Hatcho Miso

A must-visit for miso lovers.

Miso is a fermented food made from two basic ingredients, soybeans and salt, and is considered an essential condiment in Japanese cuisine. Rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals, miso is a traditional Japanese paste-like seasoning widely used in both traditional and modern cooking.

Hatcho Miso is the oldest existing miso factory in Japan and has been operating continuously since 1337. (Ha means 8, and Cho means one city block) Hat-cho means that the miso factory was built 8 city blocks from Okazaki Castle.

Hatcho miso is a variety of red miso made from soybeans, known for its dense, rich flavor and relatively low salt content compared to some rice-based miso varieties.

Hatcho Miso offers free tours of its factory where you can observe and learn how miso is traditionally made, and no reservation is required.

The tour runs every half hour from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM and from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

The first thing you need to do is go to the reception desk and pick up the registration form; it will have the start time written on it.

You don’t need to fill out the form unless you want to receive information from the company.

But don’t throw it away because you might win a packet of miso after the tour.

There’s a Japanese guide who takes us to see the museum and learn about the company’s history. The museum has a section describing the traditional manufacturing process using a life-size mannequin, and you can also see rows of gigantic miso barrels with stones stacked in a pyramid shape on top, which are used to ferment the miso.

And in the museum you can see not only miso-making tools, but also an old Kimono that was worn when the owner brought freshly made miso to load at Okazaki Castle. At the end of the tour, we had 3 types of tasting; Fazcho-miso soup, Akashi Miso-soup and Konjac with haccho-miso sauce (may change depending on the day).

This tour and tasting takes almost an hour and is free. After the tour, we went to their restaurant, where we could sample a range of famous Nagoya dishes.

After the tour, you can get 2 free packets of your miso to take home and also sample miso soups.

They also have a snack shop where you can sample the incomprehensible variety of miso-related pastes, sauces, dips, and snacks (nuts, crackers, and cookies). There’s also miso ice cream for sale for 400 yen and restaurants that serve food with their hatko miso.

Come and discover and taste Miso.