Category Archives: Photos

TOYAMA, Jan. 12 ― Hikohiro Motoyoshi, an 83-year-old farmer, and his wife Hiroko keep alive tradition of serving sake and the New Year’s food to their hoes respectfully. Their hoes — one is flat hoe and the other is three pronged cultivators — are sitting on zabuton cushions, treated like guests of honor, in the largest room in the home of the Motoyoshi family in Toyama. And the couple let their petitions be made known to the hoes for a good harvest and the safety in the coming year. “They have promised me another good harvest this year,” Hikohiro Motoyoshi smiles, after talking to the hoes, a tool designed to … Continue reading →

HACHIMANTAI, Jan. 10 ― Gentian, a brilliant blue flower, grows best in sunny conditions. But Ayumi Miyano, a 36-year-old gentian grower, has tried her luck and experimented with the herb, finding a way to keep her business going even in the freezing temperature in winter. Miyano and her 10 part-time female workers make products, such as candle and herbarium, out of the herb in Hachimantai, Iwate prefecture, known for its gentian-growing region in Japan. They cut the plant when the flowers are just beginning to open and then hang them up for some time. “I’m hoping this can be a place for us to survive in winter,” Miyano smiles.

KAKEGAWA, Jan. 5 ― Japanese tea growers have welcomed the year of the pig in the Chinese zodiac calendar with a giant pig made of “susuki” pampas grass. A group of about 20 tea growers installed the 5-meter-long and 3.5-meter-high pig shaped object at the top of Mt. Awagatake in Kakegawa, Shizuoka prefecture. They used 500 kilograms of silver-colored susuki pampas grass, which is also known as “chagusa,” used for tea cultivation providing natural fertilizer in Shizuoka, a main producer of Japanese green tea.