Antenna shops where you can buy local delicacies and specialty products. You can indulge in beloved local soul food, thoroughly enjoy the local liquor, or get recommended tourist information. Everyone has their own way of enjoying it. Minato-ku is dotted with antenna shops from Akita, Fukui, Nara, Kagawa, and Ehime prefectures. This time, we will introduce four antenna shops that you can visit with a feel of taking a trip.

The Akitabisaikan has a dining area where you can enjoy Akita’s signature foods, and a shop with a selection of Akita specialties. The 76-seat dining room offers sake, Hinai Jidori chicken, hatahata sandfish, and other Akita delicacies. The Kiritanpo nabe, a representative of Akita's local cuisine, uses the broth of Hinai Jidori, known as one of Japan's three great local chickens, for its soup. The ingredients include plenty of Hinai Jidori meat, green onions, maitake mushrooms, and Japanese parsley.

The shop offers a wide range of products, including Akita's signature staples such as Iburigakko and Inaniwa Udon, as well as local breads that Akita natives buy in large quantities because they feel nostalgic, and locally popular sweets and alcoholic beverages.

Inaniwa udon, which is counted as one of the three major udon noodles in Japan, is popular for its smooth and elegant texture.

The restaurant has a "Chokotto Nomi" corner with a coin-operated server machine. With a dedicated coin, customers can taste their favorite sake from a selection of six different types.

The "Namahage" that appear during events are also popular, and even scared children say goodbye to them with children say goodbye at the end with a fist touch.
The dining room also offers the "Sake Festa," an all-you-can-drink sake plan during dinner time on two days a month, and the monthly "Namahage Night Party," in which Namahage parade to the seats of customers who are having dinner. The "Namahage Night Party" is held once a month.

In Akita, where you can feel the full four seasons, there are many sights, traditional cultures, local dishes, sake, and other things passed on from the ancestors. Kakunodate’s cherry blossoms and samurai residences, the Kanto Festival in Akita-shi, the Nishimonai Bon Dance in Ugo-machi. In autumn, the mountains turn red, orange, and yellow. In winter, there are many small New Year's events held in various areas, such as kamakura in Yokote. As for food, in addition to sake and local dishes, Sakihokore, a rice that focuses on taste, made its authentic debut at the end of October 2022. It is available for purchase at the Akitabisaikan.


Akita Bisaikan
1F Wing Takanawa WEST-Ⅲ, 4-10-8 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo
https://www.a-bisaikan.jp/
Open Hours：11:00-23:00
<Dining>
Lunch time 11:00-15:30 (LO14:30)
Dinner time: 17:00-23:00 (LO21:00)

"Fukui Minami Aoyama 291" was renovated and reopened in March 2023 as a facility with the aim of enhancing the transmission of the appeal of Fukui’s food and supporting the business of small and medium-sized enterprises in the prefecture. The first floor is a dining space where you can casually enjoy Fukui's food, and the second floor is a co-working space where companies in the prefecture and those in the Tokyo metropolitan area can interact to create new business opportunities, making it a base for business development and branding through food.

The co-working space offers meeting rooms that are ideal for meetings and business discussions, and workspaces that support a variety of ways of work, providing a flexible environment that suits the size of your project and the way you work.

A meeting room for up to 12 people, ideal for business discussions and brainstorming. This is where new innovations are born.

The dining space on the first floor attracts a wide range of customers, from students to those with children and to the elderly. You can have a relaxing time. There is also space for strollers. A multipurpose lavatory is available.

In the food and drink area, the menu that uses "Ichihomare," a Fukui brand rice, is popular. Rice balls are additive-free, so parents can give them to their children with peace of mind. We heard that elderly people often order them and that the breakfast menu, which started in July, is especially popular with people living in the neighborhood.

The new rice burger made with Wakasa beef is tender and very juicy. This is the ultimate rice burger with a luxurious feel.

In response to customers' requests to purchase the ingredients used in the cafe's menu, an irregular "Fukui Field Market" is scheduled at the event space on the first floor starting in July, selling seasonal vegetables and fruits from Fukui.
As “the happiest prefecture” in Japan, Fukui has a thriving manufacturing industry, including eyeglasses and lacquer ware, and is also home to a wealth of gourmet foods, such as "Echizen crab" and "Ichihomare". Explore the attractions of Fukui, surrounded by the majestic Sea of Japan and abundant nature, at Fukui Minami Aoyama 291.

Fukui Minami Aoyama 291
Glasseria Aoyama, 4-4-41, Minami-Aoyama 5-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo
https://fukui291.jp/minamiaoyama/
Open Hours：8:00-20:00

The Nara Mahorobakan was renovated and reopened in August 2021 after being relocated from Nihombashi to Shimbashi. It is used by many people as a comprehensive information center that not only sells products, but also provides information on food, Nara-related events, and sightseeing information. On the first floor, you will find a shop stocked with wonderful Nara products, a tourist information area with a travel concierge, and Cafe & Bar Mahora, where you can enjoy Nara's delicacies.

A popular menu item at Cafe&Bar Mahoroba on the first floor is the ""Seared Kakinoha Sushi Set,"" which includes savory "Kakinoha Sushi" roasted over a burner, "Miwa Somen" and Nara dessert all in one dish.
The "Kakinoha Sushi" at Nara Mahoroba-kan is purchased from a Kakinoha Sushi shop in Nara!
In addition, an all-you-can-drink sake bar starts at 5:00 p.m. You can also purchase products in the store and eat them as snacks.

Nara is so famous for its shaved ice that even a shaved ice event is held there. The menu changes seasonally, and you can enjoy a variety of shaved ice throughout the year, including “persimmon shaved ice” and “sakuramochi shaved ice.”

On the second floor, there is an event room where various monthly events are held and TOKi (Restaurant & Bar), which collaborates with Nara's producers to convey the history and climate of Nara through its cuisine.
The restaurant offers a course menu, while the bar offers a la carte dishes. TOKi (Restaurant & Bar)"" is so popular that it was listed as a one-star restaurant in the "Michelin Guide Tokyo 2023".

One example of the restaurant's course meals, "Broiled Water Octopus with Lard and Starch of Yamato Pork—Spain in Nara," uses fresh water octopus.

The bar serves modern Spanish a la carte. Would you like a drink?

Nara was the capital of Japan when the country was beginning to take shape as a nation. In the northern and central regions, there were Heijo-kyo, Asuka and Fujiwara-kyo. In terms of food, it is also the birthplace of refined sake and somen.
The Nara Mahorobakan is a three-minute walk from Shimbashi Station and showcases Nara 's ancient history and food culture. It is located along the extension of Ginza Street and is easily accessible. Why not stop by after work or shopping in Ginza? There is also a tourist information corner, so we recommend consulting with them when traveling to Nara.

Nara Mahorobakan
SMBC Shimbashi Bldg. 1F and 2F, 1-8-4 Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
https://nara-mahoroba.pref.nara.jp/
Business hours: 11:00 - 20:00
<TOKi (Restaurant & Bar)>
Restaurant
Tuesday - Saturday
12:00-15:30 (LO 13:00)
18:00-22:00 (LO19:30)
1st and 3rd Sunday of the month
12:00 - 15:30 (LO 13:30)
Bar
Tuesday-Saturday
12:00-15:00 (LO13:30)
17:30-22:30 (LO21:00)
1st and 3rd Sunday of the month
12:00-18:00 (LO 17:00)

Kagawa and Ehime Setouchi Shunsaikan, which opened in 2003, is an antenna shop jointly operated by Kagawa and Ehime prefectures. Even in Shikoku and Setouchi, there are differences in culture and specialties. The wide variety of products and menu offerings are appealing. Some of the recommended items at the specialty shop on the first floor are olive products, specialties of Kagawa, which are available from a variety of manufacturers.

The recommended products of Ehime are: Jakoten, which is made from minced fish—such as firefly jako—fried in oil, and Premium Citrus, an original Ehime variety. Ehime is a citrus kingdom, and "Kagawa and Ehime Setouchi Shunsaikan" sells about 27 kinds of citrus in season throughout the year. Benimadonna (December) and Kanpei (February) are especially popular, as are 100% juices, jellies, and peel products made with a variety of citrus.

A restaurant and a "crafts and general store" are set up on the second floor, which convey the charm of Kagawa and Ehime from various angles. The "crafts and general store" sells necklaces made of high-quality pearls delivered directly from Ehime, accessories such as pin badges and earrings for everyday use, Marugame Fans, Kagawa Lacquer Ware, and Sanuki Kagari Temari balls nurtured in the climate of Kagawa.

At the Kyodo Setouchi Cuisine Kaorihime restaurant, you can eat Kagawa's sole foods "sanuki udon" and "bone-in chicken.” You can also enjoy "yakibuta tamago meshi," a cheap everyday food from Imabari-shi, Ehime prefecture, and the famous "Uwajima tai meshi."

The popular "bone-in chicken" is a local Kagawa delicacy made by slowly roasting a whole chicken thigh in an oven pot. The skin is crispy and the inside juicy, making it a great companion for beer.

"Uwajima tai meshi" is a fishermen's rice dish in which red sea bream fillets are tossed in a soy sauce-based sweet sauce with raw egg and condiments and served over hot rice. The flavor of red sea bream is appetizing.

In addition to Dogo Hot Spring and Matsuyama Castle, cycling along the Shimanami Kaido is also popular in Ehime these days. Kagawa has Kotohira-gu Shrine, which is worshipped as ""Konpira-san” and Shodo Island—the olive island—and is dotted with islands where modern art flourishes. The Kagawa Ehime Setouchi Shunsaikan, which has been open for 21 years, conveys the full appeal of both prefectures.
From long-loved local products to new specialties, from fresh produce to processed products and liquor, the wide range of products is an attraction. The specialty shop on the first floor also has an event corner where businesses from Kagawa and Ehime open shops on a weekly basis and hold in-person sales. Whenever you come, you can find new products.

Kagawa and Ehime Setouchi Shunsaikan
Shimbashi Marine Building 1 & 2F, 2-19-10 Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
https://www.setouchi-shunsaikan.com/
＜Restaurant ""Local and Setouchi Cuisine Kaorihime＞
11:00-23:00 (LO22:00)

Antenna shops in Minato-ku, where you can feel the atmosphere and charm of the area with local products and delicacies. Why not visit them and feel like you are on a trip?