If you’re going on a trip, you definitely want to enjoy the local specialties at your destination. Realizing that I had no particular plans for the weekend, I decided to go on a two-day, one-night trip with my colleague at work. We drove for about 40 minutes from Nagoya to Minokamo City in Gifu Prefecture, which was recommended to us by a senior co-worker who is a gourmet.

Our first stop was at "TOUFUYA" to have lunch. This is a restaurant where you can enjoy a meal featuring handmade tofu, and according to my senior, it was the very first restaurant where he was impressed by tofu!

After we placed an order, a tray filled with selected appetizers was brought to our table. It's really no wonder that this restaurant is so popular, with people lining up to try the hot tofu made right in front of you and the thick yet melt-in-your-mouth yuba.

I was most looking forward to the thick-fried tofu - crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside! The owner, Wakao, carefully blends the beans to create this texture and smoothness in hopes of making "thick-fried tofu like you have never had before."

"Many people who used to come to the restaurant as children are now parents and would now come to eat with their children. Many families have been coming to our place for generations," he said. As I looked at Wakao happily talking about his connection with the community, both my stomach and my heart were completely satisfied.

After checking in at the hotel, we took the Ai Ai Bus to Mino-Ota Station. We headed to Ota-juku to check out Minokamo Beer, which sells craft beer. We had seen on social media that this place sold this craft beer made by an active firefighter, so my friend and I were really looking forward to visiting it.

When we met that firefighter, Daiki Senda, I asked, "Why would you open a beer business when you're a firefighter?" He replied, "First of all, I like beer...," and then talked about his passion for the community.

"I guess you can say that I’ve been raised by the people of this community. Whenever I showed up at the local children’s club and neighborhood association gatherings, people would greet me by calling me 'Dai-chan, Dai-chan.' Now that I am of the same generation as the people who cared about me back then, I hope to contribute to the local community as well, and that is why I am making beer," he said.

Senda, who also has connections with farmers, contributes to the reduction of food waste by using damaged pears that cannot be sold and honey that lacks sugar content to make his beer. My friend and I ordered a Pear White Ale and a Honey Golden Ale each, both packed with such local flavors, and compared them. And just like that, our conversation became more animated as we talked about the differences in taste and fruity flavors of the beers.

Senda told us that there was an older townscape we could explore if we went a bit farther, so we decided to take a walk. Simply taking a stroll around area was a lot of fun already, what with an old-fashioned electronics store, a coffee shop in a renovated old building, and more structures to see.

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at "Gifu Seiryu Satoyama Park," where we got to pet the animals, and enjoyed chatting at a footbath nearby. Time passed slowly, and we enjoyed every minute of it because we did not pack our schedule, which was a great thing, we realized. That night, we warmed ourselves at an onsen (hot spring) located in a Michi-no-Eki (roadside station) and lay on the soft bed after. Before we knew it, we were already fast asleep.

We woke up a little earlier than usual to visit Noka Ichiba Shun which is run by Kasumi Rice, a rice farmer, upon the recommendation of a hotel staff. Gifu Prefecture has its own rice brand, the "Hatsushimo," but its entire harvest is almost entirely consumed within the prefecture, so it has come to be called "phantom rice" because you cannot find it in other prefectures in Japan.

He added, "The rice grains are large, and it is not as sticky as Koshihikari, but the flavor of the rice does not deteriorate even when it gets cold. That is one of Hatsushimo's greatest features." The onigiris using Hatsushimo are so popular that they always sell out before noon.

The most popular is onigiri with brown rice, and the fillings are also special. The local ladies cook the fillings from scratch every day, including grilled salmon, grilled mackerel, and beef. "We have a very good cook, and she would make sure that the seasonings match the onigiri," noted Kasumi. We also learned that the ladies made sure to gently and softly hold the onigiris so that they would not become hard, and that definitely made the onigiri taste even more delicious.

We spent two days and one night enjoying delicacies that were made with the passion of those who prepared them. The food tasted better and became more memorable for both of us after hearing their thoughts about the local communities. We realized that there are so many good foods around us, but these delicious, gentle flavors filled with love are tastes you can’t find everywhere. So, when I feel like taking a break to relax, I will revisit here as it makes me feel warm inside.