Matt's Yamanashi Life

I know many people who love to have their own special place in the world, whether its a special fishing spot, a slot machine, a Vietnamese meat roll shop, or a Owl Cafe. Everyone needs to have that place where they can re invigorate themselves and get their thoughts clear before watching Glenn Maxwell play cricket. For me, its the mountain I look at everyday above Morita Farm at Kamikurokoma Misaka’s Himine Shrine. There are numerous hiking tracks with views of Mt Fuji, Kofu

Everyone knows you can enjoy fresh fish in Japan, there’s plenty of information out there for you to learn about that topic. This post is to enlighten you about some alternatives to fish that you can enjoy without a frypan in sight while in the mountains of Yamanashi. Growing up in New Zealand and watching Mr Bean eating his Steak tartar, we were taught that eating raw meats were a sin. It didn’t help that my sister was quite close to being diagnosed with Cibophobia, so in ou

I climbed Mt Fuji for the first time back in July 2009, at the start of the school holidays, climbed overnight with limited clothing, no torch and the only food I brought along being two cold cheeseburgers. Once I got to the top, the wind was so bad I’m sure I saw Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton running around trying to make a movie. Its fair to say I agreed with the old Japanese proverb that every Mt Fuji blog likes to warn us about, ‘He who climbs Fuji once is wise; he who climb

The 4 seasons in Yamanashi are as distinct as you can get. There are major extremes with summer in the Kofu, Isawa area getting to 40C and Kiyosato city sometimes getting to -20C in winter. Coming from the tropics of Cairns where there is only wet and dry season, it makes for some interesting places to visit all year round. In Enzan area of Yamanashi, you will find one of regions most sought after areas, Nishizawa Valley. All year round there are changing views, I haven't exp

Here’s one of Yamanashi’s tastiest spots for a stunning feast. When you're visiting the Mt Fuji area you would be a fool not to go to Moose Hills Burgers at Kawaguchiko. These burgers will make grin more than when you scroll through tinder in the Czech Republic. They are huge burgers that even filled up my friend who once ate a whole leg of venison. I got told this is the place where the Japanese Prime Minister comes when he's craving a burger, could be a yarn, but after tast

We have finished bagging all our peaches, now its a waiting game for the sun to plump up our fruit ready for around mid July. After every stage of production, it's tradition to have a small party to congratulate all for their hard work. In different places I've lived, a party is when you end up sleeping in a park with cuts and bruises all over your body then waking up deciding that milk will make you feel better,remember it's always a bad choice. The party means our farm owne

We began our first stages of peach farming in 30-degree heat, not the sapping Cairns heat, but with cool valley breezes flowing through to ensure we could enjoy ourselves. The first stage of the production process we were involved in was putting single individual bags on each fruit. On farms within NZ and Australia, it is something that is not only rare but actually I'm not sure it is even done. With limited space and specific consumer demands, quality of fruit certainly rain

Thanks Cairns, It's finally come, packing completed, apartment keys handed in, car sold, farewells dusted, the job finished up, 200 beers drunk and that dam iron man festival has come to an end… However, as I post this we have missed to final bus to Yamanashi, as it took the baggage handlers over 1 hour to unload the plane of bikes. It wasn't the worst sleep I’ve had at an Airport but it still made me grumpier than a night shift worker not being able to finish on time. Firstl