A traditional wooden house with a narrow entrance door holds a soba noodle restaurant on the old Nakasendo (中山道) in the Kiso Valley, Nagano Prefecture. A sign by the door dates the building to the early Meiji era, more than 100 years old. Shichimi spice and soba noodles have gone together since the Edo period: the seven ingredients built around chilli were once used as a remedy to warm the body and stimulate blood circulation. Angela Berg laughs as she steps out through the low doorway.