It's early morning in Mitoyo, a small town in Kagawa Prefecture in Shikoku. The sun casts squares of light on the long tables of Udon House where Kanako Harada is preparing to welcome a group of guests from Switzerland and Japan.
Udon House is hard to define. Part guesthouse and tour provider and part culture and cooking class, it's a full-immersion experience where guests learn about the Sanuki region where udon noodles were born.
Helping Harada prepare are Nobuchika Higashida, a Kagawa native and chief sales officer of Sanuki Menki Co., Ltd and Aino Horii, Harada's high school friend and invaluable assistant on the Udon House project.