Yoichi, Hokkaido

The stone warehouses of the Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery sit low against the hills, their coal-fired stills still working by a method most distilleries abandoned long ago. The distillery is the town's most legible landmark, but Yoichi's character runs deeper than a single bottle. Herring once drove everything here — the old trading post at Shimo-Yoichi Unyōya, the sole surviving unyōya of its kind, marks where Matsumae domain merchants and Ainu traders once exchanged goods on this stretch of the Japan Sea coast. The Sōran Bushi work chant is said to have taken shape during those herring seasons, and the town still holds a festival in its name each July.

Walk a little further and the ground shifts to orchards. Apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, vineyards — Yoichi produces wine grapes in quantity, and among the small producers, Domaine Takahiko works organically with Pinot Noir, fermenting with wild yeasts and adding no sulfites. In September, the Lafête des Vignerons à Yoichi brings the wine harvest into the streets. The roadside station Supēsu Appuru Yoichi sells local fruit directly, alongside takeaway food — a practical stop rather than a curated one.

Out along Route 229, Rōsoku-iwa rises from the sea, a narrow column of rock forty-five meters above the waterline, on an uninhabited islet at the base of the Shakotan Peninsula. The coast here falls within the Niseko-Shakotan-Otaru Kaigan Quasi-National Park. Sea urchin and herring roe appear on local menus, continuations of a fishing economy that never fully left.