Tsuruoka: Inside Japan's First UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

Japan's food culture runs deep well beyond its major cities. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka draw most of the attention, and rightly so, but the country's culinary traditions extend into prefectures that see relatively little foreign tourism. Yamagata Prefecture, along the Sea of Japan coast, is one such place, and it rarely appears on visitor itineraries. Within it sits the quiet city of Tsuruoka, which in December 2014 became the first city in Japan named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

Tsuruoka UNESCO City of Gastronomy - What Exactly Does This Mean?

This designation has less to do with claiming the "best food in Japan" and more to do with a self-contained food system that has been running for centuries. Rice grown on the Shonai Plain is brewed into sake locally; the sake lees from those breweries are repurposed for pickling; and the pickles end up as side dishes at shops and restaurants run by the very families who farm the ingredients. This guide covers three stops within that loop, each committed less to impressing visitors than to doing things well.

Watarai Honten: 400 Years of Sake in Oyama

Oyama is a small district within Tsuruoka that most visitors have never heard of, but from the early 1700s into the early 1900s, it was one of Japan's most significant sake-producing areas, home to more than 40 breweries at once. That concentration earned it the nickname "Little Nada of Tohoku," a reference to Nada, the celebrated sake region in Hyogo Prefecture. Only four of those breweries remain today, and Watarai Honten is one of them.

Watarai Honten was founded sometime between 1615 and 1624, putting it at over 400 years old, with the current president representing the 18th generation of the Watarai family to run the brewery. Visitors can tour the brewery and its small museum, and depending on the day, a family member may lead the tour directly, a level of access rarely available at breweries this old.

Inside, the museum displays petri dishes showing the different rice varieties Watarai uses, the family's history, and sake-brewing tools that have been in use for centuries. For those not driving, the tour concludes with a tasting of three to four distinct sakes that showcase the brewery's range.

At the entrance stands a large cedar ball known as a sugidama, which sake shops and breweries have used as a seasonal marker for centuries. A fresh green ball signals that new sake has just been pressed; as the year progresses, it gradually turns brown, and once fully brown, the sake inside has matured and is ready to drink.

Watarai Honten Info:

• Address: 2-2-8 Oyama, Tsuruoka, Yamagata

• Hours: 8:45 AM–12:00 PM, 1:00 PM–4:30 PM daily (closed some holidays)

• Best for: 400 years of sake history and a tasting that shows the brewery's full range

• Getting there: Short walk from Uzen-Oyama Station, one stop past Tsuruoka Station (trains run far less frequently here than in Japan's larger cities)

Tsukemono Dokoro Honcho: The Pickle Shop That Exists Because of the Sake

A short walk from Watarai is Honcho, a pickle shop that exists because of the sake breweries nearby. Its founder, Chouemon Honma, originally intended to become a sake brewer and traveled to Nada in Hyogo to apprentice. There, he encountered narazuke, a style of pickle made by preserving vegetables in sake lees, the leftover rice mash from brewing. With more than 40 breweries in Oyama producing an abundant supply of lees, he started this pickle business in 1908 using the local surplus.

Honcho still makes narazuke using the same traditional method today. Its best-known products are pickled cream cheese and Minden eggplant, one of the city's registered heirloom crops. This small, round eggplant variety grows only in Tsuruoka's Minden district. It's often pickled with a spicy Japanese mustard called karashi. Honcho also offers classic pickles with a distinct sweetness and light acidity. The shop itself is set up for purchases rather than in-house tasting, though a free tour of the pickling storehouse is available with at least two days' reservation notice.

Tsukemono Dokoro Honcho Info:

• Address: 1-7-7 Oyama, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata

• Hours: 8:30 AM–4:30 PM daily

• Best for: Souvenir pickles to take home, plus a free storehouse tour with reservations

• Note: No in-shop tasting; pickles are purchased to take home

Naa: Where the Loop Closes

The approach to Naa, from the parking lot, looks more like arriving at someone's home than a restaurant, largely because that's exactly what it is. Yasai no Sou no Katei Ryōri Naa occupies a family farmhouse more than 120 years old. Norimasa Onodera runs the restaurant today, built on decades of organic farming that his family pioneered in the area.

Even on a Sunday afternoon, despite how much of a detour the restaurant is, the dining room tends to fill up. It has a lived-in charm: tatami-mat floors and a view of the surrounding vegetable fields and mountains. Everything served is grown pesticide- and additive-free, which comes through in a clean, satisfying meal.

The menu changes seasonally with the produce available from the garden, but in late May, two dishes stood out. The Yamagata pork was exceptional: tender, full of flavor, and well-balanced against its sauce. The rice, ordered half white and half brown, was equally impressive; the brown rice avoided the heaviness that can weigh the grain down, offering instead a sticky texture closer to good white rice, with a bread-like savoriness and a touch of natural sweetness.

The side dishes tie back to the same loop. Naa serves its own pickled vegetables alongside the meal, distinct from Honcho's in their mellow umami and bright acidity. A poster near the entrance highlights some of Yamagata's heirloom crops, more than 60 in Tsuruoka alone, cultivated for generations to suit the city's soil and still grown today.

Yasai no Sou no Katei Ryōri Naa Info:

• Address: 41 Ko Fukuda, Tsuruoka, Yamagata 997-0006

• Hours: 11:30 AM–2:30 PM Wednesday–Monday (dinners by reservation only); closed Tuesdays, irregular holidays, and the third Wednesday of each month

• Best for: Genuine farm-to-table cooking, organic rice, and flavors that shift with the season

Final Notes on Traveling Japan's Countryside

For anyone building a Tohoku or Yamagata itinerary, Tsuruoka is worth the stop; this itinerary can be completed in a half-day with the right transportation planned. Once outside Japan's major cities, train service becomes less frequent and less comprehensive, so renting a car, with an International Driving Permit secured before arrival, is worth considering to get the most out of inaka, or rural Japan. For those interested in exploring Yamagata, other rural prefectures, or additional UNESCO gastronomy destinations, our team can help design a custom itinerary.