From Agriculture to Fine Dining
Creating Stories Through Craftsmanship
When Honda Sun began exploring agriculture as a new business, it found a powerful partner close to home.
That partner was Junki Hirakawa, founder of ENOWA YUFUIN in Oita Prefecture, who established his auberge with a simple ambition: to enrich people’s lives through food.
The meeting between former Japan rugby captain Shun Toshiro Hirose and Honda Sun’s former president, Kamata, marked the first step toward Honda Sun’s entry into agriculture.
From the moment Hirose learned of Honda Sun’s plans, one person immediately came to mind—a friend who shared his belief in creating employment opportunities for people with disabilities and contributing to society.
Hirose quickly contacted his friend and invited him to visit Honda Sun.
That friend was Junki Hirakawa, founder of ENOWA YUFUIN, an auberge in Yufuin, Oita Prefecture.
In 2024, Hirakawa visited Honda Sun with Hirose. There, he witnessed not only people with and without disabilities working side by side, but also Honda Sun’s long-standing commitment to creating an environment where people with disabilities can achieve greater independence through meaningful employment.
Like Hirose before him, Hirakawa found Honda Sun’s philosophy deeply inspiring. It would later become one of the foundations of the brand he envisioned for ENOWA YUFUIN.
“My first impression of Honda Sun was simply that it was doing something remarkable. Many people believe supporting employment for people with disabilities is primarily the role of government. But I have always believed it is something the private sector is better positioned to sustain over the long term, rather than organizations that frequently change personnel and responsibilities. Honda Sun was already well ahead in putting that philosophy into practice. Ideas immediately began coming to me one after another. Like Hirose, I wanted more people to see what Honda Sun was doing, so I began bringing friends and colleagues to visit.” (Hirakawa)
Hirakawa was inspired by the concept of botanical retreats he experienced overseas, including at hotels in Spain’s Basque region, where reconnecting with nature and the soil is part of restoring both body and mind. Believing that an auberge—a restaurant with accommodations—could play an important role in regional revitalization, he established ENOWA YUFUIN.
It was while developing the ENOWA YUFUIN brand that Hirose introduced him to Honda Sun.
Hirakawa chose Oita because he believed it was a region with a progressive outlook on diversity. The prefecture has long promoted initiatives that enable people with disabilities to live independently within their communities. Having previously worked to advance disability employment himself, Hirakawa found these efforts especially meaningful.
He was also attracted by Oita’s natural environment, the availability of spacious land, and its growing commitment to welcoming international visitors.
At ENOWA YUFUIN, Hirakawa has taken the familiar farm-to-table philosophy one step further through what he calls FARM-DRIVEN. Rather than designing dishes first and sourcing ingredients afterward, the day’s menu begins with whatever the farm produces.
This philosophy created common ground between the two organizations.
Hirakawa wanted to learn from Honda Sun’s decades of experience creating inclusive workplaces, while Kamata hoped to learn agricultural expertise from ENOWA YUFUIN. Their goals aligned naturally, leading Kamata to ask Hirakawa for his cooperation—a meeting Kamata later described as “destiny.”
In this way, a vision began to take shape: crops grown by people with disabilities and served at ENOWA YUFUIN. For Hirakawa, this embodied his belief in creating value through stories.
Beyond simply serving produce harvested from its own fields, ENOWA YUFUIN’s FARM-DRIVEN philosophy invites guests to experience the entire journey behind each ingredient. Adding another dimension to that journey is the story of the people who grow the crops—including people with disabilities. Hirakawa and Kamata envisioned sharing that story not only through ENOWA YUFUIN, but from Yufuin to Oita, from Kyushu, and ultimately with the world.
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Vegetables and herbs grown in ENOWA YUFUIN’s farm and indoor garden are used in its cuisine, allowing guests to experience not only the ingredients themselves but also the stories behind how they were grown. -
“Honda Sun taught me the idea of co-creation—working together. That applies to agriculture as well. We want to pass that way of thinking on to children. Honda Sun also taught me that people with disabilities are simply part of society; there is nothing extraordinary about that. I want to help share that understanding with the next generation.” (Hirakawa)
Looking ahead, Hirakawa hopes ENOWA YUFUIN will build on Honda Sun’s efforts to support the social independence of people with disabilities, while Honda Sun will in turn help communicate the stories that ENOWA YUFUIN has created. Together, he believes they can inspire many others to join their journey.
In May 2026, that vision became reality with the opening of Honda Sun × ENOWA FARM LAB, an agricultural demonstration facility jointly established by Honda Sun and ENOWA YUFUIN. Designed to enable people of diverse backgrounds and abilities to participate in agriculture together, the facility marks the official beginning of Honda Sun’s new agricultural challenge.
The philosophy of supporting the social independence of people with disabilities began at Taiyo no Ie, was carried forward by Honda Sun, and is now extending into agriculture through ENOWA YUFUIN.
What began as individual points of activity is steadily becoming a connected network—and ultimately, a movement.
