茶処山里 — Restaurant in Chino

Great spot for Touhou and soba fans. Even better if you are both, like I am.

I have been to this teahouse on three separate occassions from April 2024 to April 2025 and they all have been great.

Apart from the various Touhou-related goods and artworks on the shelves, there are nine (and counting) guestbooks filled with words and even artwork from customers all over the world. You can read through every single one of them from when the shop opened in 2009 if you like. You can even spend some time to contribute to the growing collection of messages with the various coloured markers and pencils provised.

You may also bump into other customers (many of which are Touhou fans) in there, and hopefully have a good chat with them.

The shopowner does not understand much beyond her native Japanese, but is willing to converse through an online translator if she is not busy preparing dishes.

When I get the money and time to go to this region of Japan again, I will definitely stop by and chat with the shopowner again. Hopefully my Japanese skills would be significantly better by then.

Do note that the shop will do its annual Winter Closure from December to February. Please do not have plans to visit during...

If you're a TouHou Project Fan, this place is an absolute must. The pilgrimage through the Suwa Taisha shrines to reach this lovely shop is incredibly worth it. The lady running the store was incredibly kind to foreigners, and even knew quite a bit about TouHou fan culture. Even if you're not a TouHou Project fan, the food is really really great. It has such a homely feel to it, like a meal you can only get at home, or one made with great care. Honestly, I could not recommend this place enough, for anyone and...

Very nice little store next to a beautiful shrine. The touhou goods were fun to look at, and the store had a great atmosphere. The food is phenomenal, and the lady is very nice and easy to talk to, even as a foreigner with mediocre japanese skills. Very pleasant experience,...