Goldfish and Soy Sauce! Kingyotei cafe and free Matsumoto Shoyu factory tour

Information for Kingyotei cafe and the free soy sauce factory tour at Matsumoto Shoyu, Kawagoe.

Soy Sauce Factory tour Kawagoe

Free Soy Factory Tour Kawagoe – Where in Kawagoe to bring a visiting famous Japanese food chef and author?  This is the question that faced me when I was bringing Fiona Uyema, Ireland’s leading Japanese food expert and owner of Fused Japanese sauces, on a tour of Kawagoe in Autumn 2015.

Matsumoto Soy Sauce

I brought her to a few different places. But the tour of the 250 year old Matsumoto Soy Sauce factory was one of the highlights of the three day tour.  Fiona had a particular interest in the factory as she was developing her own soy sauce brand “Fused” to be launched in Ireland. Fused is available in retail shops around Ireland or you can buy  online here: https://fusedbyfionauyema.com/product-tag/japanese-soy-sauce/. Fiona was visiting with her family and I had my own kids with me.

Free Factory tour

The tour was surprisingly interesting for the older kids in our party. At that time they were aged between 0 and 6 years old.  The tour is conducted in Japanese and it is actually very short, around 20 minutes. But it is an interesting experience and totally free!

The gathering area for taking the tour is in front of the Matsumoto shop. The Matsumot shop is the retail part of Matsumoto Soy Sauce.  When we visited there weren’t that many people. It was shortly after the tours had been opened to the public and word hadn’t quite got around yet. At that time they only offered the tour on weekends and public holidays at 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pm. However, due to the increasing popularity of the tour, they now offer the tour everyday. You can check for the most up-to-date schedule on their English language web page.

Please note that on occasion the tour isn’t available and / or if it is too packed you might not get a spot. If you have more than 10 in your group you can ring the shop on a weekday and ask to arrange a private tour. You walk up a narrow alley to get to the factory. If you have a stroller you can use a separate entrance, or you can park your stroller and carry your child.

Kamonrakuza

Matsumoto Soy Sauce Factory and Shop is part of a larger complex with a few different names, one I hear most often is Kamonrakuza, which seems to be the group name for Blue Moon glass blowing and glass art workshops, the Koedo Kagamiyama sake factory and shop (where you can enjoy sake tasting), and the gallery in the complex.  There is an Underground Ramen beside Matsumoto Shop. There is also a café on the premises. When I first wrote this post it was called “Cafe Kura”. However, Cafe Kura closed in 2020. Sine March 2022, it is now the ever so trendy ‘Instabae’ Kingyo Tei…

The old Cafe Kura is now Kingyotei

Cafe kura is now a very trendy cafe and bar “Kingyotei”. It opened in March this year (2022).  Kingyo is the Japanese for goldfish and tei for store. And Kingyotei is all about the goldfish! The signature drink of the cafe has goldfish jellies in it. In addition, the café is decorated with hanging goldfish. We’ve tried a few different things at the cafe, so far the sweet potato specialty is my favorite. The drinks come with an ‘omikuji’ fortune paper. If you are not happy with your fortune, you can tie it on the tree outside. A practice which is believed to change your fortune.

The building has a bit of a romantic feel and seems to most popular with young couples or pairs of friends.  The café (and the whole complex) are off the main tourist strip so its quieter and more ambient than other areas in the Kawagoe tourist district. There is a small outdoor area too, but there are only two tables for two. They have one unisex toilet on the premises.

Information

Hours

Matsumoto Shop: 9 am to 6 pm *there maybe changes on account of the Coronavirus in 2020 – 2021.

Factory Tour: 1 pm on weekdays, 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pm on weekends at the time of writing this post. I can only update this post sporadically, so please do check the official website for the most up to date information. Not available from January 1st to 4th and on other select dates during the year.

Matsumoto Phone: 049-222-0432

Kingyotei: 11 am to 6 pm Thursdays to Tuesdays, closed some Wednesdays. They also have night time hours, but they are temporarily unavailable due to the pandemic.

Kingyotei Phone: 049-277-3356

The rest of the facilities such as Blue Moon and the gallery have separate operating hours and are closed on Wednesdays.

Access

Matsumoto Soy Sauce factory and shop are off the beaten track of Kawagoe.   It is part of the main warehouse district, but it is back one block from the main tourist strip, with little else touristy directly around it. Even though at the top of the same road there is the famous Kayshiya Yokocho (sweet street/candy alley) district and Gyodenji, most people miss the factory because they turn at the giant chameleon on the 5 yen coin thumb* to get to / from the main tourist strip. (*Around 2020 they replaced the 5 yen coin with a thumb!)

If you keep walking down from Kashiya Yokocho toward Hon-Kawagoe station you will hit the factory on your right hand side. Walking up from the station, if you turn left at Mameya Kawagoe at Naka-cho and cross over the road and take the first main right, the factory is on your left just past a coin parking lot. It is a 10 minute walk. If you are coming by car, they have free parking for about 7 cars. There is also a coin parking beside it. Please note that it is a one-way system, you must enter the road from the bottom at the Times Kawagoe Parking Lot on Naka-cho, you can’t enter from the kashiya yokocho end. Please see map at bottom.

Contact

Official English web page for Matsumoto and all its facilities apart from the cafe and Blue Moon. The official website for Kingyo Tei cafe here. Official website for Blue Moon here.