Traveling in Japan✥Sensational City That Meets Another Attraction of Japan Nagareyama

1. Cafe ONIWA

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  　A majority of the area in Nagareyama is covered with trees and other greenery and neat little cafes are hidden all over. Cafe Oniwa, for example, is the representative cafe and restaurant of Nagareyama. Cafe Oniwa is pretty hidden, but it has a lot of character and unlike any cafe or restaurant that we've been to in Japan yet. There are a lot of cafes and shops in Nagareyama that have renewed buildings because the city subsidizes them all. It is said that about 7 shops and cafés have been created as a subsidy system to prevent some of the depressing phenomena that historic buildings disappear. That is something you don't see in Tokyo. 

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  In terms of nature-friendly concepts, 
  the food was all healthy dishes made with only vegetables and greens. 
  
  ☆CAFE ONIWA
  534-2, Higashifukai, Nagareyama-shi, Chiba
  Google Maps
  ⏰: Sun to Thurs. 11am~5pm (lunch L.O. 3pm, cafe L.O. 4pm)
  📞: 080-9705-0020
  🖳CAFE ONIWA official website (JPN)

2. tronc

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  Another small and hidden cafe, tronc, is in the residential area of Nagareyama.
  This 100-year-old building has been newly renovated and has the atmosphere of an old house.

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  Nagareyama is famous for the Japanese cooking condiment mirin,
  and this cafe's #1 recommended menu is toast and mirin butter.
  We didn't know what to really expect with mirin butter, but it added a subtle sweetness.
  
  ☆tronc
  6-1300, Ka, Nagareyama-shi, Chiba
  Google Maps
  ⏰: 1pm~9pm (Wed and Thurs closed)
  📞: 04-7126-0800
  🖳Cafe tronc official website (JPN)

1. ISSA-SOJU MEMORIAL HALL (一茶双樹記念館)

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  The "Issa Soju Memorial Hall" is where the poet "Kobayashi Ichiza",
  a representative of the Edo era, spent an era.
  It is said to be preserved as a historic site and a place where citizens can relax. 
  Although it is a historical site, you can go inside the building and have a cup of tea
  while gazing at a small yet well-kept Japanese garden.
  
  ☆ISSA-SOJU MEMORIAL HALL (一茶双樹記念館)
  6-670-1, Nagareyama-shi, Chiba Prefecture
  Google Maps
  ⏰: 9am~5pm (Mondays and 12/29~1/3 closed)
  💴: Adults 100yen, middle schoolers and under 50yen
  📞: 04-7150-5750
  🖳ISSA-SOJU MEMORIAL HALL official website (JPN)
  - Nagareyama sightseeing guide application page (English)
  → There is a facility for those that want to experience in Nagareyama.
  If you don't understand Japanese, you can apply for a free English guide by using the above page.

2. KUBOTA MISO SOY SAUCE (窪田味噌醤油)

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  Nagareyama is connected to Edogawa River across Tokyo and used to be used as a way of commerce.
  So Kubota Miso Soy Sauce, a factory to make miso and soy sauce, started in 1925.  
  The building itself is beautiful and looks so old, but go inside and you'll see a space provided the raw materials of soy sauce and miso,
  as well as some of the "only in Nagareyama" condiments that contain these special materials.
  
  FOR SOY SAUCE
  ・On the right is daizu (soybeans) and the left is kouji, 
  something that assists the fermentation process.
  Apparently, kouji is often used in top skincare products.
  FOR MISO
  ・From right to left is daizu (soybeans), wheat, then a mix of the two.
  
  ☆Kubota Miso Soy Sauce (窪田味噌醤油)
  691 Yamazaki, Noda-shi, Chiba Prefecture
  Google Maps
  ⏰: 9am~5pm (weekends closed)
  📞: 04-7125-6111
  🖳Kubota Miso Soy Sauce official website (JPN)
  - Nagareyama sightseeing guide application page (English)
  → There is a facility for those that want to experience in Nagareyama.
  If you don't understand Japanese, you can apply for a free English guide by using the above page.

3. KUBOTA SAKE (窪田酒造)

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  Head next door and you'll see the Kubota Foundry which is a Japanese sake manufacturing factory that was founded in 1872. We didn't know this before but Chiba has a pretty long history of sake, particularly the nihonshu (sake) Katsushika (勝鹿), which was made here and is well known throughout the country.  Sake became a big part of Chiba history primarily due to the high quality of water transport through the canal, it started around Japan's Kanei era (1624-1643) with there only being one distillery, eventually growing into the many.
  Here at the distillery, they took us through the Japanese sake brewing process; the rice polishing, rice steaming, koji making, preparing the seed mash (shubo), moromi fermentation, pressing, filtration, pasteurization (hiire), aging, and adjustment. At the end is a table with all these different sake and mirin for you and your friends to taste! We couldn't believe how sweet natural, pure mirin was!

  
  ☆Kubota Sake (窪田酒造)
  685 Yamazaki, Noda-shi, Chiba Prefecture
  Google Maps
  ⏰: 8:30am~5:30pm
  📞: 04-7125-3331
  🖳Kubota Sake official website (JPN)
  - Nagareyama sightseeing guide application page (English)
  → There is a facility for those that want to experience in Nagareyama.
  If you don't understand Japanese, you can apply for a free English guide by using the above page.

4. NAGAREYAMA MUSEUM (流山街中ミュージアム)

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  Manjo "Shiromirin" (clear mirin), the specialty of Nagareyama city marked its 200th anniversary in 2014. Taking this opportunity, Nagareyama Honcho Machinaka Museum was set up to exhibit the historical material on Shiromirin on the walls of Kikkoman Corporation in Nagareyama which inherits the flavor of original "Manjo," one of the two big brands of Shiromirin in Nagareyama. This museum exhibits the rare items such as the oldest mirin label in existence in Nagareyama, the old posters of "Appare" of the Akimotos and Manjo of the Horikiris which led the mirin industry, etc. The museum aims to attract many visitors to Nagareyama, and to promote the vitalization and tourism in Nagareyama Honcho as a new tourist spot of an outdoor intown museum.
   

  ☆Nagareyama Museum (流山街中ミュージアム)
  3 Cho-me, Nagareyama-shi, Chiba
  Google Maps
  🖳Related page (JPN)

2. KALEIDOSCOPE GALLERY MISEGURA (見世蔵)

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  🔮★Misegura is a kaleidoscope shop★🔮
  For reference, kaleidoscope refers to a device that allows you to look at a unique pattern by
  reflecting several glasses in a long cylinder. 

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  Although kaleidoscopes are a little unfamiliar to some cultures, they're easy to use. Apparently, there are even world conferences that value the view and designs one sees when they use it.

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  We never thought there would be a place where you can see SO many kaleidoscopes all in one spot. There are a lot of kinds of kaleidoscopes ranging in shapes and colors, you are sure to have a good time here.

3. SASAYA (笹屋商店)

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  The store Sasaya is a bedding shop with a history of about 155 years. One may not think that this place would be very popular, but in fact, it's pretty well known for Japanese futon, pillow, and blanket repairs. Many Japanese still sleep on futons, a cotton pad mattress on the floor, but once it wears and tears or loses its padding, they just throw it away. But by coming here you can save your bedding, save your money (because it's cheaper obviously), and save the hassle of figuring out the proper way of throwing out bedding.

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  ⇧You can even make Japanese bedding for your favorite dolls and/or stuffed animals!!⇧​
  
  ☆SASAYA (笹屋商店)
  1-155 Nagareyama, Nagareyama-shi, Chiba
  Google Maps
  ⏰: 10am~6pm (Wed + every 2nd and 3rd Thurs closed)
  📞: 04-7158-0147  📠(FAX): 04-7199-9780
  🖳SASAYA official website (JPN)
  - Nagareyama sightseeing guide application page (English)
  → There is a facility for those that want to experience in Nagareyama.
  If you don't understand Japanese, you can apply for a free English guide by using the above page.