Protected local food
Masuda Ams Melon
益田アムスメロン
A large, sweet, juicy melon from Masuda on the Shimane coast, soft almost to the rind. In Masuda, people say the town and the melon are one and the same.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 30 January 2025
- Region
- Chugoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 益田アムスメロン
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 島根県益田市
Soft right to the rind
Ams is a netted green-fleshed melon. Masuda Ams melons are large, sweet and very juicy, and soft almost all the way to the rind, so there is more to eat. Their steady quality makes them a popular gift, and locals say that Masuda means Ams.
Sun, river and sand
Masuda city, in western Shimane, is mild for the Sea of Japan coast and sunny while the melons swell and ripen. The Takatsu River supplies plenty of water, and the sandy loam suits melons. Growers developed their own way of training the vines and even a dedicated fertiliser with a manufacturer.
A town that found its melon
Farmers tried crop after crop to escape hard times before settling on Ams melon. That community effort won the Emperor's Cup, a top national farming award, and is taught in local schools.
Good to know
- The Takatsu River is regularly ranked among Japan's clearest rivers.
- Masuda has two gardens designed by the 15th-century painter Sesshu, at Ikoji and Manpukuji temples.
Questions travellers ask
When is it in season?
Summer is the main season.
How do I know it is ripe?
Wait until the bottom gives slightly and the melon smells sweet, then chill it before eating.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Esashi: the herring town that outshone Edo
- Fukiya: the birthplace of Japan Red
- Iwami kagura: gods and demons dance the old myths
- Iwami's volcanoes: Jomon forest and silver mountain in Oda
- Izumo: the sacred land where the sun sets
- Izumo's tatara: a thousand years of making iron
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Masuda: a medieval masterpiece of Japan
- Tsuwano: walk into a book of 100 old paintings
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.