The Town Where You Can Eat a Hotpot in a Snow House

Framed by the snow-dusted mountain ranges of Nagano, Iiyama is a town that has changed a lot in the past few decades. But for its population, the challenges that climatic change bring are an opportunity for reinvention.

"When I was a kid, the snow would get as high as those" Katsumi Hirai says gesturing to the drooping powerlines that hang from splintering wood poles across the road from a small temporary picnic table we're sitting at, squinting under Iiyama’s crisp morning winter sun. Framed by the snow-dusted mountain ranges of Nagano, Iiyama is a town that has changed a lot in the past few decades. But for its population, the challenges that climatic change bring are an opportunity for reinvention.

Part winter wonderland, part Japanese folk tale come to life, Iiyama's current key attraction is Kamakura Village - a cluster of igloo like snow houses built by locals and open to the public. A way to combat sagging tourist numbers and attract visitors to the area, it's an example of the ingenuity and optimism of the area.

More often seen up north in Akita and Hokkaido, kamakura are small igloo-like domes which typically house a tiny shrine, dedicated to the deities. By crafting a new kamakura building method, one that uses an oversized balloon as the foundation over which the snow is packed, the builders in Nagano can craft a kamakura in less than two hours with the help of 8-10 volunteers. These structures will last around a month.

How hardships bring new opportunities

Iiyama was once home to a ski resort, known as Shinanodaira which ceased operation as a ski resort following the economic bubble. However, the locals still wanted to attract guests to showcase the beauty and excellent food in the area. While you might not be able to ski at Shinanodaira here any longer, it’s still a picturesque town with sights and attractions, like Kamakura Village.

Sahori Shibata, a member of the Shinshu-Iiyama Tourism Bureau, explains, "we started building kamakura here in the area about 20 years ago. It was mainly just a bit for fun for the local people, but in 2012 we started promoting the village to a more international audience too.”

For something a little special, the park offers a local nabe experience where guests can enjoy local 'Noroshi Nabe' inside the kamakura. Noroshi Nabe is made from Nagano miso filled with locally grown vegetables and Iiyama's specialty 'Miyuki Pork.'

While there is a fee for the nabe experience, Sahori says the reason the locals build the structures is for fun, she says, "and some are 70-80 years old." Having fun, making kamakura, and building connections are what it's all about.

The banana boat, an Iiyama specialty

Another excellent example of the ingenuity of the people of Iiyama is the existence of the banana boat. This much-loved cake is made from a whole banana covered in cream and wrapped in sponge cake.

While there's no definitive record of who created the first banana boat, records say they started popping up in local confectionery shops around 1975. During the time of its creation many stores in the area lacked sufficient refrigeration, so the banana boat was made in winter to ensure its longevity.

The perfect balance of textures, sweetness, and smooth creaminess they're a soul food iconic to Iiyama. If you visit some local bakeries and confectionery stores around the town, you'll see so many variations of the banana boat, each representative of the tastes of those who made it.

Cafe Sato Wa is located along the scenic Chikuma River, and is a great place to explore the variety of fresh local produce cultivated in the area, its offerings change with the passing seasons. The roadside station cafe opened in 2012 and serves both local favorites and internationally inspired sweets as well as housing an antenna shop selling a cross-section of regional specialties from across Japan.

With its brightly colored toppings and bamboo leaf wrapping, sasazushi is an eye-catching iconically Iiyama dish sold at Cafe Sato Wa. Legend states that sasazushi was born when Uesugi Kenshin, the famous samurai warlord from neighboring Niigata Prefecture, traveled into modern-day Iiyama City sometime during the late 16th century. The locals scrambled to come up with something suitable to serve such a renowned samurai. They wanted to offer something new, so they crafted a local version of sushi containing vinegared rice, and topped with edible wild local vegetables, nuts, miso, and egg, which they then wrapped in a bamboo leaf. They called the creation "sasazushi" (which means bamboo leaf sushi) and it’s still popular to this day.

From the snow capped mountains to the plate

While it’s fair to assume that in a place as snowy as Iiyama, produce would be hard to cultivate, the producers know how to work the land and its climate. The snow that falls here each year plays as much an integral role in the growth of local vegetables and fruit as the sun and soil. The freezing temperatures make the local carrots so sweet they can make a surprisingly fruity-tasting sorbet.

While the melted, mineral-rich water from the snow is a critical component of rice cultivation. Good snowfall means delicious, healthy grains of rice and, as a result, incredible local sake. With its clear, fresh mountain water and passionate brewers, Iiyama is without question a center of excellent quality Japanese sake.

Opting for quality over quantity, you won’t find any major sized brewers here churning out record numbers of bottles, but rather a passionate, tight-knit community of sake makers that produce smaller run, meticulously crafted brews. Two key sake locations are Tanakaya Sake Brewery, which produced famous Mizuo sake, and Kadoguchi Sake Brewery, known for their Hokko Masamune. Passionate about working with the land, and about offering the best, they’re doing it the Iiyama way.