A Quiet Feast Beneath the Nasu Mountains

Winter settles gently over the Nasu Highlands, muting the landscape into shades of white and ash and drawing attention to what lies beneath the surface. At Hoshino Resorts RISONARE Nasu, the season is not treated as an interval to endure but as a moment of quiet abundance. From January 5 to March 20, 2026, the agritourism resort opens its fields to a singular daily gathering through “YATAI to FARM,” a winter brunch experience that reframes luxury as intimacy with land, time, and temperature.

At the center of the experience are soil stored vegetables, resting beneath the frozen ground like a well kept secret. Harvested from the resort’s Agri Garden, these vegetables are left in the earth through winter, preserved by a method older than modern refrigeration. The soil becomes both pantry and protection, holding steady warmth and moisture while frost settles above. Guests are invited to participate in this ritual, turning the earth by hand, feeling the resistance of winter ground give way to color and weight, and encountering ingredients not as commodities but as living continuations of the landscape itself.

From the fields, the experience moves seamlessly into a private dining setting placed in the middle of the rice paddies, an expanse of 8,500 square meters now hushed beneath snow. A transparent, dome shaped tent shelters the table without severing it from its surroundings. Inside, warmth gathers quietly while the Nasu Mountains stretch across the horizon, their snow covered silhouettes reflected in the stillness of the fields. It is a seat designed less for spectacle than for attention, encouraging guests to linger, observe, and settle into the slower cadence of winter.

Cooking unfolds just beyond the table at a popup grill stall, where chefs prepare the harvested vegetables over charcoal. The fire draws out their natural sweetness and umami, the aromas drifting across the fields and blending with cold air and wood smoke. The meal is composed and restrained, allowing the ingredients to speak with clarity. Alongside the grilled vegetables, guests are served Bollito Misto, a traditional Italian stew of pork and root vegetables whose warmth feels particularly attuned to the season, followed by an oven baked apple pie that closes the experience with softness and familiarity. Each dish arrives freshly prepared, one by one, reinforcing a sense of rhythm rather than procession.

“YATAI to FARM” reflects the deeper philosophy of RISONARE Nasu, which positions agriculture not as backdrop but as narrative. While the concept draws inspiration from Farm to Table dining, it gently reverses the idea by relocating the table to the source. Fields and rice paddies become both kitchen and dining room, and the act of eating becomes inseparable from place. Throughout the experience, guests engage all five senses, not through excess but through considered restraint, allowing winter’s subtle textures to come into focus.

The Agri Garden itself, home to more than 120 varieties of vegetables and herbs cultivated year round, serves as the quiet foundation of the brunch. Guided by staff with deep familiarity with the land, guests learn how soil storage preserves vegetables through stable temperature and humidity, shielding them from frost while enhancing flavor. It is a practice rooted in agricultural tradition, one that feels especially resonant in a season often associated with scarcity.

Offered on weekdays only and limited to one group of up to four guests per day, “YATAI to FARM” maintains an atmosphere of privacy and intention. The experience unfolds from 9:45 AM to 11:30 AM and includes the guided farm tour, vegetable harvesting, and winter brunch. Reservations are available through the official website and must be made at least three days in advance. In cases of severe weather or shifting harvest conditions, elements of the experience may adapt, with vegetables served indoors or harvested directly from the fields instead.

In the end, “YATAI to FARM” is less about novelty than about attunement. It invites guests to slow their pace, to notice the way winter reshapes flavor and perception, and to consider how food carries memory of the soil from which it came. In the quiet fields of Nasu, luxury reveals itself not through abundance but through access to a moment where land, season, and table briefly align.