AKIU VALLEY

About 30-40 minutes by car from central Sendai City. The Akiu area embracing the famous Akiu Onsen-go — beyond canyon nature and hot springs — is an area where new manufacturing is being continuously born: wine and beer, agriculture, craft, cafés. Capturing such "now" and "future" of Akiu as one plane, and standing up as a platform sharing within and beyond the region — that is AKIU VALLEY Council.

Diverse members participate in the council — starting with "Sendai Akiu Brewery (Akiu Winery)" — Miyagi's only winery, which resumed winemaking after the disaster — plus blueberry farms, natural farms, honey and vegetable producers, businesses handling outdoor activities, cafés and restaurants, sweets shops, glass workshops and leather brands, embroidery studios, and onsen ryokan.

In the council's message: the conviction that "Akiu can become a representative tourist destination of Tohoku," and the thought "we want to create a Golden Route connecting from Akiu to each area of Tohoku." Not closing within the one area of Sendai Akiu — but aiming to welcome domestic and international travelers as an entrance expanding to the food, culture, and nature experiences of all of Tohoku.

Akiu Tourism Factory Co., Ltd. — operating "Akiu Sha," the café & restaurant utilizing an old folk house — serves as the operating secretariat. Together with the regional revitalization cooperative — holding events, tours, promotion video production, and inbound information sharing — advancing Akiu brand-making together with regional players.

Going forward, AKIU VALLEY Council — not bound only by the existing image of a hot spring town — while crossing the viewpoints of makers, residents, and visitors — will continue exploring the form of "Akiu-like living and travel." As a new travel route starting from Sendai — Tohoku's gateway — the story of Akiu Valley continues to be updated even now.

A regional council opening the "future" of Sendai Akiu

In Sendai Akiu, people challenging their own manufacturing and services gather. AKIU VALLEY Council is a body established to create new industries and jobs by connecting such shops, producers, and businesses — re-grasping the canyon area as one field. Not just Akiu as a tourist destination — but together creating and sharing the appeal of Akiu as a "place of living and work."

Network expanding to wine, farms, outdoors, cafés, workshops, and hotels

Diverse players participate in the council — wineries and craft beer like Akiu Winery, farms handling blueberries, vegetables, and honey, outdoor guides and activities, gelato and pizza, cafés, glass workshops and leather brands, embroidery studios, and onsen ryokan. By loosely connecting across industries and scales — Akiu-like experiences, product development, and events are born.

Proposing "Akiu where you stay" through events and experience programs

Seasonal events and experience programs are planned and coordinated — Halloween Marche, Akiu Halloween Fair, BBQ events, farm tours with harvest experiences. Beyond just going into hot springs and returning — by combining local ingredients and wine, activities in nature, and manufacturing experiences — proposing ways to enjoy "Akiu you'll want to visit again and again."

Town-making centered on Akiu Tourism Factory / Akiu Sha

"Akiu Sha" — an old folk house renovated from the late Edo period — is a café & restaurant where local people and visitors intersect, and also the operation base of AKIU VALLEY Council. In cooperation with the regional revitalization cooperative — as a town-making body supporting new challenges — holding events, study sessions, and inter-industry exchanges — drawing the future Akiu landscape from a building continuing for over 100 years.