Michi-no-Eki Donguri-no-Sato Inabu

Inabu is a long way from the car factories that the name Toyota brings to mind. This old post town on the road to Iida in Nagano sits in cool hills where Aichi has been breeding rice for decades, and the local Mine Asahi variety shows up everywhere at the station.

The Donguri Yokocho market sells vegetables from Inabu farms, bags of Mine Asahi and, most of all, bread made with its rice flour. Expect a line on weekends. Gohei-mochi, grilled rice cakes on a stick, come with a choice of leek-miso or walnut-soy glaze made on site. For a sit-down meal there is the Donguri-tei restaurant and a handmade soba shop.

Donguri-no-Yu, the hot spring next door, has natural spring water in baths on two floors and an open-air bath facing the hills. It is closed on Thursdays, as is the market in winter. The Donguri Kobo workshop next door runs crafts and gohei-mochi making, which suits families with young children.