Heartwarming Countryside Meals by a 76-Year-Old Chef in a 250-Year-Old Traditional House

Heartwarming Countryside Meals by a 76-Year-Old Chef in a 250-Year-Old Traditional House

How old are you? 7 and 6. It’s rice. Please enjoy the rice cooked in a pot! The child who doesn’t eat miso soup asked for a second helping of miso soup. Please eat our miso . Good morning. Even if you’re tired , you’re always smiling. Cucumbers. A big harvest. You may think I’m a country grandma, but the way I talk and everything is like that, isn’t it? Where are you from? Bangkok, Thailand . That’s why I’m a pioneer of vacant house migration. Hoshino Village, Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture (about 1 hour 45 minutes by car from Fukuoka). Fumi-chan’s Miso Soup Shop. Hello, Goto Fumiko . Before starting work, have a cup of tea . In Hoshino Village, you drink a cup of tea. Then, calm your mind, and then start your day’s work. Don’t rush, and then you won’t get hurt. I’ve heard that since I was a child, so that’s how important it is to have a cup of tea in the morning. Hoshino Village is famous for its tea. It’s the best in Japan . How old are you? I’m 76. I have to keep it bright, but my body is fine, and it’s getting older. I hope you have a good day today. I feel calm. Before I start working, I take medicine too, so I’m drinking special tea. I’ve started cooking. What do you think you’re doing? The stew for today’s dish was a little sweet . I cook each one in a pot like this, so it’s a lot of work. We haven’t grown pumpkins in Hoshino Village yet, but we’ll use some from Kumamoto. Are you going to serve them for lunch? Or for lunch boxes. I put them in a regular pack with rice and a side dish, and then serve them. Which one is the direct sales store ? Bamboo shoots. What kind of bamboo are they? Kashiro-dake (skinned white bamboo) Kashiro-dake (skinned white bamboo) A rare, beautiful white bamboo that grows wild only in parts of Kyushu, such as Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture. What about the taste of madake? No, it’s soft. It’s soft at this time of year . It looks like my daughter has come. She’s finally working hard to take over from me . Himeji, burdock, bamboo shoots, carrots. Rice is expensive, isn’t it? It’s difficult. It’s better to cut it as thinly as possible to make it look long. It’s better to use this kind of thing for presentation. Do you always say this? I’ve been told that for a long time , but I forget, so I do the same thing every day . 350 yen? Isn’t that cheap? It ‘s just right in Hoshino Village . Pickled cucumbers in miso . Which one would you like? Autumn leaves are good. There are autumn leaves around the pond. Let’s go and pick them up. They’re natural autumn leaves. They’re expensive, aren’t they ? If you do Kyoto cuisine, there are so many of them. Please feel free to use them. There are so many, so we have many different kinds. Did you make the pond? It’s been around for a long time. The owner of the house made the pond 270 years ago. The shop looks old, but how long ago is 270 years ? It’s a really nice house where the son of a village headman lived in the Edo period. We bought this house! 50 years ago, so we’re pioneers of vacant house migration! Where are you going now? We’re going to deliver lunch boxes to the direct sales store, and if there’s anything to buy, we’ll buy it. What do you mean by shopping? Vegetables Local vegetables Things that might be served here today? I’ll buy that too, and if I do potatoes and stuff, I won’t be able to use it right away if I don’t buy it, so I ‘ll stock up and go deliver lunch boxes.Good morning , Hoshino Village Farm Products Direct Sales Shop, Bison.Is the corn done ? Yes! It’s the first time I’ve done it, but I ‘m glad it didn’t get any bugs.The cabbage is growing well, isn’t it ?Mom, what’s this miso? It’s Fumi-chan’s miso.I have a really delicious miso called Hoshino Miso, and it’s selling so well that I don’t have enough.I’m aging it now.This is my product , and I sell it here too.It ‘s a furikake made with gyokuro and sencha tea.Kurazumi Seikeien is a person who won the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award, and they make it using their own powdered tea.They make all kinds of things, something new, they’re always full of energy , no matter how tired they are, they’re always smiling and working hard.Since they’re always moving, they hardly ever get a chance to rest, do they? They can talk, and we get each other’s energy again, and when they find good ingredients, they let me know, “It’s in,” and I’ll use it, and I want the customers who come to enjoy it.What kind of impression do you have of her? A very good mother Let’s rub some sesame seeds♪ The type of mother that everyone likes 3090 yen I’m glad there was corn today I went to a neighbor’s field to get some vegetables There are some nice cucumbers growing There are some nice cucumbers ! There are some cucumbers! I’m going to pick some cucumbers It’s a cucumber I want to wash it and take a bite The next flower is still blooming The next flower is blooming It’s a big harvest It’s the time of year when you hardly dig them up I’ve almost dug them up I don’t think there’s enough to come out saying “I dug them up!” But I ‘ll take this and go I guess she’s like a country grandma The way she talks and everything is like that I’ve come to the country Don’t use city words It’s really nice There’s a lot of harvest and it’s prickly These are cucumbers that still have flowers Wash them Crunch them and eat them with salt Really , these are cucumbers that you can only get here I’ll microwave these What is that? It’s corn. I’m going to microwave the corn I just bought. I don’t need to boil it, I’ll just microwave it. Can I eat it just like that? It’s sweet! It ‘s delicious . I didn’t think it would be this sweet. How much was it? It’s 300 yen, 150 yen per stalk. Do you measure it in masu? It’s different when you cook it in a hagama. Yes, everyone says it tastes sweeter. The unique hardness of the hagama. You can’t eat hard rice cooked in a normal cooker, but you can eat the hard (rice) cooked in a hagama. It’s a strange feeling. In the past, this ash was used as fertilizer. We used this ash to remove the lye when making konjac. Do you do this every day? It’s always left over, so we don’t want to waste it . Rice is a precious commodity, so it’s especially expensive now. We’ve done it. We only put umeboshi in the summer. If you always put umeboshi in your bento to keep the rice from spoiling, they say “the rice won’t spoil,” right? I’ve never heard that before . That’s what it means with a Hinomaru bento. Here’s rice with umeboshi . Enjoy your hagama rice! I make miso soup with Hoshino miso and combined miso.This is Fumi-chan’s most delicious miso.It has a gentle taste with no chemical seasonings.It ‘s so gentle that I’ll be a little mean to you.The stronger it is, the better it tastes.It brings out the fullness of the flavor.How much miso is made each year? We produce about one rice a month, and after washing 240-250kg, we get 500kg of finished product.In 1989, the government told us to stop producing rice, and to stop making rice fields, so we asked ourselves what to produce after the rice fields, and we decided on soybeans.Once the soybeans were finished , we had rice , so we decided to make a miso factory, and we have a fine facility, a big facility.We’ve been working hard to make more than one person…Me too, I know I’m not very stubborn, but I don’t want to let something that’s just a given be a given, and we’ve made something incredibly delicious, and a kid who doesn’t eat miso soup asked for a second helping of our miso, and that’s what he said.We’ll keep working hard if the kids are that happy, then we can make this the most delicious miso we’ve ever made.We received this sticker on the dumplings , and we always keep them frozen for later.We mix them ourselves, cut them once, and boil them, then put them in bags like this, freeze them, and let them thaw naturally before using them.So how did you start making dumpling soup? I’ve been growing wheat for a long time, and I have memories of being forced to tread on the wheat. Even though it was so cold, my feet were so cold, and I had to tread on the frost pillars. So I made flour at home, and that was a substitute for rice. I use dumplings so that the rice doesn’t run out. If you eat a bowl full of this, you won’t need any rice. It’s truly a local dish. Hello, I’ve been looking after Fumi-chan, and I came to Hoshino Village for the first time around February this year. I’m now living in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. Have you decided on a house in Hoshino Village? Why Hoshino Village? My kids said Hoshino Village would be nice, so my parents’ house is in Uike (Yame City) . Today I met your mother for the first time, why are you so energetic? All my sisters are like that too. I have 10 siblings, and the youngest is the eldest son. The rest are all older sisters. I’m the ninth. Because I’m the youngest, we fought over food, work, and everything else . It’s really delicious. We use “Fukuyutaka” beans from Fukuoka Prefecture, so it’s locally produced and has a very warm taste. The miso soup is old-fashioned and very delicious. The rice is better at places like Hoshino than the rice I eat in Tokyo . It’s delicious when you eat it while looking at nature. Is it rich in flavor? It has a sour taste, not a sweet one! What do you think of the dumplings? They’re really delicious, and they’re chewy. There’s a secret ingredient in the dough that Fumi-chan has added, so I wonder what kind of secret ingredient it is? It’s a secret. Look! The color is beautiful, it’s freshly picked! It’s delicious . Have you tried it yet? Sorry to keep you waiting . The tekka miso is also delicious. It’s made with 4-year-old miso. This is our special dago soup. Where are you from today? Bangkok, Thailand. Your Japanese is really good. How’s it going? I came from Thailand and I was able to eat this food, and it’s hard to find anything like this in Thailand, so it’s delicious . Do you have any dishes in Thailand (dago soup)? There aren’t any. Miso soup is in Japan, Japanese miso soup is the best. What is it? Is it made with potatoes? Try it and guess! Can you guess? From the appearance, it’s potatoes. The powdered potatoes are also very sweet, so I thought it might be potatoes. It was delicious. It ‘s full of vegetables and gentle on the stomach. It tastes like my grandmother’s cooking. Why are you wearing a kimono? I’m going to Hita soon, and there’s an improvisational piano live performance that looks very colorful, but I thought Japanese food would be calming, so I had a bite and it was delicious.

00:00 Introduction
01:02 main story
02:44 Prep Work
07:05 Ingredient Shopping
10:34 Harvesting Vegetables
12:40 Cooking
15:09 Cooking Rice
17:18 Making Miso Soup
20:29 Regular Customers

In the quiet mountains of Hoshino Village, there stands a traditional farmhouse where time seems to have stopped.
This is “Fumichan’s Miso Soup House.”

Run by the proprietress Fumichan in a 270-year-old kominka (traditional Japanese home), this charming restaurant serves her signature dago-jiru—a hearty miso soup made with her own homemade “Hoshino miso.”
Each bowl is filled with seasonal vegetables, offering a nostalgic flavor that gently warms both body and soul.

Alongside wood-fired rice, river fish, and mountain vegetable dishes, Fumichan’s meals provide a truly comforting countryside experience.
Come and taste the warmth of “Fumichan’s cooking” in the heart of nature.

Name: Fumichan no Miso Shiru-ya-san
Address: 4540 Hoshino-mura, Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Phone: 0943‑52‑2204
Hours: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Closed: Irregular holidays
Website: https://hoshino-fumichan.com/
Owner: Tomiko Goto

Menu
Chef’s Special Set Meal: ¥1,400
Chef’s Special Wild Vegetable Tempura Set: ¥1,700
Fumichan’s Teishoku (set meal): ¥1,100
Special Dago-jiru (miso dumpling soup): ¥650

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