Coco Farm and Winery
Tajima-cho 611 deep in a valley north of ashikaga; by car take route 293 north and follow the coco farm signs; by taxi from jr ashikaga, budget ¥2000 each way, tel. 0284-42-1194, fax 0284-42-2166, email [email protected], (http://www.cocowine.com/e...). gift shop open daily 9:30 am to 5:30 pm; cafe open daily 11:00 am to 4:00 pm; winery tours at 11:00, 1:00, 3:00; closed 31 dec. through 2 jan. founded in 1950 as a boarding school for underachieving kids, it gradually evolved into a self-supporting vineyard, produced its first wine in 1980, established ties with sonoma vineyards, then hired a california vintner, and provided the sparkling wine for the g7 summit in okinawa in 2000. per-glass prices range from ¥300 to ¥1000, with a variety of hors d'oeuvres at a similar range of prices. a sample of three wines and matching hors d'oeuvres can be ordered for ¥2000. winery tours cost ¥500 per person; five coco farms wines can be sampled for ¥500.
Ashikaga Machinaka YÅ«gakkan
足å©ã¾ã¡ãªãéå¦é¤¨, tori 1-chome, 2673-1 right on main street, on the right corner of the flagstone-paved street leading into ashikaga gakko, tel. 0284-41-8201. open daily 9:00 am to 5:00; closed 3rd m every month and at year end. this "play-learn" emporium not only exhibits locally made textiles and actual working looms and braiding and threading machines, it also offers weaving lessons on small handlooms. ¥400 per lesson 30-45 minutes.