It has been a month since apple specialty cafe Ringo Cafe Yamazaki (Oyakatacho, Hirosaki City, TEL 0172-36-0082 ) started a new service that allows customers to experience peeling Hirosaki apples and eat them raw.

The store is a sister store of the French restaurant "Restaurant Yamazaki." After opening as "Cafe Yamazaki" in 2014, it will be renovated into an apple specialty cafe in July 2023. It will begin full-scale operations on April 7, 2024.

The "Apple Peeling Experience Set" (550 yen) focuses on the fact that, despite being the number one apple producing region in Japan, there were very few restaurants in Hirosaki that offered apples to eat raw. Customers can experience peeling an apple using tools, and taste apples carefully selected by the producers. It was planned as a product aimed at appealing to foreign tourists at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided. It was made available in time for the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival (April 13th to May 5th).

According to the store owner, Takashi Yamazaki, many foreign tourists visited the store during the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival and ordered the experience set. Yamazaki said, "Japanese people are not particularly surprised when they learn to peel apples, but foreign visitors were delighted and applauded and took videos. I'm sure it will be a hit with people from overseas."

Currently, they offer Fuji apples grown with minimal pesticides by Hirosaki apple farmer Nobuo Nakata. In the future, they plan to handle apples from other producers and display seasonal varieties. Yamazaki says, "Apple growing is an art. Each producer has their own passion and philosophy, and I hope to be able to introduce that to you." He also adds, "I want to make this a base for disseminating information about apples, where people of all generations and industries can communicate with each other while munching on apples."

Business hours are 11:00-14:30. Reservations are required for dinner. Closed on Mondays.