<Yamagata> 2-hour early morning marché to be held monthly from June 22! A new type of morning market organized by a local hotel, a production company, and a farmer!

2025.05.20 10:30

合同会社麦角社

Starting on Sunday, June 22, 2025, Shinjo Asa Marche, a two-hour morning market will be held in Shinjo City, Yamagata Prefecture, a major rice production area, starting at 6:30 in the morning.

The location is the parking lot of the New Grand Hotel, a popular hotel in Shinjo. It is planned and operated by the agricultural promotion group "Nouke no Tsukue" (operated by Mugikakusha LLC), which is active in the same city.

農家のつくえと生産者

Farmer Tsukue and Producers

Farmer Tsukue is working to solve various problems facing local agriculture, such as high rice prices, rice shortages, and the declining and aging of the farming population, by directly connecting farmers and consumers.

Shinjo Asa Marche will be held on the fourth Sunday of every month from June to November 2025, and on June 22, the first event in 2025, we plan to offer unique events and food such as selling Shinjo cherries by weight and the hotel's special potato stew.

Event details: https://www.noukanotsukue.com/archives/6106

What is Shinjo Asa Marche?

Shinjo Asa Marche is an event conceived by "New Grand Hotel" (Kakizaki Kousho Co., Ltd.) in Shinjo City, Yamagata Prefecture, and planned and operated by "Farmer's Tsukue" at their request.

The New Grand Hotel and Farmer Tsukue have collaborated to realize this event in response to local issues such as the rapid decline in the number of tourists in recent years, various problems faced by agriculture, and supermarkets that are withdrawing from the area one after another.

The first event, held in June 2024, drew a huge crowd of local residents who lined up to buy cherries by the cherry vendor, the main attraction of the event.

The event is not funded by the local government and aims to be a sustainable event based on private capital and ideas.

早朝から行列が

Lines formed early in the morning

A place in town where people can enjoy shopping and eating out from early in the morning

Shinjo Asa Marche targets hotel guests and local residents. For hotel guests, the goal is to let them know about good products from Yamagata. For local residents, it is about getting to know local farmers. In this way, we aim to explore the sustainability of agriculture by encouraging the whole community to enjoy agriculture and food culture.

At every Morning Marche, the New Grand Hotel's popular standard menu "Imoni" (sweet potato stew) is served at a service price. In addition, efforts are made to provide seasonal fruits, "traditional vegetables" limited to the Mogami area, and specialty food menus, which are the highlight of each event, for the enjoyment of customers.

In 2024, the event was held from 6:30 to 10:00 a.m. and attracted about 200 to 300 visitors.

Visitors commented that it was helpful because they only have time to shop in the morning, and that they appreciated being able to do their shopping early in the morning and have other plans during the day, showing that the Marché event has the potential to develop a new customer base.

In 2025, the event will be condensed to two hours from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m., with the goal of attracting even more visitors.

ホテル駐車場にて朝市開催

Morning market held in the hotel parking lot

What is "Farmer's Tsukue"?

The planning and operation of Shinsho Asa Marche is being promoted by "Nouke no Tsukue," an agricultural promotion group consisting of non-farmer members.

The representative, Yuki Watanabe, is the manager and writer of the creative production company "Mugikakusha LLC" (as of 2025, he is writing a column and interview articles for the Yamagata Shimbun). Junko Okuyama, public relations and director, is a freelance web designer.

Watanabe is from Chiba Prefecture and Okuyama is from Kanagawa Prefecture, both immigrants from outside the prefecture. All the other members are not farmers, but consumers.

In addition to the Shinjo Morning Marche, Farmer Tsukue continues to engage in a variety of other activities, such as selling vegetables to pharmacies and other retail businesses, and focusing on social networking posts to familiarize people with farmers.

Farmer Tsukue is planning to incorporate by 2028. They are in the process of establishing a company that will utilize their skills as creators to solve local issues such as agriculture.

■Outline of Event

Event name: Shinjo Asa Marche

Date ： Fourth Sunday of every month from June to November 2025

Venue ： New Grand Hotel Large Parking Lot

　　　　　　 (4-23 Wakaba-cho, Shinjo, Yamagata 996-0025)

Access ： 5 minutes walk from Shinjo Station, JR East Japan Railway

Sponsor : Farmer's Tsukue (Operated by Mugikakusha LLC)

Official website: https://www.noukanotsukue.com/

<Contents

(1) Special items are prepared at each event.

In order to give local residents a special experience, we prepare events and food menu items that cannot be enjoyed everyday at each event.

［Featured products to be prepared]

Cherry cherries from Shinjo City by weight

Sale of out-of-spec pears from Sakata City

Shinjo City cherries by weight.

All-you-can-stuff Funagata mushrooms

All-you-can-stuff Mogami red garlic

Duck hot pot of Mogami duck

Salmon karaage from Salmon River Village and pre-ordering of freshly sliced salmon

キッチンカーも参加

Kitchen cars will also participate

(2) Prepared to lose money! New Grand Hotel's special taro stew and tamakon

The New Grand Hotel's breakfast buffet is highly rated by hotel guests by word of mouth. One of the most popular items is the Yamagata specialty, imoni (stewed potatoes).

At Shinsho Asa Marche, the New Grand Hotel, co-sponsor of the event, will offer its special imoni at a low price. It is also offered free of charge to those who fulfill certain conditions, such as a stamp rally at the event.

And another Yamagata specialty, tamakon (ball konnyaku), will also be available at an affordable price.

(3) Vegetables from the Mogami Tradition

In the Mogami region, there are many vegetables with unique shapes and colors that have been handed down from generation to generation. These vegetables, which are also known as "traditional vegetables" or "native crops," have been home-grown for many years and are branded in the Mogami region as "Mogami-densho yasai" ("vegetables of the Mogami tradition").

The farmers who have taken over the seeds of these vegetables come to sell them themselves, even though they are not sold in supermarkets or other general retail stores.

Examples of Mogami traditional vegetables: Jingoemon potatoes, Mogami red garlic, Kanjirou cucumbers, field eggplants, Mogami turnips, etc.

Official website: https://mogami-denshouyasai.com/

(4) Specialized tasting corner

As a new project for 2025, a corner specializing in tastings will be opened.

Visitors will be able to enjoy tasting processed products from all over Yamagata Prefecture.

Visitors will be able to taste Yamagata's specialty products with the peace of mind that they do not have to buy them.

(5) Student Participation

In 2025, students from Shinjo Higashi High School will participate in the event, growing and selling their own vegetables as part of their social studies. This event was planned based on the school principal's wish that the students learn how to do business.

Students from Tohoku University of Agriculture and Forestry and university students from neighboring prefectures also participate in the event as volunteer staff.

In addition, a plan is underway for local junior high school students to earn money for their school excursion by growing and selling vegetables from the Mogami tradition.

(6) Indoor events at hotels

The weather is the biggest enemy of outdoor events such as marche. In this respect, the Shinjo Asa Marche is held at a hotel, so in the event of inclement weather, the event can be hastily changed to a banquet hall, allowing visitors to enjoy shopping at their leisure.

This is one of the features not found in other Marché events.

ホテル屋内開催も可能