Connecting Yamagata Shonai's Circulation to the Future | SHONAI HOTEL SUIDEN TERRASSE's New Challenge

SHONAI HOTEL SUIDEN TERRASSE (SUIDEN TERRASSE Co., Ltd. / Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture / General Manager: Yayoi Naka) is entering the 2026 fiscal year by re-examining its role as a member of the "circulation" woven by Shonai's diverse resources such as nature, culture, history, and food, and will strengthen its efforts to connect that value to the future.

Yamagata Shonai, where the sea, mountains, rivers, and plains are in close proximity, is blessed with abundant seasonal bounty and the human activities that sustain it. SUIDEN TERRASSE has, until now, delivered its charm as an experience rooted in the region. In the 2026 fiscal year, we aim to become even more deeply aware of our responsibility and role, and to continue to embody the circulation of Shonai.

Among these efforts, this year we will further strengthen initiatives centered on "food." For SUIDEN TERRASSE, "food" is the most important gateway to touching the essence of the region, including its nature, culture, and history. Through a series of processes from production to cooking, serving, and experiencing, we aim to allow guests to feel the circulation of Shonai itself.

What SUIDEN TERRASSE considers "agriculture" is not merely a production site, but the continuous cycle of food and human activity throughout the four seasons. Shonai is home to diverse ingredients and many food professionals, including producers, who support them. As a member of this community, our hotel has enhanced the experiential value of food by engaging with producers, responsibly selecting ingredients, expressing them as cuisine, and conveying the stories behind them.

In the 2026 fiscal year, we will further develop this concept, promoting initiatives to deepen understanding of Yamagata Shonai's circulation by delivering food not merely as "consumption" but as a series of experiences. In this release, we introduce three specific projects: "Create (Agriculture)," "Express (Cuisine)," and "Narrate (Sake/Culture)."

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Local areas possess unique charms that are globally competitive.
Towards a destination hotel that enhances existing resources and fosters "relationships."

In April 2024, SUIDEN TERRASSE updated its mission to "Connect local resources with the global tourism market." Based on this belief, for the past seven years since its opening, we have focused on unearthing tourism resources dormant in Yamagata Shonai and delivering their charm as experiences from the hotel as a base.

Through this journey, in the 2025 fiscal year, we transitioned to a "1→10" phase, restructuring existing resources into high-value-added services and promoting initiatives with clearer objectives and targets.

And in the 2026 fiscal year, as the next stage, we will move into a phase of fostering "relationships" where visitors and the region continuously interact, building upon the value we have refined so far. We will work on creating new value that leads to the formation of a 'related population,' going beyond mere exchange.

SUIDEN TERRASSE will further strengthen its function as a destination hotel in Yamagata Shonai, promoting sustainable relationship building through tourism.

In the 2026 fiscal year, we will develop initiatives based on the following three projects:

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【Project 01｜Create (Agriculture)】

Experience the agricultural activities of Yamagata Shonai

〈Suiden Terrasse Rice Farming Experience〉: Experience "from growing to eating"

【Project 02｜Express (Cuisine)】

The essence of Yamagata Shonai, "water and rice," on a single plate

A new dinner course expressing the value of food as cuisine

【Project 03｜Narrate (Culture/Sake)】

Sake connects Shonai's food culture and philosophy

Experience the charm of the region with 〈YAMAGATA SHONAI SAKE STORY〉

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【Project 01｜Create (Agriculture)】

Experience the agricultural activities of Yamagata Shonai

〈Suiden Terrasse Rice Farming Experience〉: Experience "from growing to eating"

This project began in 2025 as an initiative to provide an experience of touching upon the background of food through rice farming, set in Shonai, one of Japan's leading rice-producing regions. In its first year, many participants, mainly from the Kanto region, joined and highly praised the opportunity to feel how food is born and sustained through rice planting and harvesting.

In the 2026 fiscal year, as the second year of the initiative, the name will be updated to "〈Suiden Terrasse Rice Farming Experience 2026〉Rice Field and Rice Project ~Grow, Taste, and Think~," further evolving its content. It will be developed not as a one-off rice farming experience, but as a program for continuous engagement with the region. By participating in the entire process from rice planting to harvesting and tasting the newly harvested rice, we aim to create an opportunity to re-evaluate food not merely as consumption, but as something with a background.

In collaboration with Dewa Yahei Co., Ltd., a contract farmer practicing organic farming at the foot of the sacred Mt. Gassan, the experience of touching the soil, conversing with producers, and eating rice that one has personally been involved in cultivating is bringing new values to participants, primarily from urban areas.

In the 2026 fiscal year, as a core project of this release, we will further develop this initiative and deliver the charm of Yamagata Shonai more deeply through the creation of experiences that foster continuous engagement with the region.

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〈Suiden Terrasse Rice Farming Experience 2026〉
Rice Field and Rice Project ~Grow, Taste, and Think~

Application Period: 2026 fiscal year slots are sold out

Content: Experience rice farming such as rice planting and harvesting in the contract farmer's rice fields,

and the harvested new rice will be delivered to your home in autumn.

Contract Farmer: Dewa Yahei Co., Ltd. (50 Minamida, Hirata, Haguro-machi, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture)

Cultivar: Organic JAS certified Tsuyahime (scheduled for delivery in November 2026)

Details: Please check the special page on our official website

　　　　　　　https://suiden-terrasse.com/news/20250202-farmtotable_experience/

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【Project 02｜Express (Cuisine)】

The essence of Yamagata Shonai, "water and rice," on a single plate

A new dinner course expressing the value of food as cuisine

The act of eating, which begins with "creating," connects to experience by "expressing it as cuisine" in a restaurant. Our hotel revamped its dinner course in October 2025 and began offering a new gastronomy focused on "water and rice."

Against the backdrop of nature's cycle, where melted snow from the Dewa Sanzan mountains and Mt. Chokai enriches the land, cultivates rice, and eventually flows into the sea to nurture seafood, the blessings of Shonai are expressed in each dish. Under the guidance of SUIDEN TERRASSE Head Chef Yoshitaka Sato, through repeated dialogues with producers, we confront local ingredients and elevate their value into cuisine. The course is structured to allow guests to feel the "story of water and rice."

In this course, you can experience the blessings of Shonai with the following composition:

・Amuse-bouche featuring seasonal ingredients from Shonai

・Homemade bread using Tsuyahime rice

・Main dishes with seasonal seafood and local ingredients

・Finishing onigiri (rice ball) and local fish dashi (for some courses)

We offer an experience where guests can savor not only representative local ingredients such as the ultra-soft water from Takenotsuyu Shuzojo brewery, Tsuyahime rice from Dewa Yahei Co., Ltd., and seasonal seafood from Shonaihama, but also the stories behind them.

This initiative is not merely a menu refresh, but an attempt to reconstruct the region's nature and producers' activities as cuisine and deliver them as an experience.

【Project 03｜Narrate (Culture/Sake)】
Sake connects Shonai's food culture and philosophy
Experience the charm of the region with 〈YAMAGATA SHONAI SAKE STORY〉

The act of eating, which involves "creating" and "expressing," is understood more deeply by "narrating" the culture and philosophy behind it. In Yamagata Shonai, "sake" is an indispensable presence alongside rice.

Since 2023, SUIDEN TERRASSE has been holding the pairing dinner event 〈YAMAGATA SHONAI SAKE STORY〉. This initiative allows guests to experience the background of sake brewing and the passion of the brewers, inherited in Shonai, a renowned sake region, alongside cuisine. It will mark its fourth year in 2026.

To date, we have collaborated with Shonai's sake breweries and wineries to offer pairing menus co-created by Head Chef Yoshitaka Sato and the brewery owners/winemakers. At these events, in addition to serving food and sake, we create experiences that deepen understanding beyond just taste, through stories and lectures told by the producers themselves.

Furthermore, initiatives involving staff in sake brewing are also underway, with participation in original wine making at Pino Collina Matsugaoka entering its third year. By engaging in the actual manufacturing process, staff deepen their understanding of the producers' philosophy and background.

Through these efforts, SUIDEN TERRASSE will not merely offer food and sake, but will convey them along with the culture and stories behind them. As a venue for "narrating" Shonai's food culture, we will continue to disseminate its value.

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〈YAMAGATA SHONAI SAKE STORY〉2026 Fiscal Year Event Schedule

April 18 (Sat) Watara Honten

July 11 (Sat) Takenotsuyu Shuzojo

November 2 (Mon) Pino Collina Matsugaoka

*Details for each session will be announced sequentially on our official website.

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In the 2026 fiscal year, SUIDEN TERRASSE will continue to convey the value woven by Yamagata Shonai's nature, culture, history, and food as experiences. Through the three initiatives of "Create (Agriculture)," "Express (Cuisine)," and "Narrate (Culture/Sake)," we will create opportunities to touch the essence of the region, starting with food, and foster relationships with our visitors.

What we aim for is not merely a stay or consumption, but a sustainable connection born from experiencing this land, its people, and the accumulation of time.
SUIDEN TERRASSE will continue to walk alongside the region, delivering its value to the future and to the world.

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About SHONAI HOTEL SUIDEN TERRASSE

SUIDEN TERRASSE, based on the concept of "a hotel floating in rice fields where one can spend time farming in fine weather and reading in rain," opened in 2018 in the Shonai Plain, known for its mountains.