During the Australian Cuisine promotion at the Hilton Nagoya, Norie Mori, a guest dining in the restaurant invited us to her uncles soya factory recently. After the busy days of the promotion were behind we accepted the invitation.

We were driven out to Marumata Shoten where we were introduced to Tomoyasu Deguchi who manages the factory. We were given a detailed tour of the 160 year factory and were amazed to learn that the entire operation is certified organic. The majority of the production is exported to Sydney, Australia as well as the Netherlands.

After fermenting, the tamari is stored in large cedar barrels for 18 months, then pasteurised and bottled. Marumata Shoten manufactures quite a number of soya based products including soy sauce, tamari, ponzu and sukiyaki.

After the tour Norie Mori lead us to the house for lunch. We were shown to the dining room and in a tradiotnal nature we sat on tetami mats around the table. Then Norie served a fantastic lunch of Japanese delicacies including fried eggplant with miso paste, beef and cucumber with sesame dipping sauce, mushroom rice wrapped in egg, mango pudding and bitter green tea. This was a real Japanse cultural experience and one I will remember for many years.

Afterwards Marumata Shoten gave us a gift of some organic bottles of tamari and ponzu to take with us back to Australia. It will be interesting to use them with the native flavours from Australia. Off the top of my head I think that Alpine Pepper would compliment with the light tamari flavours.