A unique sense of place

Hiroto Murai opened Yoichi Sagra, an Italian inn in Yoichi, in 2017. “While I was running a restaurant in Sapporo for 10 years before I moved to Yoichi, I had opportunities to get to know many products and their source areas,” he said.

Although many of the products he used were from Hokkaido, they still needed to be packaged and delivered, which took time. “That’s why I decided to move to a place where things I use in my work are produced,” he said.

However, he was faced with the difficulty of giving people a clear reason to visit the relatively remote town — until he realized that the location itself was the draw for Yoichi Sagra. “If you are just looking for good food, you can find it in any city. But imagine that you’ve come all the way here, enjoying the scenery. And you find that scenery re-created on the plate using local produce.

That’s the kind of experience that gives meaning to traveling,” he said, confident in his ability to offer his guests an inimitable trip through the gastronomic experience he provides. “To make your business successful in a rural town, you need to have a strong individuality and uniqueness and present it well.”

He also said that in Yoichi he can come face to face with customers in a way that was not possible in bustling Sapporo.

As one of the opportunities for he and his guests to engage in deeper interactions with each other and the community, he is planning a winery tour next year.

“I want to make it a tour that will bring back my guests every year as an opportunity to update ourselves,” he said, showing a sense of mission to dig deeper into the community and disseminate its riches.