Experience Traditional Country Life in a Tea-growing Village in Shizuoka

Learn about Japanese sustainable food culture directly from tea farmers and local residents

Chanosato Village (“tea village”), is the perfect place to learn about Japanese tea. The village is located in Shizuoka Prefecture, which produces the largest quantity of green tea in Japan. The “semi-natural grasslands” maintained around Shizuoka’s tea plantations have been designated a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) for their balance of agricultural production and biodiversity.

Chanosato Village offers a range of tailored experiences to introduce you to the world of green tea. You can pick tea leaves off the bush and then eat them as a tempura dish for lunch. (And because they’re grown using sustainable methods, they’re not just delicious, they’re completely safe and healthy as well.) Or you can take a tour of the tea plantation in which a local guide explains the tea-growing process as Mt. Fuji rises majestically behind rows of tea plants.

The attractions of Chanosato Village are not limited to green tea. You can also dive into the forest to hunt for seasonal mountain vegetables, from bamboo shoots in the spring to shiitake mushrooms in the autumn. There are accommodations in a renovated farmhouse and at local hot-spring inns.

The Chanosato Village experience is a great introduction to a more traditional way of life, where people and nature exist in harmony.

Access: From Tokyo, take the Tokaido Line Kodama Shinkansen to Kakegawa Station (about 1 hour and 40 minutes). If you are going from Nagoya, take the Tokaido Line Kodama Shinkansen to Kakegawa (about 1 hour). From there, it is about a 20-minute drive to Chanosato Village.