Category Archives: Photos

【News】 A set of rice varieties from six Tohoku prefectures put on sale in Tokyo (March 7, 2014)

  Koike Seimaiten, a rice shop in Harajuku, Tokyo, started selling a set of six organic, low-pesticide or low-chemical rice varieties grown in six prefectures in the Tohoku region to support the region’s revitalization efforts. As March 11 marks the third anniversary of the gigantic earthquake and tsunami which hit the region, President Tadao Koike, 42, says he hopes to connect rice growers in Tohoku and consumers together by becoming a reliable supplier of Tohoku rice. More than 50 percent of rice sold annually at the shop is from Tohoku. The 6,000-yen package includes 300g each of Akitakomachi from Akita Prefecture, Sasanishiki from Miyagi Prefecture, Hitomebore from Iwate Prefecture, Masshigura … Continue reading

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【News】 Convey your love with “sweetheart plants” (Feb. 6, 2014)

  Kotaro Yamada A houseplant with heart-shaped leaves is grown at Gikohen, a succulent plant grower in Mizuho, Gifu Prefecture, to be used as Valentine’s Day gifts. The plant, a species of Hoya native to southeast Asia, is a succulent vine which withstands difficult conditions and requires infrequent waterings, similar to most cacti. Gikohen President Takayoshi Kato, 68, kept on picking out individual plants with heart-shaped leaves for 10 years and succeeded in commercializing the product. Roughly 6-cm-high fleshy leaves of the Hoya plant, commonly known as “sweetheart plant,” are rooted in soil and are placed in decorated small pots. Some 50,000 pots, named “Love Love Heart,” will be shipped … Continue reading

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【News】 “Nanakusa” seven herbs ready for the New Year (Dec. 26, 2013)

Masaki Shimizu Seven edible herbs traditionally used in rice porridge served on January 7 are put on display through that day at Mukojima-Hyakkaen Gardens in Sumida, Tokyo, beginning Wednesday, December 25. The seven greens grown in the gardens – seri (Japanese parsley), nazuna (shepherd’s purse), gogyo (Jersey cudweed), hakobera (chickweed), hotokenoza (Japanese nipplewort), suzuna (turnip leaves) and suzushiro (Japanese white radish leaves) – are planted together in bamboo baskets, including the one with a diameter as large as 50 centimeters, attracting visitors’ attention as harbingers of spring. Nanakusa-gayu, or seven greens rice porridge, is customarily eaten for breakfast on the seventh day of a new year as a way of … Continue reading

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【News】 Hopes for restoration: 3,266 candles lit to commemorate disaster victims in Ishinomaki (Dec. 6, 2013)

  Tomokatsu Sowa In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, which was seriously hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, residents and volunteers lit 3,266 lanterns, same as the number of victims in the city, on Thursday, December 5, to remember the tragedy of March 11. Exactly 1,000 days after the disaster, those who lost loved ones or homes in the disaster gathered to mourn the victims and prayed for the restoration of the region. Junichi Kawamura, 60, a farmer who grows tomatoes in Ishinomaki, lost five of his family members in the tsunami. “I still haven’t sort out my feelings of losing my family, but I realize that time has slipped by … Continue reading

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【News】 Akiba maids harvest rice and vegetables with cheers (Nov. 8, 2013)

10 women, including “maids,” or waitresses working at costume play cafes in Akihabara, Tokyo, and animation voice actors, harvested carrots, ginger and bucket-planted rice on the roof of The Japan Agricultural News building in Akihabara on Thursday, Nov. 7. The women cheerfully picked the vegetables and cut rice plants with scissors without caring about their costumes getting stained by dirt. “I have never experienced the smell of soil, so I really enjoyed harvesting,” one of them said with a smile. Akihabara Vegetable Garden Project, the fifth of its kind, was held by an environmental nonprofit organization Licolita to spread the idea of Zero Food Miles to encourage people to grow … Continue reading

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