Crafting Award-Winning Olive Oil in the Shadow of Mount Fuji

Summary

CREA Farm in Fujieda, Japan, pro­duces award-win­ning extra vir­gin olive oil despite the chal­leng­ing cli­mate, focus­ing on qual­ity over quan­tity and sus­tain­able prac­tices. The farm not only cul­ti­vates olives but also engages in edu­ca­tional and envi­ron­men­tal ini­tia­tives, aim­ing to revi­tal­ize the rural com­mu­nity and share Japanese olive oil with the world.

A farm­ing vil­lage in the vicin­ity of Fujieda, Japan, is home to edu­ca­tional and envi­ron­men­tal projects while also being the source of some of the country’s finest extra vir­gin olive oil.

Near Mount Fuji in Shizuoka pre­fec­ture, CREA Farm began its jour­ney as an olive oil pro­ducer in 2013. 

Its Coratina mono­va­ri­etal has repeat­edly tri­umphed at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, hav­ing won six Gold and Silver Awards since 2019, includ­ing a Gold Award in 2025.

“We believe our olive oil stands out because of our unwa­ver­ing pas­sion and metic­u­lous atten­tion to detail, push­ing beyond the nat­ural lim­i­ta­tions of Japan as an olive-grow­ing region,” Tatsuya Okumura, the company’s man­ag­ing direc­tor, told Olive Oil Times.

While a few regions of Japan enjoy a Mediterranean-like cli­mate, includ­ing the south­ern part of the arch­i­pel­ago, the cli­mate in most of the coun­try is often chal­leng­ing for olive grow­ers.

“Shizuoka is blessed with fer­tile soil and clean air, but at the same time we face heavy rains, typhoons and humid sum­mers,” Okumura said. ​“To adapt, we paid atten­tion from the begin­ning to what lies unseen under­ground, ensur­ing that olive trees could develop strong roots.”

“In addi­tion, we prac­tice sus­tain­able meth­ods such as prun­ing to improve ven­ti­la­tion and care­fully mon­i­tor­ing pests,” Okumura said. ​“Still, the unpre­dictabil­ity of the weather due to cli­mate change remains a major chal­lenge.”

Despite the chal­lenges, Olumura is look­ing for­ward to the upcom­ing 2025/26 har­vest with opti­mism. 

“Each sea­son brings new chal­lenges, but also a great sense of progress. Due to abnor­mal weather, this year’s yield is expected to be slightly lower than last year, but the oil qual­ity looks very promis­ing,” Okumura said.

“We antic­i­pate pro­duc­ing oils with a beau­ti­ful bal­ance of fresh­ness, fruiti­ness and bit­ter­ness. And we are truly excited to share them,” he added.

While there is an ongo­ing effort in Japan to cul­ti­vate more olive trees, Okumura said the sec­tor faces sev­eral grow­ing pains that have also affected CREA Farm.

“Ensuring enough labor dur­ing the busy har­vest sea­son is a chal­lenge shared across agri­cul­ture,” he said. ​“Yet each of these expe­ri­ences has taught us resilience, the abil­ity to remain strong and flex­i­ble. With every year, we feel we are grow­ing together with our trees.”

While Shizuoka pre­fec­ture is well known for its agri­cul­ture, olive oil pro­duc­tion began only recently.

The first olive trees in Japan were planted over a cen­tury ago in Shodoshima and Kagoshima, regions in the south­ern part of the coun­try with a more Mediterranean cli­mate.

“Many believed this envi­ron­ment to be unsuit­able. With few prece­dents for olive cul­ti­va­tion in our region, every step, from estab­lish­ing our grow­ing tech­niques to train­ing staff and refin­ing the har­vest-to-press time­line, has been a series of ongo­ing chal­lenges and dis­cov­er­ies,” he noted.

According to CREA Farm, cul­ti­vat­ing olives and pro­duc­ing olive oil in such chal­leng­ing con­di­tions ulti­mately reflected the Japanese spirit of crafts­man­ship and show­cased the nat­ural beauty of the land.

“Our goal, though, was also to build a place where people’s smiles could gather,” Okumura said, hint­ing at the social and cul­tural ini­tia­tives of the com­pany.

The project aligns with Shizuoka’s rural revi­tal­iza­tion efforts, trans­form­ing idle farm­land into pro­duc­tive orchards and invit­ing vis­i­tors to expe­ri­ence olive cul­ti­va­tion in the foothills of Mount Fuji.

Growing Coratina olive trees was not a casual choice. The glob­ally praised Apulian olive vari­ety paired per­fectly with the fla­vors typ­i­cal of the Japanese tra­di­tion.

“We chose the Coratina vari­ety because of its bold char­ac­ter, rich fruiti­ness and pleas­ant bit­ter­ness,” Okumura said. ​“These qual­i­ties har­mo­nize beau­ti­fully with Japanese cui­sine, from sashimi and grilled veg­eta­bles to miso soup.”

Over the years, CREA Farm tested many other cul­ti­vars, and today the com­pany grows 12 dif­fer­ent vari­eties, includ­ing Picual, Arbequina and Hojiblanca. The com­pany cul­ti­vates about 3,000 olive trees spread over six hectares.

“Each of them adds a unique expres­sion to our olive oils,” Okumura said. ​“While we plan to increase the num­ber of trees grad­u­ally, our focus remains qual­ity over quan­tity. We aim to nur­ture each tree care­fully so that every drop of olive oil embod­ies authen­tic­ity and integrity.”

Over the years, the com­pany has increas­ingly empha­sized its focus on qual­ity.

“In the early days, sim­ply grow­ing healthy trees was our great­est chal­lenge. Now, with more con­fi­dence in our cul­ti­va­tion tech­niques, we are focus­ing on pro­duc­ing higher-qual­ity oils and shar­ing our story with the world,” Okumura said.

In the words of the com­pany, CREA Farm is not only about grow­ing olives. What began as a plan to revive aban­doned farm­land has evolved into a model that com­bines agri­cul­ture, com­mu­nity engage­ment, and envi­ron­men­tal respon­si­bil­ity.

On land once left idle, the com­pany has planted olive trees and herbs, avoid­ing fences and heavy struc­tures to pre­serve the nat­ural land­scape.

Old farm­houses and unused real estate have been ren­o­vated for work­shops, kitchens and gar­dens rather than replaced.

After the har­vest, noth­ing is wasted: olive pomace becomes fer­til­izer or ani­mal feed, while olive branches are reused in com­mu­nity craft activ­i­ties such as wreath-mak­ing.

CREA Farm’s café and restau­rant rely on sea­sonal and locally sourced ingre­di­ents, often grown directly on site, with an empha­sis on reduc­ing food waste and show­cas­ing sim­ple, nat­ural fla­vors. The com­pany also mar­kets jams, honey, fla­vored oils, spices and canned goods.

Additionally, the farm invites res­i­dents and vol­un­teers to par­tic­i­pate in car­ing for the orchard.

Through what it calls a ​“learn, grow, eat, buy” approach, CREA Farm encour­ages peo­ple to par­tic­i­pate in work­shops, gar­den­ing, cook­ing classes, and tast­ings, fos­ter­ing a deeper under­stand­ing of sus­tain­able food cul­ture.

“Looking ahead, CREA Farm aims not only to be a pro­ducer of olive oil but also to con­tribute to increas­ing com­mu­nity exchange and to become a cul­tural bridge that intro­duces Japanese olive oil to the world,” Okumura con­cluded.