REPORT

One of Hakuba Village’s specialty products is murasaki mai (literally, “purple rice”). At the Hakuba Michi-no-eki (Roadside Station), you can purchase not only the purple rice produced in the Aoni area, but also other original products made from it, such as tea, udon noodles, and gohei mochi (regional rice cake). Additionally, this roadside station focuses on health, and offers a wide variety of additive-free products, including carrot juice from snow-grown carrots (which has already sold out for this year) and soba noodles.
[Michi-no-eki Hakuba]

In terms of fresh produce, Hakuba Pork is available at stores like Delicia and A-Coop, and is a Hakuba staple. Not only is Hakuba Pork safe and reliable as SPF (Specific Pathogen-Free) pork, but it is also highly praised for its excellent taste, earning high marks both within the prefecture and beyond. In addition, there are many other local specialties that make use of Hakuba’s cool climate and pure underground water, such as soba, blueberries, and green chili peppers.
[Hakuba Pork]

If you’re looking for a souvenir for a friend, how about trying the Hozuki Spread (pictured) or Hozuki Jam produced by Hozuki Farm Hakuba? Made from hozuki (Chinese lantern) fruit grown without any chemical fertilizers or pesticides, the ingredients are simple—just hozuki, beet sugar, and lemon juice for the jam, and hozuki, granulated sugar, natural cheese, liquor, lemon juice, and agar for the spread. Despite its simplicity, it’s delicious for anyone to enjoy and has a good shelf life.
[Hozuki Farm Hakuba]

The largest souvenir shop in Hakuba Village is the Escal Shop located in Hakuba Goryu’s Escal Plaza. The store, which was renovated in December, offers a wide range of products, including Shinshu local specialties, craft beer, apparel, original goods, and winter items such as gloves and boots. By the way, many of the above-mentioned local specialties can also be selected through the Furusato Choice program.
[Escal Plaza]
　
＊Purple rice is more nutritious than white rice, and contains about three times the amount of anthocyanins (a type of polyphenol) when compared to blueberries.
＊If you would like to receive local specialty products as a gift in return for your furusato nozei tax payment, please apply via “Furusato Choice.”
＊Furusato nozei (hometown tax) is a system that allows you to make donations to your hometown or other local municipalities you wish to support. By making a donation, you can receive about 30% of the donation amount back in gifts, as well as benefit from reductions (i.e. deduction) or refunds of your residential or income taxes.

*Request for the original data of our photographs

reported by Snownavi