Roadside station "Izumi" in the unexplored region opens

On April 20, 2024, the 36th roadside station in Kumamoto Prefecture, Izumi, in the unexplored region, will open!

Izumi Town, Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture, is located in the central Kyushu Mountains and is known as the home of the Heike Oraji. Fureai Center Izumi, a regional exchange facility that opened in 1997 in Izumi Town, was registered as a "roadside station" and opened for business on April 20 as "Roadside Station Izumi: Unexplored Countryside. It is also the gateway to Gokanasho, where the legend of the fallen warrior Gokanasho is told, and is hoped that visitors will make use of it as a base for visiting historical sites and places of interest related to the Heike family that remain in the town.

Plenty of cedar planks are used, to create an expansive space.

The facility was built on a mountain plateau as an exchange facility for the former Izumi Village. The building is made of cedar planks, a material unique to the mid-mountainous area, and has a multi-purpose conference building, a product store, and a restaurant connected in an L-shape, facing each other across a decked terrace plaza. The plaza is said to be used for local exchanges as an event plaza for mini-concerts and the Gokaso Autumn Foliage Festival. The facility was awarded the 1997 Landscape Encouragement Prize as part of Kumamoto Prefecture's Kumamoto Artpolis Project, which creates outstanding buildings.

Izumi tea grown in a mountainous village Relax with a cup of richly flavored green tea

Izumi's specialties are green tea and shiitake mushrooms. The green tea is called "Izumi tea" or "Izumi tea," and according to the station manager, 14 local companies sell their products at the station's product shop. Kumamoto Prefecture is also known as a famous tea production area, and the main type of tea is steamed Tamaryokucha, whose tea leaves are in the shape of a tea caddy. Steamed tama-yokucha, which requires a longer steaming time than sencha, has less astringency and a mellower taste. The majority of farmers are involved in the entire process from cultivation to tea production and sales. The flavor of each tea is slightly different, making it a pleasure to find the green tea that suits your taste.

Yuzu seasoning produced by the station management company as a souvenir

Now, the station is operated by Izumi Corporation, a third-sector company. In fact, it has a food processing plant that develops, manufactures, and sells products using locally grown yuzu. The "Kakurezato Yuzu Juice" (756 yen), made by squeezing whole yuzu citrus fruits, can be used as a dipping sauce for nibu-zu, san-bu-zu, or a sprinkling on nabe dishes or drinks to add aroma. Kumamoto Akashu Yuzu Ponzu (756 yen) is made with red sake from Yamaga City's Chiyoen Sake Brewery and natural soy sauce from Ugi City's Matsuai Soy Sauce Company. The company is committed to the long-established sake and soy sauce breweries in Kumamoto Prefecture, and uses Kyushu-grown wheat, sun-dried salt, and no food additives.

Tantalize your taste buds with handmade dishes from the mountain villages Taste and volume are both very satisfying

Now, the menu at the restaurant "Rotan" is mainly set menus. Tempura made with local ingredients, dago soup, yama-mame, and Aso shochu shochu sake lees pork are the main side dishes, and all the rice for the staple dish is cereal rice. The main dish of rice is all cereal rice, and a small bowl of seasonal vegetables is also served. The "Shijimi Vegetable Meal" (top photo, 1,850 yen) is a hearty meal featuring grilled soybean (yamame) and tempura of the same name. The "Ryozai Kenmo" (bottom photo, 1,250 yen) is a main dish of dagojiru, a soup with a variety of root vegetables and other ingredients. It is filled with root vegetables and other ingredients, and the dago (dumplings) are chunky. The dago (dumplings) are chunky, and the handmade, gently seasoned ingredients are a delight. The nourishing taste of the ingredients gradually seeps into your body. The seasonal menu is abundant, including bamboo shoots in spring, shiitake mushroom somen tempura set in shiitake mushroom broth in summer, and chestnut set in autumn. Seasonal menus are also available on the website.

Roadside Station, Izumi, in the unexplored region
3296-1 Shimodake, Izumi-cho, Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture
0965-67-3500
Business hours 9:00-17:00 Restaurant 11:00-17:00 (evening hours available by reservation)
Closed Wednesdays, December 29-January 1
Access: 28 minutes from the Ugi Hikawa Smart IC on the Kyushu Expressway