When driving along the Ohori trunk line in the direction of Aoyama from Sakai in Nishi-ku, Niigata City, looking for a place where fresh juice can be drunk easily, a handmade gelato shop was found on the left-hand side!

The location is on the corner past the intersection of Marugame Seimen and Lawson. Park the car immediately and go straight to the gelato shop.

Go up the stairs to the second floor.

There was a sign for a gelato shop on the way up the stairs. This is the sign that caught my eye as I was driving. I thought it must be a handsome gelato with lots of fresh fruit, because it has a big picture of bananas, oranges and apples, but when I looked closer, I saw the words "Japanese-style gelato" written in small letters.

Japanese gelato with lots of fruit? And with my head full of ???????????????????????? were still full of them when I opened the door of the shop.

思ったより広々とした店内です。

There is also counter seating overlooking the Ohori trunk line.

Gelato is available in...

I thought it was mainly fresh fruit, but it was really all 'Japanese' ingredients, such as shio koji, kirinto, kinako and hojicha. The only fruit was one pineapple.

ジェラートはカップでいただきます。盛り方をシングル、ダブル、トリプルの3つから選びます。どれを選んでもお値段は一緒！たくさん種類があるので、何を選ぼうか迷ってしまいますね。

I had a double serving of matcha green tea and rinto. My son, who went with me, had thick milk and pineapple.

Salted kelp is also included as a service. The salty taste of the salted kelp made the gelato taste even better.

Manager Kenshi Okajima.

We liked it so much that we urgently negotiated an interview with Niigata Repo...

The shop opened on 14 March 2012.

There is a Niigata Technical High School nearby and it is on the road to the high school after getting off at Kohari Station, so when asked if there are many high school students among the customers, they said that less than 10% of the total customers are high school students.

According to Ms Okajima, "We target women in their 30s and above^".

I thought it was a fruit-based gelato shop, but the menu really is full of ingredients that look like Japanese sweets. It has certainly captured my heart too.

'In a little while we will have Echigohime gelato. We try to keep the fruit within the prefecture, so right now is the time of year when we don't have any fruit. What we have on the shelves today are just the basics."

So you can eat peaches, l'éclair, etc.!

'Other melons from the province^ ^.'

I asked if the karinto gelato I had today was also from the prefecture.

'No, that's because we compared a lot of karinto and chose the one that retains its crunchy texture the longest when put in ice cream. Unfortunately it is not from the province."

Okajima-san responds to everything with a smile like this. He's too nice.

The shop also has a contracted parking space. It is safe to drive there.

Finally, we tasted the most popular hojicha tea! The aroma of hojicha in the sweet milk is irresistible. It also has a refreshing aftertaste, which is good ^ ^.

The shop will be relocated to Mizukino, Nishi-ku by June this year. If you are closer to the current shop, please visit it before it moves.

Shop information

Japanese gelato Okaji

• Location : 2-12-8, Mizukino, Nishi-ku, Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture
• Telephone number: 025-239-3910
• Opening hours : 10:00-18:00 (Closed on Mondays)