10:00 AM

 After a 30-minute train ride from JR Kyoto station, you will arrive at JR Ogoto Onsen station.

 Meet our tour conductor at the station (unless Kyoto station pick-up is selected).

 We will take a taxi to the village of Ogi where you spend a half day learning about Japanese country life and smacking your lips over local specialties.

10:15 AM

 After arriving at Ogi Village, you will enjoy a short walk through the village and rice fields.

 Ogi Village has been continuously cultivating the large area of terraced rice fields using spring water for 1300 years, since around the same time as the capital city was relocated to just 10km south of the village.

 Legend tells us that when a severe drought hit the city, the emperor enshrined the Shinto spirit of rain in Ogi village.  Soon, spring water started running from the exact same location saving many people's lives. 

 We will first visit Ogura shrine where the spirit is said to reside. A big festival is held here in May, just before the rice planting, to pray for a good harvest. 

 The view of terraced rice fields surrounding the villages is stunning, portraying the changing colors of the natural surroundings according to each season.  

 In spring, the rice fields are flooded - reflecting the sky like a mosaic of mirrors.  In summer, the fields turn a fresh green color vibrant with the growing rice plants.

 In autumn, they are transformed to gold from the ripened ears of rice plants.

 Finally, after the harvest, the fields return to the color of earth, sometimes dusted with snow during cold winter days. 

 You will surely delight in these varying characteristics of the terraced rice fields. We hope you can visit Japan four times, each time in a different season to further relish the changes!

11:15AM

 After taking a stroll through the rice terraces in the area, we will visit the local rice farmer’s house. There, we will experience exciting Mochi rice cake-making. You can pound the steaming sticky rice into delicious Mochi rice cakes using a giant mallet and mortar while enjoying the fun atmosphere, feeling like a child again.

 *This tour will be hosted by a family from the local village community group. We carefully select our friendly and open-minded hosts after having meetings and interviews to ensure the quality time of our guests.  We guarantee that you will have a wonderful experience with all of our hosts.

 Rolling out Mochi rice cake while enjoying chatting with the farm owner.

 Ogi villagers have traditionally been making Natto Mochi; fermented soy beans seasoned with salt wrapped in Mochi rice cake. This is a very original style of eating Mochi rice cakes and is truly a local tradition of this village.

  Also, with sweet red bean paste as a filling, Yomogi Mochi is another delightful way of eating Mochi as a dessert. Fresh Yomogi (Japanese mugwort) is harvested in spring and mixed in the Mochi rice cake, producing a bright green color (Please understand that it may not be available depending on the season). 

 Yomogi has long been used as a home medicine for good digestion, warming up the body, and as a painkiller. With its slight bitterness, Yomogi is a good example of the Japanese tradition of using seasonal ingredients for balancing one’s physical condition. 

 We will be guests at the farmhouse for an enjoyable mealtime and can enjoy chatting further with the farmer and his wife to learn more about traditional Japanese lifestyles. 

12:00PM

 Also for lunch, the farmer will demonstrate how to cook Sukiyaki in front of you, so participate and learn. Many of our guests became fans of this dish made with fresh local chicken and a variety of fresh vegetables just picked from the fields. Try this simple yet delicious dish! 

 This extraordinary experience, learning about a farmer’s life coexisting with the bounty of nature, will be the highlight of your trip to Japan!

OPTION A

 In the afternoon, we will visit the nearby Ogoto Hot Spring resort. You can pamper yourself with a leisurely soak in the natural hot spring waters, said to be good for both beauty and health.

 The water from Ogi village streams through an underground vein before emerging as hot spring water in Ogoto, a village at the foot of the mountains. It has been worshipped as a miraculous hot spring for curing people’s bodies for 1200 years.

OPTION B

 How would you like to start your day in the ultimate tranquility of the countryside as you take a leisurely cycle along the serene shores of Lake Biwa?

 Using electric bikes that provide an effortless, refreshing ride, this course follows beautiful lakeside roads up to stunning scenes of stepped rice terraces. 

 At noon, we will take a train to Ogoto Onsen and visit the farmer's house for making mochi & sukiyaki lunch. 

 Here's a short video of our Mochi making tour. Can you feel the fun atmosphere?