Sansho in the City: Our First Market at GRID KYOTO

2025/11/18 06:30

On November 15, we took part in GRID KYOTO – a Community Festival, held right in front of Kyoto City Hall.

This year marks the fourth year of our online sansho sales — but, it was our first time joining an in-person market.

For this event, we brought:

We also introduced Mom & Dad Japan, our community project supporting multicultural families in Japan.

Many visitors told us:

“I’m familiar with green sansho, but I’ve never tried red.”

We shared that both grow on the same tree — and that once the berries fully ripen, the aroma becomes sweeter and the heat softens.

People leaned in curiously, smelling the berries and comparing the fragrances. It was wonderful to see their reactions.

Photo: Whole sansho berries before grinding, kept in a glass jar.

Visitors came from all kinds of backgrounds — international residents living in Kyoto, Sansho lovers and multilingual community members.

From sansho, the conversation naturally flowed to mountain life, rural stories, and multicultural parenting.

It felt like we were able to share the heart of MOUNTAIN HOUSE through each interaction.

We also connected with a craft drink vendor at the venue — and even started discussing a potential collaboration using red sansho.

At the booth, we also introduced Mom & Dad Japan, our media project created for multicultural families raising children in Japan.

We share easy-to-understand information in English about: healthcare, education, local procedures, and everyday challenges foreign families face

Our goal is to reduce the confusion that many parents experience.

To everyone who stopped by our booth — thank you so much.

We will continue to value “connecting people and community,” and keep sharing the stories and flavors of MOUNTAIN HOUSE.