Letter from Japan #6
Gelato is very popular in Japan.
When I visited Ichinohe-machi in Iwate Prefecture, I found a lovely little gelato shop called Yuki Akari. The name evokes the feeling of snow and light.
The shop is in the beautiful Okunakayama area, right next to the ski resorts. It is a very different place in winter, when the mountains are covered in snow.
Everything at the shop is handmade, and the flavours change regularly. There are a few 定番 (ていばん, teiban) flavours, or regular favourites, but many of the others change from day to day.
The menu says 本日のフレーバー (ほんじつのフレーバー, honjitsu no fureebaa), meaning “today’s flavours”.
The menu is written in hiragana, katakana and kanji. Can you find some of each? How many can you spot?
One flavour really caught my eye: とうもろこし (toumorokoshi), sweetcorn. Sweetcorn is grown in this area, so it was lovely to see a local ingredient being used in such an unusual way.
There were so many unusual flavours that I couldn’t decide what to choose. 迷う (まよう, mayou) means “to have trouble deciding what to choose”. And that’s exactly how I felt!
I had never tried sweetcorn gelato before, so I decided to give it a try. Can you guess what other flavour I tried?
They were both delicious!
A question for you
If you could create your own unusual gelato flavour, what would you choose?
If you’re curious
🍦 Yuki Akari Gelato
You can find out more about the gelato shop and Okunakayama here:
Yuki Akari Gelato – Okunakayama Kogen
Get the next letter
A free letter from Japan with photos, stories and a few Japanese words to discover.