KOFU, Yamanashi Pref. — Domestic tours arranged by travel agencies and other entities backed by local governments are catching the fancy of people interested in tours not listed in guidebooks.
Eighteen people, including company employees and foreign students from neighboring regions, visited a rice paddy in Hokuto, Yamanashi Prefecture, in late September as part of a tour hosted by a travel company established in May by the Yamanashi Tourism Organization.
A 33-year-old female company employee from Tokyo took part in the tour along with a colleague who had found out about it on the Internet. "I harvested rice for the first time. I had thought it was easy but it was actually difficult," she said.