SHIGA, Oct. 19 — A couple who runs a woodworking shop in Koka, Shiga Prefecture, manufactures and sells woodcraft using tea trees which are no longer in use. Yoshitsugu Okada, 68, and his wife Tomoko, 66, offer a variety of wooden products — teaspoons, kuromoji Lindera umbellata picks used when eating Japanese sweets, traditional Japanese ornamental hairpins and earrings — to promote the city’s Tsuchiyama district which is a tea producing area. Kuromoji trees, also called Japanese spicebush, are commonly used to make high-quality toothpicks and chopsticks. The trees, known for its antiviral effects, are also used to make herb tea. The couple also design and produce tea utensils, accessories … Continue reading →

YAMAGATA, Oct. 14 – The Osho Fruits Farm in Tendo City, Yamagata Prefecture, organized a rakugo Japanese traditional-style comedy show in the middle of the fruit farm during the best harvesting season. One professional rakugo storyteller sat on the platform on the back of a pickup truck and depicted a comical story about La France, a pear that came from France and is known as a western pear in Japan. The Osho Fruits Farm organized two rakugo shows this year and may make them regular local events. “Pears are scary,” a man in the story said, and others brought pears, pear jam, pear cakes, and such to scare him off. … Continue reading →

KYOTO, Oct. 13 ― A unique takeaway shop specializing in edamame opened in Kyoto on Oct. 13, offering a new way of eating the beans while walking, with an aim to expand their consumption. SPICE UP EDAMA Meee, located in the Sanjo Meitengai shopping arcade, a popular tourist destination in the city, serves steamed edamame beans with flavors such as butter, soy sauce or wasabi in a special container with a pocket to keep the removed pods, making it convenient for people to eat them while they walk down the street. The beans, priced at 700 yen per container, come in eight different flavors including peperoncino and Japanese apricot. Both … Continue reading →