Sampling country cuisine—with dishes featuring fresh, local ingredients topping the menu—is an appealing part of any visit to rural Japan, and Kamikōchi is no exception. Here the cuisine revolves around wild mountain vegetables and char (iwana), a medium-sized freshwater fish that flourishes in the Azusa River.

One of the most popular river fish among Japanese anglers, iwana are found in regions across Japan. The name means “rock fish” after the boulder-strewn mountain streams they inhabit. In Kamikōchi, iwana are most often served salted and grilled, a dish known as iwana shioyaki. The traditional means of preparing it is to skewer the whole fish on a long stick, then push one end of the stick into the ash surrounding the fire in a sunken hearth known as an irori. Standing this way, occasionally rotated for even cooking, they grill slowly for around forty minutes. Local cooks also smoke the fish in a wicker basket suspended over the fire and then add them to sake, creating the rustic alcoholic drink iwana kotsuzake. Fresh iwana is also excellent served raw, and iwana sashimi is included in the multi-course meals at some Kamikōchi lodging facilities.

Sansai, edible wild plants from the mountains, are another local specialty. The young shoots of three types of fern are staples of sansai cuisine: Asian royal fern (zenmai), ostrich fern (kogomi), and bracken (warabi). Japanese spikenard (udo) is a crunchy vegetable similar to celery that is often served with vinegared miso. Butterbur (fuki) stems are frequently simmered in soy sauce and mirin (cooking sake), then served with bonito flakes.

Sansai can be served as tempura, boiled and mixed with a dressing (aemono), added to simmered dishes (nimono), or made into pickles (tsukemono). They are the topping for buckwheat noodles in the dish called sansai soba, and some establishments offer simmered and chilled sansai as side dishes with sake.

Kamikōchi is such an established tourist destination that it is easy to forget the considerable challenges that were overcome to build and maintain a resort in such a remote valley. For decades, anything that could not be found or made on site—from food and daily essentials to construction materials—had to be carried in over high alpine passes, often through deep snow.

The site was remote, but it had distinct advantages: great natural beauty, proximity to the surrounding peaks, and—unusual for a high mountain settlement—a sunny basin location. Building roads through the Oku-Hida mountains was the first challenge, but by 1887 construction began on Kamikōchi’s first inn. The owner rented the nationally owned land for ¥20, a high price at the time. It was a gamble, but one that paid off. After the Kama Tunnel opened in 1926, greatly improving access, Kamikōchi was declared one of the “eight most scenic spots in Japan,” and visitors poured in. By the 1970s, Japan was experiencing a mountaineering boom, and climbing Mt. Yari and the various peaks of Mt. Hotaka was on every alpinist’s dream list. To get there, they came to Kamikōchi—which became known as the “gateway to the Japanese Alps.”

Today, accommodations are available to fit all budgets and objectives—campsites, hotels, traditional inns (ryokan), and mountain lodges. The campsites are inexpensive, with dishwashing facilities and secure food storage (to deter bears). There are sites with pre-erected tents and traditional campsites for visitors who prefer to bring their own. For a step up in comfort, Kamikōchi’s hotels and inns offer well-appointed facilities with numerous amenities, full-course meals made with local ingredients, and in one case, hot-spring baths. Visitors seeking a casual, but comfortable, middle ground may be interested in one of the mountain lodges.

As a side note, the Kamikōchi resort area has survived several natural disasters. During the twentieth century, Mt. Yake (2,456 m) erupted twice: in 1915 and 1962, with the second eruption depositing 5 centimeters of volcanic ash on Kappa Bridge overnight. Luckily, Kamikōchi escaped lasting damage.