Komono - A town of healing where you can soothe your soul and body, surrounded by nature
Komono Town, located just 30 minutes or so from Yokkaichi City, is a laid-back and picturesque area with a mountainous backdrop of the Suzuka Seven Mountain range. The area attracts visitors who come here to hike the mountains, soak in its many hot springs and try the locally grown food at one of the many outstanding cafes dotted around the town.
Also, although I didn’t visit this time, AQUAIGNIS has a lodging with very stylishly decorated rooms. I would like to stay there next time.
COMMON food & drink
For something a little more casual, just a couple of minutes down the road you’ll find COMMON food & drink cafe. Run by a local Australian and Japanese husband and wife team, it serves up various kinds of homemade hamburgers and other amazing dishes, again with all locally sourced produce. Fuko is a chef that cut her teeth on cooking at high-end restaurants and 5-star hotels in Australia. After returning to Japan, Fuko and her Australian husband, Adam, opened their cafe in July 2020 and have been serving quality Australian and multi-cultural themed foods as well as serving up Aussie beers and other drinks.
It’s quite a treat for me, being an Australian that has been living in Japan for the past 20 years. Fuko and Adam go to painstaking lengths to ensure only the freshest of vegetables, meat, and fish are used in every dish.
My particular favorite might be the Venison burger, made from deer sourced right here in the mountains surrounding Komono. Even their buns are all made in-house.
Fuko herself is a hunter and during the colder months, heads out into the wilderness to hunt for game, in Japan known as “gibier” (wild game meat), to use in her dishes. She aims to share with people that gibier meat is not only sustainable but can also be very tasty. I can certainly attest to that.
Fuko herself is a hunter and during the colder months, heads out into the wilderness to hunt for game, in Japan known as “gibier” (wild game meat), to use in her dishes. She aims to share with people that gibier meat is not only sustainable but can also be very tasty. I can certainly attest to that.
Fuko first became interested in hunting in Australia, where she trained as a chef. She started cooking as a working holiday job, then became qualified as a chef and did that for 10 years, across a diverse range of cuisines.
Fuko’s family has roots in Komono, and she always wanted to live here. It had been Fuko and Adam’s dream to move to the countryside and set up a cafe together. Their cafe is called “Common,” which means providing “a communal place” for meeting and gathering together. The food they make is also “common” (ordinary) but prepared with extraordinary care.
Matatabi Cat Café
A fun spot nearby to relax and enjoy a beverage while playing with lots of cute cats is Matatabi cat cafe (opened 2016), also located just a couple of minutes from AQUAIGNIS.
Matatabi cafe has a fantastic facility for rescued cats with lots of toys and obstacles for the rescued cats to play with and climb on. Included in the entry fee is all you can drink coffee, teas, and other drinks from a self-serve vending machine. There are also lots of feline-related handmade items and accessories for sale at the cafe.
The staff are friendly and very knowledgeable about all the cats and will help you to adopt one if you would like to take one of them home. As a cat lover myself I had a lot of fun playing with the little guys and watching them climb all over their ladders and bridges while I drank my Banana Latte.
Open all days except Tuesday-Wednesday.
Check them out on Instagram @yunoyama_matatabi forvisit their website at www.mie-matatabian.sakura.ne.jp/
Open all days except Tuesday-Wednesday.
Check them out on Instagram @yunoyama_matatabi forvisit their website at www.mie-matatabian.sakura.ne.jp/