Category Archives: Photos

FUKUSHIMA, Mar. 7 – Almost twelve years have passed since the massive earthquake and the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant hit the eastern part of Japan. In mid-February this year, a reconstruction promotion manager of a local agricultural cooperative in Fukushima Prefecture (JA Fukushima Sakura) visited an ex-JA building in Futaba Town, Fukushima Prefecture, for the first time after the evacuation order was lifted in August last year. Everything inside the building has been left almost untouched for 12 years, and traces of the turmoil are everywhere. A Japan Agricultural News reporter accompanied him on the visit. “This brings back good memories of … Continue reading →

NAGASAKI, Feb. 6 – Omotate Region, Saikai City, Nagasaki Prefecture, is now busy making yudeboshi-daikon (dried radish stripes), an amazing traditional food. Local farmers are drying boiled daikon radish strips on the structure built on the coastline facing the Goto-nada Sea, utilizing northwestern sea wind, which is necessary to deepen the flavor of the product. Steam rises from the boiled radishes, and that is one of the most typical sights on a cold winter’s day here. Yudeboshi daikon is a non-perishable food. The farmers cut daikon radishes into stripes, boil and dry them in the cold air for one whole day and night. They use Daiei Okura daikon, which is … Continue reading →

CHIBA, Jan. 30 – Spring is here already on the Boso Peninsula, Chiba Prefecture. Canola flowers are in full bloom on the southern side of the peninsula in Awa, creating beautiful yellow carpets. The region is a primary producer of edible canola blossoms (nabana in Japanese) and is in the busy harvesting season. The temperature rose to 14 degrees Celsius on the 20th of this month, and farmers were busy harvesting in the fields in Minami Boso City. They pick nabana with tight buds one by one by hand and put them in a large basket on their backs. A local agricultural cooperative in Chiba, JA Awa, covers three cities … Continue reading →

NIIGATA, Dec. 19 -In Agano City, Niigata Prefecture, makers of Shimekazari, a traditional Japanese New Year’s decoration, have entered the busiest time of the year. The members of the shimekazari producers’ group of a local agricultural cooperative in Niigata (JA Niigata Kagayaki, Sasakami Branch) are now busy applying the final touches on the small round ropes made from rice straws by adding rice stalks and red-and-white strings called mizuhiki in Japanese. The group began producing shimekazari about 40 years ago. This year, its 32 members make 35,000 shimekazari in four different types for sale inside and outside the prefecture. JA asked local farmers to grow Yamahikari rice for an early … Continue reading →

TOTTORI, Dec. 5 — Koge Hanagoshogaki persimmons are being harvested in the town of Yazu, Tottori Prefecture. The persimmons, a local specialty, are a variety that is ripened on trees until after the onset of frost to remove the astringency. During harvest time between late November and mid-December, trees are stripped of leaves and left only with the fruit, turning orchards bright orange. Koge Hanagoshogaki is fine-textured and juicy, with sugar content of 18 to 20 degrees Brix. According to JA Tottori Inaba, a local agricultural cooperative, 87 farms in the area are cultivating the fruit on a total of some 12 hectares of land. They plan to ship roughly … Continue reading →