Entering the building, you get a whiff of the main attraction before you see it. It's not surprising, considering the New Ginger Museum -- set up by and located on the grounds of Iwashita Corp. in Tochigi, Tochigi Prefecture -- is dedicated to the company's star product, the aptly named "Iwashita no Shin-Shoga" (Iwashita's new ginger).
For its new ginger, Iwashita uses a variety called Bendao Ginger that is produced in central Taiwan. About 30 farming families cultivate the crop, repeatedly covering it with soil when sprouts appear. Compared with the standard ginger grown in Japan, it is long and thin, has a crunchy quality and is slightly spicy.
In 1978, then-company President Kunio Iwashita took a business trip to Taiwan in search of new ingredients. It was on the flight over, during the in-flight meal, that he tasted and was won over by Bendao Ginger.
However, he found that it was difficult to cultivate the variety in Japan. He then established the technology to import the product using cold storage. He also successfully developed a method of lowering the sodium content at the stage before full-fledged pickling, and nine years later, in 1987, reached the point where he could begin commercialization.
The pink of the new ginger is the central color throughout the museum, which has free admission. A playfulness abounds, whether it be from the five-meter high new ginger "headgear," or the Ginger Shrine, which in Japanese is "jinja jinja," a play on words using the Japanese pronunciation of "ginger" and the word for shrine. Also on display are illustrations of characters sent in by fans of the new ginger.
The museum building was originally used to display the art collection of Kunio Iwashita. But after his death, the company began searching for other ways to use the building, keeping in mind that about 5,000 people visited annually.
"I want to do something that fans of the new ginger will enjoy," thought Kazunori Iwashita, 52, Kunio's son and the current company president.
From June 2015, the building was reborn as the museum for new ginger.
The company is constantly working to come up with promotional ideas. It has held events for Halloween and Christmas, invited young musicians to give live concerts and produced original merchandise. Word is spreading gradually and the museum has even been featured in a travel magazine. The annual number of visitors has surpassed 140,000.
Ideally for the museum, a visitor, upon returning home, will have a meal with new ginger as they recall enjoyable memories from their visit.
-- New Ginger Museum
Visitors can have a hands-on experience of pickling vegetables and other foods with new ginger brine. Classes are held Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays from 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (800 yen per person). The museum cafe menu includes pizza, pasta, curry, ice cream and other items that feature new ginger as an ingredient.
Address: 1-25, Honcho, Tochigi, Tochigi Prefecture
Open: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed Tuesdays (except on national holidays) and for year-end and New Year's holidays.
Admission: Free
For more information, call (0282) 20-5533
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
