Roadside Station Sugo

Super sweet sweet corn
Ripe ketchup is another hot item.

The Sugo district of Taketa City is over 500 meters above sea level and is the highest plateau area in Taketa City. Highland vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, and radish, which grow in an area with a large temperature difference between day and night, are the main products of the product center. The difference in temperature makes the vegetables grow sweet. Speaking of sweet, the area's prized produce is sweet corn. Its sugar content is said to exceed that of melons. It is no exaggeration to say that the produce center is filled with sweet corn in the summer. The neighboring town of Ogimachi is also famous for its tomatoes. The ketchup made from the ripe tomatoes attracted a lot of attention on "Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai" (The World Matsuko Does Not Know). This ketchup is also sold at the roadside station. It is also rare to find a Lawson in one corner of the parking lot.

Map of Roadside Station Sugo

Roadside Station Sugo Gourmet Information

Buy this Original Somen and Noodle Soup

Taketa City is famous for sweet corn in the Sugo district and tomatoes in the Ogi district. Oita Prefecture is famous for its kabosu. Roadside Station Sugo collaborated with a noodle manufacturing company in Kumamoto Prefecture to sell "Sweet Corn Somen," "Tomato Somen," and "Kabosu Somen" from July 2023. The three-color Soumen noodles, made with Kumamoto flour, are visually gorgeous: cream yellow sweet corn, pale pink tomato, and pastel green kabosu. Each 90g bag is priced at 324 yen including tax.
In October of the same year, Takeda City set a Guinness record for the distance of "Nagashi Somen" with this Somen. In the spring of 2024, the city decided to collaborate with a soy sauce maker in Usuki City, which supported the event, to produce men-tsuyu, and began selling it as "Takeda-shi shiitake men-tsuyu" (350 yen, 540 yen including tax). The triple concentrated men-tsuyu made from extracted soup stock of dried shiitake mushrooms produced in Taketa is perfect for three-color somen noodles. The boxed set that includes two bags each of this men-tsuyu and somen noodles would also make a great gift. It is also a great value at 1,980 yen instead of the original price of 2,500 yen.

Sweet corn, a local specialty

The area is one of the leading sweet corn production areas in Kyushu. The area around the "Road Station" is also lined with corn fields, and the view of ears of corn swaying in the wind for two kilometers is breathtaking. The sweet corn produced in the Sugo area is mainly the yellowish-yellow variety called "Megumi Gold" and "Gold Rush. The sweet corn in Sugo has been bred to be sweet, sweet, sweet," he says, emphasizing the "sweet" aspect of the crop. When you bite into a piece of sweet corn, the crunchy kernels pop in your mouth and the sweet juice leaps out all at once. It is truly juicy and sweet! The "corn soft serve ice cream" (350 yen) is also very popular.

Around Roadside Station Sugo

Nanatsumori Tomb and higanbana (cluster amaryllis)

If you want to have fun in the area

It is located less than 2 kilometers from the roadside station, about 3 minutes by car. It is located along Route 57 from the castle town of Takeda City to the roadside station, just before the station. Nanatsumori Kofun Tumulus is estimated to be the oldest Kinai-type tumulus in the Toyohi area, built in the early Kofun period. As the name suggests, there used to be seven burial mounds, but only four are still standing. It is a nationally designated historic site. Around the burial mounds, about 200,000 higanbana (cluster amaryllis) flowers grow in clusters. Shortly after the war, local residents planted these flowers to maintain the ruined burial mounds, but over the years, the wild higanbana has spread. The Nanakkamori Higanbana Festival is held every year in mid-September.

Shirusui Dam

If you want to have fun in the area

Also known as the Queen of Dams, the falling water from the dam makes the scenery look like a pure white dress. Construction was completed in 1938. The official name of the dam is "Hakusui Tameike Weir Water Conservancy Facility. In fact, the Japanese River Law defines a dam as an embankment with a height of 15 meters or more, and the Hakusui Dam is not officially a dam because its embankment height is 13.9 meters, a little more than one meter higher than that of the original dam. In 1999, it was designated a National Important Cultural Property. Currently, earth excavation work is underway, and the overflow is suspended from late October to early June each year until the work is completed in May 2025.