Hitamichi

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Tours & Experiences Women-owned Personalised Tours

Ibaraki, Japan

Discover a side of Japan few travellers see

Around two hours from Tokyo, Hitamichi takes travellers into the mountains and rural communities of northern Ibaraki, one of Japan's lesser-visited regions and home to one of the country's northernmost tea-growing areas.

Led personally by local founder and bilingual guide Rina, trips are tailored around your interests. Meet tea farmers, artisans and shrine keepers, make soba noodles, harvest wasabi or learn the centuries-old art of rolling tea leaves by hand.

Rina takes care of transport and guiding once you arrive in Ibaraki, making it easy to experience a rural part of Japan where English isn't widely spoken and many of the people and places you'll visit aren't normally accessible to international travellers.

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Tea Farm Tour & Hand Rolling Tea Experience

Walk through the tea fields, learn how leaves are harvested by hand, and try your own hand rolling technique

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Historical Shrine Tour Led by the Shrine Maiden

Learn the history, rituals and quiet legends that rarely reach outside visitors and take part in a formal prayer ceremony.

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Cooking Class: Soba Making & Wasabi Harvesting

Hands-on soba noodle making using traditional techniques, followed by fresh wasabi harvesting in the fields.

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3 Days, 2 Nights in Ibaraki

A deep dive into rural Ibaraki, connect with multiple local hosts and experience the countryside life beyond a single day trip.

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2 Days, 1 Night in Ibaraki

An introduction to northern Ibaraki, combining standout local experiences with an overnight countryside stay.

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A little more time in rural Japan
There isn't one fixed Hitamichi itinerary. Rina builds trips around what you're curious about, whether that's Japanese food, tea, traditional crafts, nature, history or everyday countryside life. Choose a day trip for a taste of the region or stay for two or three days to meet more local hosts and experience northern Ibaraki at a slower pace. Rina can pick you up from the nearest train station and provides transport and English-language guiding throughout your time in the region.

Meet the people keeping traditions alive
Hitamichi works directly with individuals and small family businesses rather than large tourism operators, giving travellers the chance to spend time with the people behind northern Ibaraki's food, crafts and traditions. You might roll tea alongside a local tea master, learn to make soba noodles, visit a family-run sake brewery or explore an ancient shrine with someone who knows its rituals and stories. Tours are kept small, usually between 2 and 8 guests, giving you more time to talk, ask questions and get to know the people you meet.

Helping bring an abandoned tea farm back to life
Tea has been part of Hitamichi from the beginning, but the region's ageing and shrinking population means many farms are now being abandoned. Hitamichi has taken over one of these abandoned tea farms and uses part of the proceeds from its tours to gradually bring it back to life. Travellers can learn about the process and the challenges facing tea production in a region where generations of knowledge are at risk of disappearing. By working directly with farmers, craftspeople and other small local businesses, more of what travellers spend also stays within the communities they visit.

Story behind Hitamichi

Hitamichi was founded by Rina, who was born in Tokyo and grew up between Japan, Dubai, Belgium and South Africa. Living across different cultures gave her a love of connecting people and eventually led her back to northern Ibaraki, where she was selected by the prefectural government to support the region's revitalisation through cultural tourism.

As Rina built relationships with local farmers, artisans and community members, she saw both how welcoming people were to international visitors and how many local traditions were becoming harder to sustain as the population declined.

She created Hitamichi to bring those two worlds together. The name combines Hitachi-no-kuni, the ancient name for Ibaraki, with michi, the Japanese word for "path" or "way", reflecting Rina's hope that travel can create a new path between northern Ibaraki and people from around the world.

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A

Aparna

Absolutely loved exploring the beauty of the Ibaraki prefecture with Rina!! We explored the lush tea farms in Daigo which were absolutely stunning !! We were able to learn so much about hand rolled tea from Komuro san too which was one of the best experiences I have had while visiting Japan. We also had the pleasure of visiting the Oiwa shrine which is indeed a hidden gem in the Hitachi City. The shrine is surrounded by an enchanted forest with giant cedar trees, mossy waterfalls and a trail of small shines along the way. Truly a must visit place. It is all thanks to Rina that we were able to explore all these breathtaking places in Ibaraki. She is really an incredible guide. She is really well informed about everything and also well versed in English too so we had no issues throughout our trip to Ibaraki.I would highly recommended her to anyone who is travelling to Ibaraki !!!

N

Nikko

Had a great time with Rina bringing us around Ibaraki! She helped with the translations with the shrine maiden when we were touring the Oiwa Shrine (highly highly recommend!!), so we could ask every silly questions we had with zero judgement and learn more about the local culture and history ✨ will recommend for all my family and friends to join another private tour 🤩

Z

Zen

I loved the tea-picking experience. As it was the first flush harvest, special care was needed to pick only the freshest greens from the top. Being a newbie, I was rather slow at it, and was amazed by the speed of the more experienced tea harvesters, who were on average 70 - 80 years old! It was an honour to meet Komuro san himself at his tea plantation. Said to be Japan's greatest hand-rolled tea master, he was such a warm and welcoming presence. The locals here are friendly, and I'm glad I got to see for myself the origins of Hitamichi's umami-packed temomi-cha (hand-rolled tea), and participate in the harvesting process. I also love that tours led by Rina (Founder of Hitamichi) are designed to give back to the local community. So for anyone looking for a meaningful countryside experience in Ibaraki, I highly recommend it!

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Fact Sheet

Basic Information

Available year round
Seasonal experiences
Day/Night tours
Multi-day adventures
Small group experiences
Private experiences

Experience style

Nature focused
Adventure focused
Food & drink
Hiking & trekking
Cultural experiences
Local community experiences
Farm & agricultural experiences
Wellness & mindfulness
Educational experiences
Outdoor experiences
Conservation focused
Family friendly
Off grid experiences

Languages

English
Japanese

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Hitamichi

Discover a side of Japan few travellers see

Experiences

Tea Farm Tour & Hand Rolling Tea Experience

Historical Shrine Tour Led by the Shrine Maiden