Shimotsukata 下塚田
A bright yellow Nichinan lemon ripening on the branch
Nichinan lemon

A small fruit carrying a region's name.

Sun-grown, hand-picked, and fragrant — our lemons are how the wider world first tastes Shimotsukata.

In the warm, sheltered hills of Nichinan, a Meyer-type lemon ripens slowly into something we're proud to call our own: the Nichinan lemon.

Southern Miyazaki is one of the sunniest corners of Japan, and citrus has always thrived here. Among our groves, the lemon has become a signature — bright, aromatic, with the mellow sweetness the Meyer variety is loved for. We grow it, tend it through the seasons, and pick it by hand.

Meyer-typeVariety
NichinanMiyazaki, Kyushu
By handGrown & picked

From a Kyushu hillside to Tokyo

What grows in a small village doesn't have to stay small. Through our producers' association, we've begun bringing the Nichinan lemon to market — including promotional events in Tokyo — so that people far from Miyazaki can taste what our climate and our growers make together.

For us, the lemon is more than a crop. It carries the name of our region outward, and brings curiosity — and visitors — back in.

More than the fruit

The lemon has become a starting point for new things: craft products, branding, even an online shop. Each one is a small way for a rural community to create value from what it grows — and to invite the rest of the world to take part.

Enquire about the lemon →