To welcome new year happily

MIYAGI, Dec. 14 – In Kami Town, Miyagi Prefecture, makers of shimekazari, a traditional Japanese New Year’s decoration, have entered the busiest time of the year. To  prepare approximately 6,000 shimekazari Kazuko Ito, 73, and nine female farmers and neighbors gather at her house, adding the finishing touches to the shimenawa straw rope ornaments by decorating them with mizuhiki paper cords, hiba tree leaves, rice straws, etc.They use Hitomebore rice straws cultivated at Ito’s rice field and hiba leaves from local “Igune (homestead woodlands).” Shimezakari-making by female farmers began approximately 40 years ago to make their pocket money. “We do this to welcome the new year happily, like we buy … Continue reading

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A new take on Japanese traditional New Year’s food — stacked boxes of fruits

TOKYO, Dec. 12 — As Japan awaits the first New Year holidays after the legal status of the novel coronavirus was downgraded to a common infectious disease, a new type of osechi traditional New Year’s assortment of food is attracting attention — one filled with various kinds of fruits. Funasho, a major intermediate wholesaler operating at Tokyo’s Ota Market, sells at its online store fruits osechi, a set of three stacked boxes containing domestically-grown fruits in season. It is their first attempt to sell fruits in triple-stacked osechi boxes. In the first box, large-size white strawberries from Saga Prefecture and red strawberries from Tochigi Prefecture are placed next to each … Continue reading

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Jewelry born from agriculture-welfare collaboration

NAGASAKI, Dec. 10 – “Sakura+ (sakura plus),” a vocational support center for persons with disabilities in Omura City, Nagasaki Prefecture, is making flower resin jewelry using locally-produced carnations. Several local corporations are placing orders for the attractive regional products. Sakura+ purchases carnations directly from local growers and places them in silica gel to make colorful dried flowers. Then, it casts the flowers in resin using molds and polishes to produce authentic flower accessories. Responding to new orders, Sakura+ expanded the lineup to include brooches, for example. So far, it has received orders for more than 300 products. The vocational training center began making items using agricultural products approximately two years … Continue reading

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Gem of the region: wind-hanging persimmons of Hata, Higashi Izumo, Shimane Prefecture

SHIMANE, Dec. 4 – Hata Region in Higashi Izumo Town, Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, is in the busiest season for producing Maruhata Hoshi-Gaki (Maruhata-brand dried persimmons). Sheds dedicated to drying persimmons, called kaki-goya in Japanese, are filled with curtains of yellow-red persimmons dancing in the wind. A 75-year-old farmer and owner of a shed, Chie Morihiro, sorts and peels locally-produced persimmons on the first floor and hangs them in the well-ventilated rooms on the second and third floors. She processes approximately 1,300 persimmons a day. She carefully controls the rooms’ moisture by opening and closing the windows to air dry the fruits for about a month until they turn light … Continue reading

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The wisdom of steep-slope cultivation handed down in the Nishi-Awa area in southwest Japan

TOKUSHIMA, Dec. 4 — The Nishi-Awa area in the western part of Tokushima Prefecture is surrounded by steep mountains at high altitudes of between 100 and 1,000 meters above sea level, and the slopes are so steep that a unique farming method has been adopted to cultivate them as they are instead of converting them into terraced fields. The unique techniques and wisdom have been handed down for more than 400 years to grow indigenous varieties of buckwheat and millet. In March 2018, the steep slope land agricultural system of Nishi-Awa was designated as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United … Continue reading

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