Wasabi Experiences in Japan

21 comments

1. I did this a few years ago (before Toyosu fish market opened) so I’m not sure what has changed about it since then, but [this](https://www.airbnb.ca/experiences/71924) Airbnb experience was great and the meal included fresh wasabi that we grated ourselves. You could message him to ask if in still includes the fresh wasabi.

2. Real wasabi is everywhere in Japan. Just go to a restaurant, you don’t need to sign up for some ripoff “wasabi experience.”

3. Wasabi Daio farm is literally that. It’s a farm, so you can see wasabi growing in the water plus buy lots of wasabi flavoured snacks. When there, look for wasabi chocolate. It’s the best prank prop ever, but it’s really popular and is often sold out. If you managed to get some, don’t keep it open, finish the full bar very fast or it will soon become very boring white chocolate.
   The farm is a nice addition to the trip to Matsumoto, but I wouldn’t travel there for the farm alone.

4. Agree with previous commenters that if you just want to experience eating real wasabi, you’ll find it with little effort in restaurants.

   Note though that really good sushi and sashimi in Japan will be served with much less wasabi and soy sauce (if at all), compared to most japanese restos outside of Japan. It’s because the ingredients are so fresh and the dish so well made that it needs very little addition (your chef might even adjust the size of nigiri to the size of your mouth, for the perfect biteful!). I would suggest booking the best omakase you can afford!

5. If you’re very interested in the “experience,” I would recommend looking for a combined fish market tour/sushi meal experience. A couple of years ago I did one that started at 5am, went first to Toyosu and seeing the tuna auctions, then went to Tsukiji, then finished at a small sushi restaurant around 11am, where the proprietor made an amazing, 10?-course omakase meal using fresh seafood we had seen him buy at the markets.

   Wasabi was an important element of this experience; the chef bought some roots for us at the markets, and showed us how to do the grating at the meal table, including the shark skin graters.

   The experience was not cheap, maybe USD$130 per person, but it’s one of those experiences I would buy again in a heartbeat. Also, just the meal by itself was arguably worth that much!

6. I’ve been to Daio wasabi fam as I was going to Matsumoto and I is quite nice.

   If you want to taste real wasabi, for sure you can do in sushi restaurant. The difference is that at the farm, you can see how wasabi is cultivated and you can try different things made with wasabi, not just the root, but also the stem and leaf. I personally decided to eat zaru soba with side dish of different pickled wasabi. There was some real wasabi paste to eat the soba. They also gave a piece of the plant you can bring back home to cook with it, but considering I was traveling for over a week after that and would not even consider trying to bring it home, I just left it there. I also tried wasabi ice cream (that is not spicy).

   So it is a really nice place if you want the experience of seeing how wasabi is grown and try it in different form. If you want to eat high quality sushi with real wasabi, it might not be the best place to go. So you might want to divide the full wasabi experience in two part.

   For sure it’s not the only place where wasabi is cultivated, so there might be other options if you want to see a wasabi farm, but I think that Azumino is relatively easy to access if you plan other things around like Matsumoto, then you can combine with other place (depending on the direction you want to go) such as Nagano, Kiso valley, Okuhida (Kamikoci) or even the Tateyama Kurobe alpine route.

7. Daio wasabi farm was one of the most tranquil experiences I had in Japan. Was impressed by how clean the streams were that flowed into the wasabi fields.

8. A little tip if you want to avoid that teary-eyed/nose tinge-ing/coughing fit sensation when tasting wasabi.

   When you feel that the wasabi starts to hit, deeply inhale from the nose, then exhale from mouth. Keep inhaling and exhaling until that feeling subsides.

   A relative taught me this trick whenever they had it.

9. Real wasabi in a sushi restaurant in Japan was the best cure for a headache that I’ve ever had.

   Hope you enjoy your experience.

10. If you’re in grocery stores, keep a look out for [wasabi zuke](http://kyoudo-ryouri.com/en/food/2521.html) (わさび漬け) in the deli section! It’s my favorite.

11. If you are anywhere near Kanagawa / Shizuoka you can go to [Joren Falls](https://goo.gl/maps/isDNhfVdeHEFJ6UH9) where you can purchase fresh wasabi, both grated and whole, I believe. In the same area are the [Wasabi Fields of Ikadaba](https://goo.gl/maps/EDzZCXVTjogJUcZr8) where you can see the wasabi being grown but not actually buy anything…

12. As mentioned, the farms will probably give you the experience of Wasabi in all its forms (leaves, rhizomes, in ice cream, soba, etc etc.)

    However, you *should* be able to find wasabi in (some? larger? upscale?) grocery stores.

    I’m pretty sure it was [this market](https://www.tokyu-dept.co.jp/shibuya_foodshow/floor/b1_smc.html) at Tokyu Food Show that, back in 2019, I went to (to help with orientation, [this is the “main” Food Show area](https://www.tokyu-dept.co.jp/shibuya_foodshow/floor/b1_shibuchika.html)). They had a few rhizomes in a water tray (ah! I think [this is a photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A7_%E7%94%9F%E3%82%8F%E3%81%95%E3%81%B3_%E3%81%AD%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A8%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8C%E3%81%84%E3%82%82_(20439214016).jpg) from that store–the metadata location seems correct) with the other fruits and veggies.

    I also tried finding some in Osaka. There was a store in Abeno Q’s Mall (next to Tennoji station) that had some but it was wrapped up in plastic (like at Trader Joe’s; scroll down about mid-way [here, for examples](https://rawismyreligion.com/only-in-japan/)). It looked like it *might* have some soil or fuzzy stuff and since I wanted to bring some wasabi back with me (legally!), I didn’t buy it. (I wanted to get stuff that was totally clean to make getting pass the agriculture inspection at Customs go as smoothly as possible.)

    Oh! if you do go this route, then you’ll need a grater (*oroshigane*) for the proper experience; that’ll probably be about 1500-2000Y for a cheap one.

13. FYI- It is relatively easy to grow and propagate if you are in the right climate. Can be done in pots on a apartment balcony too!

14. If you go to any tourist spots in Shizuoka, especially the Izu peninsula area, wasabi-everything is everywhere. Wasabi don (rice bowl) is a regional specialty, they will even give you fresh wasabi to grate for other rice-based meals too.

15. When you eat real wasabi with some fatty tuna there’s no bite. You can probably find wasabi kit kat and wasabi ice cream in Japan as well.

16. High end teppanyaki places will often serve the steak with wasabi that’s good quality.

17. Real wasabi delicious. A sushi place near me actually uses it. You know it’s real when you eat it and it doesn’t roundhouse kick your sinuses

18. Wasabi Garden Kadoya
    0558-35-7290
    https://maps.app.goo.gl/mVMgNMR18R4jwrgm9 👍

19. It’s a lot more mild. It’s actually a little more bland than I was expecting

20. Lots of places up in Nagano have wasabi based dishes because of the proximity to the farms. I had an amazing Wasabi leaf soba at a small convenience store by the side of the lake on Suwa….looking for the name and will get back to you! Point being though….Nagano is worth bumming around in for a bit to see what wasabi dishes you might find!

21. Hi,

    Last saturday, i was in Aumino, Nagano, near Matsumoto city. and visited this farm. This is the largest natural wasabi farm in Japan. i think there is no experimental tour for wasabi, however, If you like wasabi, it’s worth a visit. Take taxi or bus form Hotaka station on JR Ohito-line.

    ​

    https://www.daiowasabi.co.jp/