Local Specialties

Daikon drying rack

If you were to sum up Tano in one phrase, "Daikon Town" would successfully capture the life-beat and culture of this community. While driving into central Tano, you are immediately welcomed, or accosted, depending on your affinity for the long white radish, by the strong odor of one of the local Daikon Pickle factories. Nature has blessed Tano with fertile lands, clean water, and cool, dry western winds in the winter; the ideal conditions for making Daikon Pickles. And with this, Tano has reaped the fruits of its land in being the #1 producer of Daikon Pickles throughout all of Japan.
As natural as the endless cycle of seasons, each winter Tano's landscape becomes dotted with "yagura", daikon drying racks, which symbolize that winter has come. These large bamboo structures, 50m long and 6 m high, are used to hang the harvested daikon, and it is here that the fate of the daikon is sealed that it will be made into pickles. Before the daikons are sold to the factory, they must be left to dry in the cool winds for about 10 days, where they gradually shrink and wrinkle, making for a sweeter more crisp pickle.

Daikon Pickles

Daikon Pickles, and other "tsukemono"-pickled foods, are a staple of the Japanese diet. A plain bowl of rice is considered incomplete without its partner, the "tsukemono" pickle. In Japanese food culture, eating is enjoyed as a total sensory experience, and Daikon Pickles serve many purposes in enhancing the meal. First, depending on the type of Daikon Pickle, its distinct sweet or salty flavor serves as a foil to enhance the flavor of the dish it accompanies. For example, the mildly sweet flavor of "zenzai", an azuki (red-bean) soup traditionally eaten around New Years, is heightened when accompanied with the contrasting bite of salty Daikon Pickles on the side. Also, Daikon Pickles add an aesthetic accent to Japanese cuisine with their delicate texture and distinct hues. Lastly, Daikon Pickles make an enjoyable crunching sound when chewed, which stimulates the appetite while adding to the pleasure of eating.Japanese pickles come in more flavors, colors and consistencies than one can imagine. If the chance allows you, I urge you to sample some "tsukemono" (pickles), and expand your taste-bud horizons.

Daikon Pickles

Green Tea
Tano's brisk winters gradually change into hot and humid summers that provide for ideal conditions to grow tea. The town's fragrant tea fields extend endlessly in long rows that seem to melt into each other and glisten with the morning dew.

Tea Field Green Tea

Sho-Chu

Throughout most of Kyushu, sho-chu, a white distilled liquor made from sweet potatoes, is much preferred over sake. Tano is no exception to this trend, with their favorite sho-chu being "Man-nen", a locally distilled premium label.
"Man-nen" begins in the fresh stream waters of Mt. Wanitsuka. It then undergoes careful distillation techniques and is stored for a long period, whereby the malt mellows and the flavor deepens.
Sho-chu drinking is a distinct part of Tano culture. Every night at 10pm the tune "Moon River" chimes over the town public announcement system, reminding the locals that its getting late and time to put their sho-chu bottles away for the night. Sho-chu drinkers claim that their spirit of choice will not leave you with a hangover the next day, and in fact, boost your energy. And a true sho-chu drinker has a particular way of enjoying their drink: hot or cold, with tea, water, or ice, and for the strongest - straight up.
One can imagine how much a role sho-chu has played in Tano politics and community relations. On any given night you can find various townspeople, ranging from a farmers association, assemblymen, to old classmates, gathered at one of the local snack bars, sharing a night of sho-chu drinking. As the hostess refills the glasses, the karaoke singing gets louder, and the laughter heartier, important business and social interactions flow along with the only translucent party present, the sho-chu.

Sho-Chu

Sweet Potato Ice Cream
Sweet potato ice cream, made from baked sweet potato paste, has a mild sweetness that is not only pleasing to your taste buds, but also healthy for your body. It comes in two different varieties, soft and hard, and can be bought at Michi no Eki, the gift shop on rte. 28 towards Kitago.