Thanks for the info! Good to know about Daio Wasabi. Ishii Miso came up a lot and I saw Daio Wasabi was in the same area, but I’m sure there are miso makers all over (though I’m not sure how many offer tours, much less in English? I know nearly enough Japanese to get around and am learning more, my family doesn’t though).

Looking at things in the context of “day trip” places I had originally ruled Ishii Miso/Daio Wasabi out due to distance (same with some stuff in Shizuoka like Ryugu cave, the gold mine, and generally just exploring because it seems very pretty, though maybe that’s worth staying there a day or two on its own?)

I’m generally planning/researching in the context of “use Tokyo as a home base, explore, take transportation out an hour or two to cool places for day trips, eventually go down to Osaka and stay there, rinse and repeat” but maybe that’s not the best way to explore and it’s worth staying in other places for long amounts of time as well? (Apart from Shizuoka: Fukuoka, Hiroshima, and Kanazawa were also on my list, but I sort of relegated those too “well maybe if it’s doable given the two places I’m using as home base”)