus there’s a recreation of the Dio cave that is also related to The Legend of hachiman Dio The watermills and thatch Roo houses on the side of the river were built as part of the set for Akira kurosawa’s 1990 film dreams during the summer months you can enjoy a short Boat Ride On the River for a different view of the farm and to enjoy the natural [Applause] Surroundings Well we couldn’t leave the Wasabi Farm without trying the Wasabi ice cream this is the premium right here this is the real deal Friends check this out it’s a multicolor waffle cone it’s got the Wasabi ice cream and it has the big dollop of Wasabi which smells so potent

From here so I’m going to try it I’m going to be just a little bit Brave and take just a tiny bit of the wasabi and then the rest ice cream so check out my bite oh that is real potent Wasabi yes if you’re not if you don’t want to have

A spicy one you might want to scrape it off I’m enjoying that so this is a soft serve Wasabi ice cream super delicious and extremely unique I’ve never had a Wasabi ice cream I’ve never had a spicy ice cream before all right and to contrast I got the half vanilla

Half Wasabi there we go I thought straight up wasabi might be a little too much so I thought half vanilla to smooth it out a little bit I’d say that’s quite nice I don’t find the Wasabi too strong pleasantly surprised okay so time for some final

Thoughts on that visit to the wasab Farm yeah wow what a fascinating attraction it was completely different from what I had imagined it in my head when I was thinking a Wasabi Farm I just thought oh it’s going to be like this little rural farm and a little bit experiential but

It’s like it’s almost like a theme park very well equipped for tourists they have restaurants they have ice cream shops there was a lot to do as well we ended up kind of wandering around and hiking around the premises there were Lookout points where we could see the

Japanese Alps there was a shrine there was caves there was actually so much to do and so you could probably come here especially if you’re eating and spend 2 3 4 hours like half a day for sure easily here and as we’re walking over to the bikes we should mention are those

Our bikes yeah okay the attraction is actually free my favorite price of all time yeah but you know what by the time we by the time you have a meal there you have an ice cream you’re you know you’re supporting the business and spending money so souvenirs souvenirs yeah we saw

Lots of people there’s a really interesting gift shop so yeah people who come here they do tend to spend money on food drink souvenirs Wasabi so we are cycling back to the station and we’re going to take a little Riverside trail but first off we came across this Wasabi

Field right here it’s also covered with that black tarp to give it the shade it loves but so far this is turning out to be a lovely White ride yeah it is the road we’ve chosen to go back is even more Scenic less crowded not that it was

That crowded going there but this is just super quiet very rural and we got great Mountain views too got to love it and that’s a wrap of our day trip to the Dao Wasabi Farm in azumino we then pedal back to the station and arrived just before it started to rain this was

Honestly one of the highlights of our visit to Matsumoto so if you’re looking for an easy day trip with delicious food and epic views we’d highly recommend this one thanks for watching and see you in the next Video