Category Archives: Photos

Almost five years have passed after the Great East Japan Earthquake hit Japan on March 11, 2011, and today, in Ishinomaki-shi, Miyagi Prefecture, which is one of Japan’s leading yoshi (water reed)-growing areas, it’s the busiest time of the year harvesting yoshi as an essential material for making thatched roofs. The size of the reed beds found near the mouth of the Kitakami River is still much smaller than before, but the reed beds are growing back and people are rebuilding their life with deep appreciation for yoshi in small but steady steps. “This year’s yoshi is the best in quality after the earthquake,” said Akio Kumagai, a 51-year-old president … Continue reading →

A pop-up restaurant run by a fruit grower in Katsuragi-cho, Wakayama Prefecture, is drawing attention of noodle-eaters across Japan. The restaurant is named Ramen Soko, which literally means noodle warehouse in Japanese, and opens only in early spring while its 58-year-old owner, Tadao Hirayama, is free from farm work. The grower of Japanese apricots and persimmons loves ramen noodles so much that, whenever he got a chance, he spent time in his kitchen trying to create his original ramen recipes. Then in 2011, he ended up opening his own noodle shop that opens only on Sunday from February through April at a warehouse where he usually stores fruits. Hirayama serves … Continue reading →

Ume Japanese apricot flowers are now in full bloom in Minabe-Tanabe ume orchard district for the first time after the ume production system in the region was added to the list of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in December 2015. Thanks to this winter’s warmer weather, the flowers have reached full bloom a week earlier than last year at the Minabe Bairin Ume Orchard and the Kishu Ishigami Tanabe Bairin Ume Orchard run by local farmers. Kishu Ishigami Tanabe Bairin has approximately 30,000 Japanese apricot trees on the hill. There are walking trails inside the orchard with a lookout that … Continue reading →

Every year in early February, a group of men dressed in straw hats and coats appear in Yonekawa, Towa-cho, Tome-shi, Miyagi Prefecture. The men in the unique costumes parade through the streets to thank fire for the gift it offers to human life and pray to god for a safe year free from fire hazard. The amusing event is called “Yonekawa-no-Mizukaburi,” which literary means “a water festival of Yonekawa” in Japanese. “Ho, ho, ho!” The thirty half-naked men in the straw costumes shouted loudly to signal the start of the festival. Then, the men acting as divine messengers started from a temple in the village and walked down the streets, … Continue reading →

Mandarin orange farmers in Shimotsu-cho, Kainan-shi, Wakayama Prefecture, are now in their busiest time of the year shipping out orders for their local specialty, Shimotsu kuradashi mikan (mandarin oranges). The oranges were picked in December last year and have been stored in earthen-walled traditional Japanese storehouses called “kura” at a temperature of 5 to 10 degrees centigrade and at a humidity of around 85% to enhance the maturity of the fruit. The maturing process takes one or two months but it removes extra acidity from the oranges and makes them smoother and milder. Yoshiki Okamoto, 57, vice head of the Shimotsu citrus group of JA Nagamine, an agricultural cooperative in … Continue reading →