Kakamigahara and Chuncheon in South Korea became sister cities in October 2003, though there had been an exchange agreement and a friendship association in place before that.

The timing was accidental and decisive. Winter Sonata was broadcast around then, and Chuncheon, where much of it was filmed, drew sudden attention. Over November and December the following year Kakamigahara held an event built around the drama, and something like seven hundred thousand people came. What sold at it, unexpectedly, was hand-made kimchi.

In November 2005, after a public competition to name it, Kakamigahara kimchi went on sale at the city's industry and agriculture festival.

There are exactly two rules. It must contain carrots grown in Kakamigahara, which is what the city farms. And it must contain pine nuts from Chuncheon, which is what the sister city produces. Everything else is open: cabbage, daikon, cucumber, and in some kitchens yacon or king oyster mushroom. Built into a hotpot, those two ingredients remain the requirement. The certification exists to keep both of them in. Two towns' produce, written into the recipe as a condition rather than a suggestion.