Aisai

Aisai is a municipality in Aichi Prefecture that spreads across a flat coastal plain between the mouths of the Kiso and Nagara rivers. The municipal area includes former settlements now joined into a single administrative unit, made up mostly of residential neighborhoods and farming zones.

The municipal government formed in spring 2005 when four smaller communities merged into a larger administrative unit. The new boundaries brought together different settlements, each with its own past as an independent locality.

Visitors notice the flooded fields where a crop with cream-colored blooms grows throughout summer months and becomes ready for harvest in autumn. Anyone driving through the districts will see watery farmland and small agricultural operations that have stayed in family hands for generations.

Anyone exploring the area should know the terrain is flat and spread out, best crossed by car or bicycle. Most points of interest sit scattered across different neighborhoods, so planning a route helps when visiting several locations in one day.

The Morikawa area is one of the main producers of lotus roots in Japan, and locals have harvested the crunchy rhizome for decades for nationwide sale. Anyone walking through the fields in summer will see large round leaves floating on the water before they get plowed under in autumn.