Outland Japan

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In Episode 39 of the podcast we travel to the deep snow country of Minami-Uonuma to speak with Kuwakino Keiko. Keiko is the head chef of Sanaburi, the Michelin-starred restaurant within the renowned hotel, Satoyama Jujo. Awarded that Michelin-star in 2020, Keiko has since gone on to receive a Terroir Award and a score of 15.5 by Gault Millau in 2022 while also nominated as one of Japan’s 100 Best Chefs. Keiko’s acclaimed cuisine draws on the traditional plants and methods local to the Minami-Uonuma area, with ‘sansai’ (mountain / wild vegetables) and ‘tsukemono’ (pickled / preserved vegetables) being fundamental to the seaonsal menus she serves to guests.

In the first half of our chat we explore Keiko’s own story and her journey to becoming head chef at Satoyama Jujo before delving more fully into the principles and methods which underpin her cooking and the cuisine she serves in the second half of our chat. In telling Keiko’s story and exploring the principles which underpin her cooking, I hope to promote the fact that some of Japan’s best gastronomic experiences lies outside the cities.
Minami-Uonuma has long been renowned rice and sake – indeed, we have already travelled here on the podcast in Episode 24, Hakkaisan Brewery: Snow-Aged Sake & Beer from Powder Mountain – along with its heavy snow and abundant natural landscape. For more information, follow Keiko via her Instagram or visit the official Satoyama Jujo website. I hope you enjoy.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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Episode 27 of the podcast takes us back to Yamagata Prefecture and onto Tsuruoka, a city known for its diverse and rich traditional food culture. In 2014 Tsuruoka was designated a UNESCO ‘Creative City of Gastronomy’ in recognition of that food culture including continued agricultural practices and use heirloom crops and wild plants foraged in the forests and mountains, along with creative use and contemporisation of those gastronomic practices. It was the first city in Japan to be awarded the status yet it remains relatively unknown (including for many Japanese).

In exploration of Tsuruoka’s food culture, in this episode I speak with Alexis Crump, Coordinator for International Relations of the Gastronomy Department in Tsuruoka. As Alexis and I discuss, the gastronomy of the region is reflective of its varied topography, with different food cultures and distinct areas existing within the UNESCO designation awarded to Tsuruoka.

Six distinct areas including Tsuruoka, Atsumi, Asahi, Kushibiki, Haguro and Fujishima account for the area generally referred to as Tsuruoka City, and each have their own food culture. Tsuruoka’s mixed landscape coastline, plains, forest and mountains is reflected in its varied gastronomy which takes advantage of the food available in each environment.
As we discuss in the interview, Tsuruoka offers visitors many reasons to visit in addition to its celebrated food culture. To learn more about what’s on offer, visit the official Tsuruoka City website for information about the region’s many attractions, festivals, hot springs and accommodation. You can also find images, a map of where Tsuruoka is and links to everything we discuss on the episode page of the Snow Country Stories Japan website.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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Episode 35 of the podcast takes us to Shiga Kogen Highlands in Nagano Prefecture. Declared a UNESCO Biopshere Reserve in 1980, Shiga Kogen is an alpine landscape which includes major peaks such as Mount Shiga and Mount Kusatsu-Shirane – one of Japan’s most active volcanoes – renowned for its biodiversity, wetlands and distinct seasonal beauty.

In this episode I speak with Yokota Shinji – a talented landscape and nature photographer who regularly accompanies guests into the alpine landscape of Shiga Kogen. He provides nature tours, photography tours and workshops for both Japanese and English-speaking guests and as such is an ideal person to accompany us to Shiga in this episode.

Shiga Kogen Highlands sit within Joshinetsu Kogen National Park and will of course be familiar to many listeners as the ski resort of that name – Shiga Kogen Mountain Resort – is the largest ski resort in Japan – something we covered in Episode 13 of the pod while nearby Shiga Kogen Brewery – something we covered in Episode 6 of the pod - takes its name for this area of the mountains. Today’s chat is however all about the Biosphere Reserve. Shiga Kogen Highlands is one of ten UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Japan, a global system of reserves awarded that status in recognition of their biological diversity and as models of mutual beneficial relationships between people and nature.

For more information and to view Shinji’s beautiful photography, please visit his website and follow him on Instagram and his YouTube channel. You can also find more information, including how to get there, at the official Shiga Kogen Highlands website along with Shinji’s images on the episode page of the Snow Country Stories Japan website.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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In Episode 29 of the podcast we return to Niigata Prefecture and onto Niigata City to speak with Jenya Yuss. Jenya works for Edge of Niigata, a travel company based in Niigata City and operating tours and experiences in the city and wider prefecture. As such she’s an ideal person to introduce to the story and the reasons to visit Niigata.

When Japanese think about the snow country, Niigata is one of the first prefectures to spring to mind. Subject to very heavy snowfall, Niigata is synonymous with that snow along with its rice, sake and seafood. Situated on the coast of the Sea of Japan and at confluence of two rivers, Niigata City has long been an important trade and port city that connected Japan to the outside world. A place through which people passed along with traded goods. A mix of the traditional, industrial and grittier elements you’d expect of a port city.

Jenya and I discuss the city and its history, her own story, travel experiences offered by Edge of Niigata along with tips of onward journeys further into the snow country by train and ferry. You can find more information on the Edge of Niigata website or follow them on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. More information including links to everything we discuss in the episode, images and a map showing you where in the snow country we are, are on the episode page of the Snow Country Stories Japan website.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.

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Episode 18 of the podcast takes us once again to Niigata Prefecture and the snow country area of Matsunoyama. Famous for its very heavy snowfall, Matsunoyama is a place in many ways defined by that snow. In this episode I speak with Kamimura Shotaro, a regional revitalisation coordinator based in Matsunoyama. Shotaro’s work tasks him with revitalisation of the community and as such, we discuss the multiple challenges being faced by the people of Matsunoyama while also exploring the opportunities of life in the deep snow.
This episode highlights the reality for many communities in the snow country and across Japan. Communities that are struggling to sustain themselves in the face of depopulation and an ageing population, changing economies and lifestyles, and climate change. But there is also cause for optimism, something Shotaro and I discuss in the second half of the interview including reasons to visit Matsunoyama including Matsunoyama Onsen – considered one of Japan’s three great medicinal hot spring towns – along with Echigo-Tsumari Art Field and the big snow of the small resort, Matsunoyama Onsen Ski Area. We recorded the interview on a very wet day in a charismatic roadside tea house named Matsunoyama Chakra.
Shotaro’s website ‘Snow Notes’ documents and educates about life in both Matsunoyama and wider snow country. He publishes some pages in English but obviously, most pages are in Japanese. I recommend the online translator DeepL for Japanese to English translations. You can also find links everything discussed in this episode and more information including a map of where Matsunoyama is located on the episode page on the Snow Country Stories Japan website.

Outland Japan is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Peter Carnell - a freelance tour guide based in northern Nagano – that transports you to rural, regional and the wilds of Japan in pursuit of stories that lie outside the neon hum of Tokyo and golden trimmings of Kyoto. Stories of travel, life and culture beyond the big cities. Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Please note, prior to October 2024, Outland Japan was named Snow Country Stories Japan.