(↑Mr. Uemoto on the opening of his bakery. He moved to Kamiyama with his family from Osaka one and a half years ago as the first participant in the Green Valley Work in Residence program.)

Finally, the day we have been waiting for, the opening of the blue stone oven bakery, "Maki Pan"! The delicious aroma of freshly baked bread has begun to waft through Kamiyama.

Now, I probably shouldn't say this, but I never dreamed that the day would come when a bakery with such a wide variety of bread (and baked with a wood-fired stone oven, no less!) would open in Kamiyama.

They've got bread like this,

and bread that looks like the mountains of Kamiyama, like this…

There was foccacia, a variety of French-style breads, bacon epi and more.

And the taste? It gets my stamp of approval! There's a nice elasticity when you bite into it, and a full aftertaste. It's got that lovely wood-fired stone oven flavor.

Please come in and try it for yourself.

The first bread comes out of the oven at 10:00. The sandwich bread is ready at around noon. I hope that this bakery acts as a trigger to encourage more active use of locally-grown food in Kamiyama.

We're rooting for you, Uemoto-san!