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Togakushi Toyooka District Launches "Togakushi no Kitchen," a Brand of Processed Agricultural Products The first product, "Mamegashi (bean confectionery)" made from 100% Togakushi-produced soybeans, goes on sale on November 1!

戸隠地域づくり協議会

The Togakushi Community Development Council (Togakushi Toyooka District, Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture; Representative: Masanobu Kobayashi), which conducts projects to utilize local resources, support the livelihood of the elderly, and preserve agricultural land as part of the Rural RMO Model Formation Support Project, has launched a brand of processed agricultural products called "Togakushi no Kitchen". As a first step, the company will begin selling a limited quantity of bean confections made from 100% Togakushi soybeans on November 1, 2024.


Togakushi no Kitchen "Mamegashi" (bean confectionery)


Outline of the product

Product name: Togakushi Mamegashi (bean confectionery)

     Togakushi soybeans are used to make this bean confectionery (with arare).

     It is a safe and secure snack with no chemical seasonings added.

Price : 385 yen (tax included)

Volume :80g

Sales location: Togakushi Soba Museum Tonkururin, soba noodle stores in the Togakushi area, etc.

Release Date :November 1, 2024 (Friday)



Development Background

~Togakushi's rich rural landscape and food culture for the next generation

Blessed with fertile soil formed by the volcanic ash of Mt. Since Togakushi Plateau became famous as a tourist spot, it has played the role of "Togakushi's kitchen" where accommodation facilities and soba noodle shops purchase vegetables. Around 2000, groups such as the "Mame no Kai" (bean paste making group) and the "Beto no Kai" (organic compost making group) were formed mainly by women farmers, and there has been active collaboration and exchange among the farmers. In recent years, however, these groups have disbanded due to the aging of the farmers. Idle farmland has also become conspicuous among the farmlands scattered throughout the district.


Machiko Satono, who was born in the Togakushi Toyooka area and now works as a cabin owner in the Koshimizu area, joined the Togakushi Community Development Council in 2023 out of a desire to "protect the farmland where our mothers worked hard to protect and grow vegetables and to pass on the food culture, such as pickle making, filled with farmers' wisdom to the next generation. As a leader of the team to develop processed agricultural products, he took over the activities of the "Mame no Kai" and started growing soybeans on rented idle farmland in the district. Then, in October 2024, he launched "Togakushi no Kitchen," a brand of processed agricultural products from the Toyooka area, and commercialized the first product, a bean confectionery. The processing was commissioned to Takejimaya Confectionery Ltd. (Ojiya City, Niigata Prefecture).


In the future, we plan to use soybeans sown in the summer (to be harvested in early November) to sell 100% Togakushi-produced miso in cooperation with a miso company in Nagano City.


Farmers taking care of soybeans

Togakushi soybeans (harvested in 2023)


Togakushi Toyooka District

Togakushi Toyooka District is located in the eastern part of the former Togakushi Village, a highland area at the foot of Mount Iizuna, which was incorporated into Nagano City in January 2005. The population is approximately 1,060, with 496 households (as of January 2024), and the main industry is agriculture (vegetables and buckwheat).


Scenery of Togakushi Toyooka area


Togakushi's Kitchen, a brand of processed agricultural products

This brand was launched in October 2024 by the Togakushi Community Development Council to expand sales channels by utilizing idle farmland in the Togakushi Toyooka area to grow crops and produce and process miso and pickles, which are traditional Togakushi delicacies, by local residents. The name has two meanings. One is to develop products from the "kitchen" where Togakushi's farmer-mothers have supported their families for their health. The other meaning is the "kitchen" that has supported the food of Togakushi, a tourist destination, through the production of fresh vegetables, rice, soba, and other products.

The catch copy is "A lion dances in the village of fertility. The brand logo uses a motif of the lion's head from the lion dance that has been passed down in the Togakushi Toyooka area to represent a good harvest.



Outline of the Council

Togakushi Community Development Council

Representative: Masanobu Kobayashi

Location: 2345 Toyooka, Togakushi, Nagano, 381-4102, Japan

Establishment : July 2023

Business: Processing and sales of Togakushi agricultural products, organic compost making, livelihood support for the elderly,

     Restoration of devastated farmland, mowing and other farmland maintenance and preservation

Logo Image