Farmers cultivating haran grown in the shade (in Oshima Town, Tokyo)
TOKYO, Jul. 23 – “We want to celebrate the winners in the rescheduled Summer Olympics and Paralympics with the victory bouquets made of domestic flowers and leaves.” Producers of aspidistra elatior, or haran in Japanese, in the Izu Oshima Island of Tokyo are already determined to move forward.
At the 2020 Tokyo, medalist will receive the bouquets of flowers native to Japan, such as lisianthus from Fukushima Prefecture and gentians from Iwate Prefecture. Haran grown in the Tokyo island will be used to wrap and decorate the flowers from the prefectures, which were hit hard by the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami. The island has about 60 haran growers who had been planning to deliver 20,000 fresh haran leaves for the medalists.
Although the Games were postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak, the producers are already in a positive mood, anticipating that their products will still be showcased at the Games next year. “Almost all of the haran you see at florists in Tokyo are produced in Izu-Oshima, and I’m so proud of it,” a member of the Izu-Oshima Agricultural Production Association said. “Our haran will make the Tokyo Games in 2021 more powerful and beautiful,” he added.
The opening ceremony of the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will be held on July 23, 2021, and the producers are ready to move toward the new goal.