Azabudai Hills is holding "Yakiimo Hiroba" (Baked Sweet Potato Plaza), a popular autumn food event, at its Central Plaza from Friday, October 23 to Sunday, October 25, 2026. Baked sweet potatoes, sweet potato desserts, roasted chestnuts, Mont Blanc cakes, and other autumn flavors come together in one place.
This year, 14 shops take part: 12 sweet potato specialists and 2 chestnut specialists, including 4 sweet potato shops appearing for the first time. Imoyasu (焼き芋専門店 芋やす), founded in 2005, offers a wide range of yakiimo (baked sweet potato), dried sweet potatoes, and sweet potato sweets made with potatoes selected from various regions, mainly Ibaraki. Owari Imoya Imokichi (尾張芋屋 芋吉), the champion of the National Yakiimo Grand Prix 2026 (全国やきいもグランプリ2026), serves yakiimo that won awards in three categories. Returning from last year, Kuri no Ito kasama (栗ノ絲kasama), a shop from Kasama City in Ibaraki Prefecture, a famous chestnut-producing area, serves a Mont Blanc squeezed into ultra-fine 0.5 mm strands, and the "Kasama no Kuri" roasted chestnuts (「笠間の栗」焼き栗) are roasted right in front of customers and served piping hot.
From 3:00 PM each day of the event, a bonfire is lit in the Central Plaza. Visitors can enjoy live music around the fire, and the plaza is decorated with pumpkins, so sweet potatoes and chestnuts can be enjoyed in an autumn setting.
Event Overview
Yakiimo Hiroba (やきいも広場)
Dates and hours: Friday, October 23 to Sunday, October 25, 2026, 12:00 PM–8:00 PM
- Sweet potato and chestnut sales: 12:00 PM–7:30 PM
- Bonfire: 3:00 PM–8:00 PM
Sponsor: Maker's Mark
Venue: Azabudai Hills Central Plaza (麻布台ヒルズ 中央広場). Admission is free.
Official website: https://www.azabudai-hills.com/whats_on/2026/10/0418.html
The bonfire will not be lit in rain or severe weather.
Four Sweet Potato Shops Make Their Debut
Four sweet potato specialty shops join the event for the first time this year. Among them are a long-established yakiimo shop founded in 2005 and the champion of the National Yakiimo Grand Prix 2026, with well-known shops gathering from around Japan to serve their own takes on yakiimo. As in the previous year, Kasama City in Ibaraki Prefecture, a famous chestnut-producing area, also brings a Mont Blanc with a melt-in-the-mouth texture and freshly roasted chestnuts.
Participating Shops
Sweet Potatoes
Owari Imoya Imokichi (尾張芋屋 芋吉) – First-time participant
A yakiimo specialty shop based in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture. It has won awards two years in a row at one of Japan's largest sweet potato events, and it took the championship at the Yakiimo Grand Prix 2026, winning in three categories in total. The award-winning yakiimo is served here, along with sweets made with yakiimo.
Item: Yakiimo, ¥800, among other items
Imoyasu (焼き芋専門店 芋やす) – First-time participant
Since its founding in 2005, before the yakiimo boom, the shop has carried on with a single aim: "to deliver truly delicious yakiimo and expand the possibilities of yakiimo." It selects sweet potatoes from various regions, mainly Ibaraki, and offers yakiimo, dried sweet potatoes, and sweet potato sweets.
Item: One-Year-Aged Beniharuka / New-Harvest Kurikaguya (一年熟成紅はるか / 新芋栗かぐや), ¥500, among other items
Oimoya Nouka no Daidokoro (おいもや 農家の台所) – First-time participant
Authentic stone-roasted sweet potatoes baked slowly on Sakurajima lava stones. The heat from the stones seeps gently through the skin of carefully selected sweet potatoes, leaving the skin fragrant and the inside soft and honey-sweet. Visitors can enjoy the natural sweetness of a whole sweet potato, skin and all, slowly by the bonfire.
Item: Delicious Down to the Skin! Salted Yakiimo (皮までうまい！塩やきいも), ¥500–¥800, among other items
yakiimo.life – First-time participant
A select shop run by yakiimo ambassador 天谷窓大. The shop gathers premium sweet potato gifts that left a deep impression during visits to renowned shops around Japan, with the thought "I want everyone to try this!" Visitors can take home the excitement of Yakiimo Hiroba and its lingering flavor, as a treat for themselves or as a special souvenir.
Yanagiya (石焼き芋専門店やなぎ屋)
The owner, one of only two yakiimo ambassadors in Japan, travels around the country to select sweet potatoes and bakes them by hand one by one, continuing to serve authentic stone-roasted sweet potatoes. This time, the shop prepares the "Izumi" sweet potato, a variety said to be a "phantom" because of its extremely low production even in Japan.
Item: Stone-roasted sweet potatoes (Izumi / Tsurunashi Genji, いずみ / 蔓無源氏), ¥700–¥1,000, among other items
TSUBOIMO WASABURO
The "WASABURO" in the shop name is the name of the owner's grandfather, who loved making people smile. The shop chose it because it wants to serve yakiimo that makes people smile. Under the concept "yakiimo as a gift," carefully selected sweet potatoes are baked one by one in a pot.
Item: Pot-roasted yakiimo (つぼ焼き芋), from ¥600, among other items
Oimoyasan moimoi (おいもやさんmoimoi)
A stone-roasted sweet potato specialty shop. Every sweet potato is custom-ordered from the fields by variety. The lineup ranges from moist types and fluffy types to purple sweet potatoes and other rare varieties that seldom reach the market, so visitors can compare the flavor and character of each. The sweet potatoes are 100% natural food with no additives.
Item: Seasonal limited-edition yakiimo (季節の限定焼き芋各種), ¥700–¥1,000, among other items
Mitsuimo Kenkyujo (蜜芋研究所)
A sweet potato laboratory in Yanaka, Tokyo. Sweet potatoes from farmers who won awards at a sweet potato competition judged by Sweet Potato Chef 岡部勝義 are baked in a Mitsuimo kiln (蜜芋窯) using French cooking techniques.
Item: Daigaku-imo Chips (大学芋チップス), ¥800, among other items
Ginroku Imo (銀六いも)
A pot-roasted yakiimo specialty shop in Nishi-Koyama, Shinagawa Ward. Carefully selected sweet potatoes are hung inside a special pot handmade by a certified traditional craftsman and baked slowly over charcoal, one by one. The shop bakes whichever variety is best for the season.
Item: Pot-roasted yakiimo (壺焼き芋), ¥550–¥1,300, among other items
Ishiyaki Imo Onoya (石焼き芋 大野屋)
The kei-truck sales of Yakiimo Onoya return following last year. Vegetable Sommelier 大野 serves carefully chosen stone-roasted sweet potatoes with the warmth and smiles that a mobile sales truck can offer, valuing the connection with each customer and offering a relaxing sweet potato time.
Item: Halloween Sweet (ハロウィンスイート), ¥500, among other items
OIMO cafe
A café serving sweet potato dishes for sweet potato lovers, run by sweet potato farmers of Kawagoe whose farming has continued for 330 years since the Edo period. The key to the flavor is the soft soil made with traditional fallen-leaf compost, which is registered as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (世界農業遺産). The menu makes use of each variety's characteristics: the sticky, sweet Beniharuka goes into a browned-butter sweet potato dessert, and the fluffy Musashikogane (むさしこがね) goes into sweet potato chips.
Item: Browned-Butter Sweet Potato (焦がしバターのスイートポテト), ¥650, among other items
Azabudai Torishiki (麻布台鳥しき)
Sweet potatoes from Tano-cho, Miyazaki Prefecture, are aged for at least three months, giving them a sugar content of 50 degrees or higher, a rich, honey-like sweetness, and a smooth texture. They are then dipped in Torishiki's secret yakitori sauce and grilled over charcoal, a deeply aged yakiimo that changes the common idea of what yakiimo is.
Item: Charcoal-grilled yakiimo (炭焼き芋), ¥850
Chestnuts
"Kasama no Kuri" Roasted Chestnuts (「笠間の栗」焼き栗)
Chestnuts from Kasama City in Ibaraki Prefecture, a famous chestnut-producing area, are carefully aged to bring out their natural sweetness and delicate aroma. Each bite fills the mouth with a toasty flavor and gentle richness. The chestnuts are served fluffy and piping hot.
Item: Roasted chestnuts, 1 bag (240 g), ¥1,000
Kuri no Ito kasama (栗ノ絲kasama)
Using Japanese chestnuts from Kasama City, the shop squeezes a fresh Mont Blanc into ultra-fine 0.5 mm strands right in front of the customer with each order. The thread-like finish brings out the chestnut's aroma and gives it a delicate, melt-in-the-mouth texture. It is a dessert unique to Kasama that engages all the senses with the scent of autumn.
Item: Kasama Japanese Chestnut 0.5 mm Ultra-Fine Mont Blanc (笠間和栗0.5mm極細モンブラン), ¥950, among other items
Acoustic Live Music and a Pumpkin Photo Spot
While Yakiimo Hiroba is on, live music is held around the bonfire, and a pumpkin photo spot is set up on site.
Live Music
A different performer plays live each day, in a space lit by the flickering bonfire.
Dates and times: Friday, October 23 to Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 2:00 PM and 6:30 PM each day
Venue: Azabudai Hills Central Plaza, lawn area (芝生広場). Canceled in case of rain.
Performers:
- October 23 (Fri): Bakurocho Band (馬喰町バンド)
- October 24 (Sat): tico moon
- October 25 (Sun): 江藤有希トリオ
Autumn Photo Spot
Many pumpkins, including "Atlantic Giant," Halloween pumpkins, and "Puccini," are delivered to the Central Plaza from the Yatsugatake Agricultural College (八ヶ岳農業大学校). A gathering of pumpkins in autumn is called a "pumpkin patch," a seasonal event widely known in Europe and North America. The vivid autumn colors, which come from the climate of Yatsugatake, one of the sunniest areas in Japan, make a good photo spot.
Also on October 24 and 25: Ultra-Compact Shop "Tunnel"
On the weekends from Saturday, October 10 to Sunday, October 25, Azabudai Hills opens "Tunnel," an ultra-compact shop at the Central Plaza for a limited time. Guests present items around a different theme each week, creating a place to encounter new things, ideas, and values. On October 24 (Sat) and 25 (Sun), the same days as Yakiimo Hiroba, the shop is open under the theme "Each Person's Niyaniya" (それぞれのニヤニヤ). It unpacks the inner feeling of "niyaniya" (ニヤニヤ) and lines up items that touch on each exhibitor's personal and delicate side.
The three exhibitors are 伊勢春日, who runs an art gallery and works as a curator; 大八木翼, a creative director who handles corporate advertising; and 金子恵治, a fashion director involved in planning for various brands.
Dates and themes:
- Round 1: Saturday, October 10 to Monday, October 12 (national holiday), "Being Pretty Isn't Enough to Be Cool" (きれいなだけじゃかっこよくない)
- Round 2: Saturday, October 17 to Sunday, October 18, "Everyone's Sensitive Years" (みんなの多感時代)
- Round 3: Saturday, October 24 to Sunday, October 25, "Each Person's Niyaniya" (それぞれのニヤニヤ)
Hours: 10:00 AM–7:00 PM each day (planned)
Venue: Azabudai Hills KIOSK STAND (inside the Central Plaza)
Exhibitors: 伊勢春日, 大八木翼, 金子恵治
Planning cooperation: 長嶋太陽
Official website: https://www.azabudai-hills.com/whats_on/2026/10/0438.html
