Kawachi (河内) is a small port on Ariake Sea nestled north-east of Mt. Kimpo which is Japan’s second-largest nori producer. Nori and nice views are the reason it deserves a visit. The north side of the port contains several processing plants which remind me of the tortillerias of my hometown: raw nori is captured in square frames of 19x21cm, sent by conveyor through an oven, gathered by hand, and packaged.
The resulting product is sold by auction. Kumanichi reports that this year’s bid was 15 yen 40 sen per sheet (１５円４０銭). “Sen” is a currency unit equivalent to an American cent - 1/100th of a yen - commonly used pre-war but obliterated in post-war hyperinflation; it’s cute to see it still in use, though they’ll have to round up or down the number as 銭 currency no longer exists. Kawachi produced 74,380,000 sheets of nori valued at 1,146,000,000 yen. I assume these numbers have been rounded.
Kawachi has almost no tourists, so if you visit, the residents are quite welcoming. Sunny winter days are a nice time. Drop by a nori factory and they’ll let you wander about and will likely leave you with a fistful of still-hot samples. If you are carless, a direct bus is available from Kotsu Center. - William