Group making maki-zushi, with rice on nori on a bamboo tray.

Traveller making inari-zushi, stuffing fried thin tofu with vinegared rice.

Traveller showing the plate she prepared: maki-zushi (bottom), pickles (top left), and inari-zushi (top right).

Local hoto noodles (top), yuba (middle right), natto with crispy yuba (middle left), tofu (bottom right).

🧵19/ At Kakurinbo on Mount #Minobu for a hands-on #VeganJapan cooking lesson (bento: inari-zushi, maki-zushi, pickles, yuba) then lunch on our work + natto + yuba crisps + amazake ice cream. National award-winner for yuba & pasta, the chef uses Akebono soybeans protected by the Japanese government 👩‍🍳

🧵18/ Gorgeous weeping cherry tree in full bloom at Kuon-ji temple on Mount #Minobu. Such silence; just a few footsteps on gravel… Local temple stays with English-speaking staff are available (enjoy the morning prayer/chants and Buddhist cuisine) 💡 #CherryBlossoms #Yamanashi #JapanTravel

View of Minobu town in full bloom from Kuon-ji temple.

Pink weeping cherry trees in full bloom, red religious building, and carefully-shaped pine trees at Kuon-ji Buddhist temple.

Me before a gorgeous light-pink weeping cherry tree and a smaller vibrant pink one under a big blue sky that cleared just before our departure from Kuon-ji Buddhist temple.

🧵17/ Dense hour at Kuon-ji (Nichiren Buddhism head temple) on Mount #Minobu: weeping cherry trees in full bloom, #Japan 4th-tallest wooden pagoda, 287 steps (for those motivated), a painted dragon watching you from the ceiling wherever you stand in the main hall, monk chants… #Yamanashi #JapanTravel

🧵16/ Hello #Yamanashi! Arriving on Mount #Minobu as all weeping cherry trees reach full bloom. While Japan is famous for #CherryBlossoms, these cascading branches are a rare ethereal sight 🌸 I've been 20+ years in Japan, yet it's my first time seeing this beauty 🙂 #JapanTravel #sakura

Vegan course in Minobu.

🧵3/ Why visit a spot when you can walk & taste a story? Highlighting Nagano Salt Road and Mount Minobu shifts the focus from destinations to stories. Guiding vegans in #Minobu among weeping cherry blossoms in 3 days, I'm struck by how these historic routes foster inclusive high-end niche tourism 👍

I just enjoyed 4 days in #Minobu (Buddhism) and #Gotemba (Mt Fuji hotel) to develop #JapanTravel despite 34℃, rain and #WorkLifeBalance off. Vegan meals OK everywhere! Now readying for 6-day consulting in #Nansatsu from tomorrow: sand hot spring, №1 tea, forced kamikaze… Read daily updates 🗓️

Front and back of a goshuin-cho of Kuon-ji, designed by visual artist Yoshitaka Amano.

Goshuin of Kuon-ji

🧵16/ Back home in Tokyo ✔️ This was my first trip with my colleague Davide and I'd enjoy more trips together 🙂 To finish, let me show you how special #Minobu Kuon-ji's goshuin-cho can be; I had never seen a cover with that manga style and was impressed! Artist: Yoshitaka Amano. #SpiritualTourism

Sign in the background showing that we are at the top of Mount Minobu, 1,153m high. Bento lunch box in my hand in the foreground, containing pink pickles, two standard rice balls wrapped in dark-green seaweed and two yellow inari-zushi (deep-fried tofu pockets containing rice).

🧵15/ Rain suddenly poured when we reached the summit of Mount #Minobu, hiding Mount Fuji and the valley. The refreshing air, covered tables and best inari-zushi of my life (cooked by Kakurinbo staff) nevertheless made that moment great 💯 Not kidding, I want to take that #CookingClass… #VeganTravel

Stairs near Kakurinbo, leading to a Shinto gate then hiking trails

Me on a mountain path surrounded by tall trees, near the summit of Mount Minobu

🧵14/ #SpiritualTourism is also about self-discovery/development through pilgrimages. We got a tiny taste of that on Mount #Minobu hiking trails, wearing a pilgrim vest & hat, available at e.g. Kakurinbo 🥾 No crowds, no loneliness, just warm peaceful forests 🌲 Due to sightings, borrow a bear bell ⚠️

🧵13/ 04:45 sleepy & sultry departure to witness acrobatic bell ringing and join sunrise prayers at #Minobu Kuon-ji Buddhist temple. A priest asked our nationalities, and the closing speech accordingly greeted us and UK/France/Italy in English. We felt welcome, part of the group 👍🏻 #SpiritualTourism

🧵12/ My colleague & I wrapped the day with the local community leader, clarifying constraints, comparing strategies, and agreeing on a plan to develop tourism in #Minobu. Nice surprises: possible collaborations with (1) a food magazine and (2) #Yamanashi & nearby prefectures regarding low seasons.

🧵11/ Our dinner at Kakurinbo temple lodging included a hot pot with yuba-filled tomato, mushrooms, natto fermented beans, ginger, sakura-mushi (steamed rice in a cherry leaf), yuba with koji/wasabi, sweet potato, rice, miso soup, grapes… Glad to sleep here on Mount #Minobu during this #VeganTravel 🙂

Picking yuba with chopsticks

Chopsticks holding yuba in one hand, bowl with a sauce in the other hand

Eating yuba dipped in a dedicated sauce

🧵10/ My dinner with yuba #CookingClass was thrilling. "Tofu skin" is one of my favourite foods, perfect during #VeganTravel in Japan! Heat soy milk, wait, collect the film with chopsticks, repeat… Exceptional at Kakurinbo temple lodging because it uses government-protected #Minobu Akebono soybeans.

High priest (left) with me (right)

Room inside Kuon-ji

Pond at Kuon-ji

🧵9/ I'm grateful for this exclusive visit of #Minobu Kuon-ji with the high priest, great complement to my public visits of the temple. I hope we'll have a chance to enable similar visits for #SpiritualTourism travellers I occasionally guide.

Area reserved to Buddhist priests inside the founder's memorial hall of Kuon-ji, with small tables and boxes containing Buddhist teachings.

Buddhist decorations in the area reserved to priests inside the founder's memorial hall of Kuon-ji

Buddhist decorations in the area reserved to priests inside the founder's memorial hall of Kuon-ji

🧵8/ The high priest also authorized me to photograph inside the founder's memorial hall of #Minobu Kuon-ji, and to walk together in the area dedicated to priests. #SpiritualTourism

Inside the main hall of Kuon-ji: tatami mats in the foreground, area for the priests in the background, and huge beautiful black & gold painting of a dragon on the ceiling.

🧵7/ The high priest authorized me to photograph inside the main hall of #Minobu Kuon-ji, where you can attend a Buddhist mass just before sunrise. What you must see with your own eyes is that the dragon seems to look at you wherever you stand in the hall! #SpiritualTourism

High priest showing us doors illustrated with spring: cherry blossoms, haze… in a restricted area of Kuon-ji.

Doors illustrated with summer on the right: blue sea, golden sun… and illustrated with winter on the left, including a platinum moon… in a restricted area of Kuon-ji.

Doors illustrated with autumnal maple leaves in a restricted area of Kuon-ji.

Portrait of Nichiren hug on a wall

🧵6/ Working with a local community leader got us introduced to a high priest and invited to visit highly restricted areas of #Minobu Kuon-ji Buddhist temple. Some daily-life artworks were unique & stunning e.g. doors representing the seasons with a sun of gold and moon of platinum! #SpiritualTourism

Tomb of Nichiren, surrounded by lush vegetation

🧵5/ We also visited Nichiren's tomb, founder of Nichiren #Buddhism, with its head temple on Mount #Minobu too. He spread the Lotus Sutra, stated that women can attain enlightenment (contradicting earlier teachings), and ate vegan meals cooked with ingredients given by followers. #SpiritualTourism

Massive sanmon gate

Stairway to enlightenment seen from the top

🧵4/ We first visited the local sanmon gate (associated to emptiness, formlessness and inaction), where #SpiritualTourism in #Minobu typically starts. 23x21x9m, it is one of #Japan top 3. Tourists in good shape should then climb the 287-step "stairway to enlightenment" leading to Kuon-ji 104m higher.

Japanese-style room

Outdoor bath on the terrace

🧵3/ We visited Ebisuya holiday villa, which you can rent for Japanese authenticity, modern amenities, a kitchen, and privacy in #Minobu with your family or while bathing on a terrace… I'd love to soak there on a cool evening 🙂

My vegan salad containing many ingredients

My colleague photographing our food at the counter, with a very green garden in the background

🧵2/ We lunched at #Minobu Café Zencho. My salad and peach juice were perfect for this sultry day. My Italian colleague savoured hoto noodles, recipients of a "100 Year Food" prize from Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs; he confirmed they were perfectly cooked 🍝 #VeganTravel

🧵1/ Starting 2 days on holy Mount #Minobu to develop #SpiritualTourism and #VeganTravel that you'd love, with a colleague and a local #Yamanashi community leader 🗾 Nichiren's tomb, 550 y.o. Buddhist temple lodging, ingredient protected by #Japan Ministry Of Agriculture, cooking & hospitality awards…

First time: #MountFuji from a #helicopter with a Buddhist monk during a #luxury consulting/writing trip in #Minobu organised by Kakurinbo temple lodging. 120 kg per person max. Best views in January (sun + clear air + snow cap), February (peach blossoms) and autumn (leaves). #Yamanashi #JapanTravel

Buddhist monk wielding a 10+ kg matoi at #Minobu Kakurinbo during a demonstration of the annual #festival (12 October). Samurai-era firefighters used such poles to highlight spots and destroy things to cut fires. He'll exceptionally demonstrate this #JapaneseCulture in #France at #JapanExpo 2025!

First dishes of the dinner course, with fire lit to boil the tomato

Peeled tomato cut in the middle, with tofu and yuba inside, after boiling

Sakura-mochi with a pink layer of glutinous rice and a yellow layer of yuba, all wrapped in a cherry leaf, seen from the side

Set of tempura on a red and white plate. Maitake is on the right, shishito pepper on the left, and natto is partly hidden in the middle.

Never eaten before #TempleFood: tofu/yuba-filled peeled tomato, sakura-mochi of yuba/rice in a cherry leaf, only-here akebono soy beans natto tempura, mountain yam in nori tempura… All #vegan dishes at Kakurinbo Buddhist lodging on Mount #Minobu, near Mount Fuji. #VeganJapan #JapaneseFood #Yamanashi