Yoshida Furusato-mura

From a Small Village to the World Food Scene

Yoshida Furusato-mura is deeply rooted in a small village Yoshida-mura (its current official name is Yoshida-cho, Unnan City), which is located in the mountains of Shimane Prefecture. Surrounded by forests and with an abundance of natural blessings, the company cultivates various agricultural products in collaboration with local farmers and develops them into items that captures the village’s character. Those unique products include “Orochi-no-Tsume” (Claws of Orochi, a Japanese mythical serpent) brand chili pepper, special soy sauce for “tamago kake gohan” (steamed rice topped with freshly cracked raw egg and soy sauce), and “tare” sauce for barbecue. Yoshida Furusato-mura’s premier products are now appreciated in both Japan and overseas.

A Company Run by Villagers

Yoshida Frustato-Mura was established in 1985 as a private public partnership jointly owned by the local government and the village residents who wanted to save the village from the drastic population outflow that they were experiencing at that time. Today, about 80 employees are doing business in various fields from production and sales of food items, tourism, transportation, engineering and local infrastructure initiatives. Since 2005, they have hosted the "Annual Tamago Kake Gohan Symposium” to bring audiences from outside the Oku-Izumo region and revitalize the local community. In 2020, they started to manage “Seiranso”, a public-owned hostel with onsen hot springs.

Location

Home of Yoshida Furusato-mura, Yoshida-cho in Shimane Prefecture, is a small village surrounded by deep forests with merely 1,600 residents. The village is known as the premier chili pepper producer in Japan thanks to its good-drainage soils, perfect for growing the pepper.