Yamamoto Town is located in Watari District of Miyagi Prefecture, and it is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east. The economy of Yamamoto is largely based on agriculture and commercial fishing, meanwhile, the pillar industry of Yamamoto is planting and selling strawberry.
Therefore, with huge love to strawberry, I began my “strawberry search journey” today under the guidance of Mr. Tomari from GRA(農業生産法人株式会社GRA).
イチゴワールド- The State-of-Art Strawberry Manufacturer
Speaking of Strawberry in Yamamoto, the most famous must be the Ichigo World (イチゴワールド). In the 2011 tsunami, 122 of 129 Strawberry farms were destroyed With the help of the government as well as Japanese people, the strawberry plantation was recovered quickly after the tsunami. Today, strawberry is still the “pillar industry” in Yamamoto, and GRA has definitely made huge contributions to the revival of the Tohoku Area.
The Ichigo World is a cutting-edge farm which was completed in 2015. It belongs to the GRA Inc. The main goal of the Ichigo World is to make the “products of Tohoku” become “products for the world”.
The Ichigo World produces high-quality, organic strawberry and its peripheral products.
GRA aims to create employment opportunities for 10,000 people, for 100 companies and for 10 years. They intend to bring regional prosperity to the Tohoku area by making agriculture the strongest industry.
The production base of Ichigo World are all controlled by computer, through which the growing conditions of the strawberry are strictly controlled and monitored – the temperature, sunlight, humidity and even carbon dioxide..
The Ichigo World is also actively research new generation of strawberry.
The farming environment of strawberry is automatically controlled at the centralized control room to create the best environment for the strawberry to grow. Seriously, if I were a strawberry, I want to grow up in Ichigo World.
This strawberry I name it “Till Death tears us apart”. The strawberry at Ichigo World is definitely the best I have ate all over the years. The address of Ichigo World is as follows.
山元いちご農園-The Largest Strawberry Farm in Yamamoto
The Yamamoto Strawberry farm (山元いちご農園) is also an excellent place for strawberry picking. It says that in Yamamoto, every farm has their distinctive strawberry.
The Yamamoto Strawberry Farm is actually the largest strawberry farm in Yamamoto, while the Ichigo World was the most high-technology one. The Shopping Center of the Yamamoto Strawberry Farm has their proud products as well.
Check out those strawberry products and you will understand why strawberry is the “pillar industry” of this town. The address of 山元いちご農園is as follows.
Except hunting for strawberry, we also visited the following places today. Like I said before, I was deeply touched by the way local citizens rebuild their homeland.
中浜小学校-Heritage of the Tsunami
The Nakahama Elementary School(中浜小学校) was 140 years old, but was destroyed within minutes in the 2011 tsunami and was abandoned thereafter.
This new building of the elementary school was built 25 years ago.
The relics of the school was quite astounding.
There were 49 students in the elementary school but they were all saved. The designer for the elementary school anticipated potential natural catastrophes in the area, thus built a high roof where could be used as a good shelter in tsunami.
Whether this elementary school should be used as a tsunami heritage or be teared down is still a controversial issues for Yamamoto citizens.
There was once a Japanese old movie called “Happy Yellow Handkerchief”. The Japanese people write things in the yellow handkerchief, hang them up to send positive messages, and express their feelings.
The address of 中浜小学校 is as follows.
磯浜漁港-Seaside View in Yamamoto
The Isohama-Gyokou (磯浜漁港) is a seaside park with beautiful boats.
Not far away from the Yamamoto Dike, the Isohama-Gyokou has very good view of the Pacific Ocean.
Several fishing boats are harbored in this angler’s dwarf. The address of 磯浜漁港 is as follows.
四方山-A Mountaintop Lookout for Yamamoto and Kakuda City
Despite the cloudy weather today, we still drive to the Shihou Mountain (四方山). The Shihou Mountain Lookout is very famous because of the amazing height.
The Lookout itself is very beautiful, looking upside down inside the lookout is quite astounding. One side of the lookout is Yamamoto Town and the Pacific Ocean.
On the other side is the Kakuda City with the Zao Mountain. The address of 四方山 is as follows.
Lunch Box from Ms. 菅野京子-A Warm Gift from the Local Resident.
I picked up my lunch at the Ms. Kyoko Kano (菅野京子)’s house today, which is a very unique experience for me. Ms. Kyoko has been making lunch boxes for her friends and family for years and it was really delicious.
The shellfish is one of the famous local products in Yamamoto. The main production in Ms. Kyoko’s farm is the dried potato, which we also tried today. The dried potato of Ms. Kyoko Kano (菅野京子) is so popular that they are always sold out early in town.
鳯仙寺-Old Temple with a Young Abbot
The Housenji Temple (鳯仙寺) is more than 450 years old, and was rebuilt 15 years ago. The Abbot of Housenji Temple is now the 16th generation.
The interior decoration of Housenji Temple is really amazing, I looked up coincidently and was surprised by the paintings and decorations on the wall.
There are many precious Buddhism Classics inside Housenji Temple.
The Address of 鳯仙寺 is as follows.
