This time we venture out to Sawara in Chiba Prefecture. It's a 300-year-old town where merchant families prospered thanks to the Tone River. We see how the community is upholding its traditions.

I got it wrong. It wasn’t mosquito coils and a springtime fish--Katori (香取) and Sawara, the names of the awesomely picturesque area in Chiba Prefecture. In 2006, Sawara merged with a number ...