Wasabi Hunting in Okutama, Japan
Tokyo’s mountain shangri-la is perfect for wasabi and more.
Wasabi’s natural habitat
I first wrote to David Hulme, an Australian expat living in Okutama, in 2020 after having seen him on an NHK broadcast about wasabi. I’d booked a tour with him but because of Japan’s covid lockdown, it took nearly 3 years until I could finally make it back.
I’ve always been interested in Okutama, mainly because it so closely resembles the area where I grew up in Canada, but coupled with extremely convenient proximity to Tokyo. The first time I came to the area was to see the rather impressive sake brewery Sawanoi - Ozawa at Sawai station on the Ome. I was shocked to ride a standard orange Chuo train essentially from downtown Shinjuku two hours into the forest and then to be dropped off on top of a mountain. The doors of the train opened like a “ta-da!” revealing the forest view. Only in Japan can you get this kind of convenience matched with this degree of natural beauty.
Not a bad place to get off a train.
This trip brought back those memories and I checked into a little guest house about 50m from Mitake station called Yaokyu. The owner and his wife are very friendly and although they don’t speak any English, they’re patient with Google translate. The best room literally hangs over the cliff of the Tama river and the white noise of the rushing water is ever-present. For me it almost instantly started to lull me to sleep. If you’re looking for an antidote to city stress, you’d be hard pressed to beat this.
Kotatsu (heated table) view.
In addition to traditional tatami mat and futon sleeping, there are modern kitchen and bath and a very reasonably priced daily breakfast. Dinner is also available and I’d certainly recommend taking that if you are not here Thursday thru Sunday because there is nary a convenience store in Mitake and most of the restaurants work on a tourist-only basis so are closed Monday thru Wednesday. Best yet, bring some staples with you.
Yaokyu’s breakfast.
There’s a theme adjacent to this food prep question which immediately begins to permeate my whole stay. Like in most of rural Japan, the aging demographic is leading to declining population in small towns such as Mitake and it results in real service reductions for everyone in the area. There just aren’t enough locals to serve as workers in businesses, and despite such close access to Tokyo, with declining work base it’s hard to attract young people even with very affordable accommodations. I talked about this at length with David during the trip.
On my first full day in Okutama, David picked me up from Kawai station which is just 4 minutes ride up the hill. David moved here with his wife Satoko about 10 years ago after coming frequently to the area for weekend hikes. As he repeated many times, becoming familiar with the area and the locals slowly became a magnetic force to move to the area, each small interaction providing a small stepping stone to building a life in Okutama. His story mirrored closely my parent’s move “back to the land” in the 60s in Canada as well as so many of their friends. From Kawai station we drove to pick up some aged beef that would be the vessel later for our mountain-side wasabi tasting.
Hulme-san pridefully pictured in front of wasabida (wasabi patch) 3 of 3.
David offers a rather affordable tour on various websites, just Google “David Hulme wasabi” and you’ll find the current offerings. Generally you arrive in Kawai in the afternoon, spend an hour or so touring his wasabi tract, perhaps take a turn at planting a wasabi sprout in the running-water wasabi bed, and then are treated to a taste of premium wasabi. In itself it will be eye opening to any city-dweller both in the natural grandeur of the setting and also critically of how much work and care that goes into growing something “ubiquitous” they may eat once a week with their sushi. You will quickly realize that what comes with 98% of sushi is not remotely wasabi, and the remaining 2% is like cherished truffles or other natural delicacy.
Some of David’s prized wasabi, the deer horn knife for trimming, and a regular knife for other work.
The wasabi from his first patch tasted as you might taste wine. The nose was light and effervescent, then building on the mid-tongue with welling of sensation, rising to a peak at the back of the mouth of explosive flavour. Not rich and umami, but equally full and powerful on the opposite side of the flavour wheel - lightning, electric, powerful. On the dry aged beef it was a beautiful contrast, and of course on some fatty tuna (chutoro) it would be also wonderful. In contrast to some fresh wasabi I had a local restaurant the night before it was altogether another world of quality. We mused on how there isn’t really a “tasting-notes” for wasabi as in coffee or wine, and I encouraged him vigorously to develop one. Wasabi is one of those things that is mass produced yielding a tasteless result, whereas artisans like David can get lost in the shuffle and the profit potential gets lost with it. Obviously David’s tours are his main advocacy for wasabi prominence, but he is actively soliciting wasabi-soldiers from Tokyo and international cities to come to Okutama take the experience (and demand) back with them.
After my initial eduction, we didn’t return immediately to the station. Instead, I was lucky to get the “full-tour” which extended over one and a half days and included so much more. I’d expressed earlier to David about my interest to someday move to Okutama so he generously planned numerous other activities with that in mind. It quickly became clear that while David is a wasabi master, he is perhaps even more importantly, an Okutama ambassador.
Sobataro Cafe, our lunch spot on day 1
David made it his top priority to introduce me to every person he could. At lunch at Sobataro Cafe we ate some delicious soba, and introduced the owner with a full bio about how he found his niche in Okutama. I could tell that, as any good ambassador, he was intent on piquing my own interest in any way he could, by showing me the broadest range of experiences and people so that I might latch onto some small part of it. As the tour progressed, his approach was highly effective at building an image of myself settling in Okutama.
An incredible mountain-side shitake farm where he also works.
One of the places he took me was a “school” for mentally challenged adults called Tama Gakuen where they are encouraged to work meaningfully on simple farming or other hands-on activities, or on the grounds at the very good cafe Saka where we later ate.
Lunch at Saka. Salmon with marinated onion & dill. Sweet potato with melted cheese. Turmeric juice. All delicious.
The depth of community planning and involvement to get all this scale of operation to work would never be possible in Canada, for example, and it’s impressive to see the community coming together to “produce” very high quality saleable goods while providing structured care for disadvantaged people. David spoke often of how he tries to use his wasabi experience as an adjunct to many of these other community organizations and businesses in order to “cross-pollinate” relationships and make something more than the sum of its parts. To me this is the epitome of city-smarts/rural cooperation that is essential in keeping an area like Okutama strong.
David at wasabi patch 2 of 3.
In the afternoon we went to the 2nd and 3rd wasabida which are both on steep inclines and not included on his standard tour. We scurried down rock faces and across a recently completed bridge to find a patch with completely different character than the first. Planted less than a year ago, the wasabi wasn’t ready to harvest yet but I was dying to taste the difference between the two patches. Wasabi is like a lot of other delicacies, there is a big difference in grade and flavour profile that comes from the terroir of growing. Or, in the case of wasabi, David believes strongly in the age of and the mineral content of the water which bastes each wasabi plant continuously. I’ve experienced the same difference with garlic in my hometown area so I think that he is entirely correct.
We talked at length about his affinity for each of the wasabi patches and his general life process when, as a perfect segue, we were surprised by a punctuating visitor!
I couldn’t identify this powerful and majestic creature–half deer, half pig. It reminded me immediately of a vicious character from Princess Mononoke. David later told me it is a kamoshika. While we were never in danger, it shows the incredible unbridled nature in Okutama, the source of so much potential when correctly channeled. While only a 30 minute walk from a train station, it’s shocking the balance that Japanese culture has been able to build (or maintain) over the past 100 years compared to other “developed” locales such as North America’s Big Sur or Banff.
At the end of day 2 we had a rather good coffee at GottaCoffee, Okutama Station where they roast their own beans. He had set up a meeting with a young Tokyo-transplant named Nishida san who recently opened the first guest-house for backpackers - Kityokawa Guest House. I immediately felt a kinship with him and fell in love with the beautiful 100 year old building he has lovingly restored. The interior is welcoming and hip with a distinct Tokyo cafe style.
It seems that David’s affinity for the area is spreading and with the recent Covid city-exodus, subsequent generations are seeing the advantage of a mountain paradise just a train ride away.
David in contemplation of Ogouchi Reservoir, a huge dam built to control the Tama river and generate power for residents all the way to Tokyo. Water is central to so much in Okutama, from conveying the magic minerals for growing premium wasabi, as well as the source of life for many in Tokyo. The Tama river flows all the way to the sea from Okutama, ending at Haneda Airport so the link between Okutama and Tokyo is extremely important.
CONCLUSION
Like many people in life, David followed his gut and at each turn met someone who provided the stepping stone to an unexpected opportunity. So far that journey has brought him to wasabi in Okutama, but surely it is not the last step. I can tell from his unbridled enthusiasm for wasabi, the people, and opportunity in the area, that he is evolving into a true ambassador for Okutama. If you’re in Tokyo and want a weekend getaway, sign up for his basic wasabi tour, but if you have any inclination to spend more time in this mountain paradise, ask for the full tour. It was eye opening to me. Even as I thanked him for the “comprehensive tour” on the drive back to the station, he interjected, “oh but there’s more…”
PRICE
~$80 USD per person
AVAILABILITY
THE RATING
9/10 Absolute
9/10 Relative
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