Besides catching up on some of my favourite Japanese food during my Autumn vacation in Japan, I also had a great time hanging out with my good friends Takeshi and Ko-jima, whom I’ve known since 2004 when we shared an incredibly small, albeit cozy house in Meguro.
Takeshi’s parents are farmers in his hometown of Gunma, a perfecture north of Tokyo that is mainly agriculture in nature. ( its also where Mount Akagi is located – the winding roads up and down the mountain serve as the backdrop for many a drift sequence in the popular manga Initial D )
So today we took a drive from Sayama up to Gunma to help with the harvesting of Taro ( Satoimo ) and sweet potatoes ( Satsumaimo ), and the fruits of our hard labor will be the ingredients for our dinner that day. ( Nabe, or Japanese steamboat/hot pot ) Sweet !
(above) For a few brief and very short lived moment I felt kinda badass armed with that mini-sickle cutting down the thick Taro stems, but the fatigue quickly made short work of me. (below) Takeshi and the Leute Sisters ( a pair of siblings who run Cafe Leute near Takeshi+Ko-jima’s house in Sayama ) look on in a mixture of amusement and apprehension.
(above) Living in and around the Taro vegetation are numerous brightly colored froglings ( I totally coined that word myself ) frolicking on the leaves. ( below ) The sweet potatoes unearthed.
(above) Takeshi shows us how its properly done.
Will work for food !
(above) Kojima-chan was especially estatic, having been granted the permission to dorn the prestigious “Itou No.3” (the yellow label – Itou is Takeshi’s family name) working uniform that elevates her farmer status above us ordinary folks. *laughs*
And dinner preparation is underway. With the exception of some small condiments of meat and Konjac, all the other vegetables that went into the hot pot was grown by Takeshi’s parents themselves.
And here’s a really educational video of how the entire harvesting process is done, shot and edited by Takeshi and Ko-jima. Nice !
Also visit Takeshi and Ko-jima’s fantastic blog Lionbus.
12
Gunma ski trip, Day 1
Gunma ski trip, day 2
Apple Festival in Numata, Gunma.
Gunma/Nagano Trip 2012
Gunma ski trip, Day 3
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:56 pm
Although this post has nothing to do with anime or film, I really love it. So very interesting. I imagine there are not that many farmers like that left in Japan?
January 4th, 2012 at 1:20 am
alua – Thanks for dropping by ! :] I think outside of the major cities you can still find farmers, especially if agriculture is one of their main industry in that prefecture.
January 4th, 2012 at 7:11 am
You’ve got a great site (been lurking for a while).
You’re probably right about farmers outside the city. I have not been to Japan, but my Japanese friend is always in awe of the farmers and farmers’ markets we have in London, because she says it’s something not so easy to find for her back home (she’s probably mainly talking about organic farming though).
September 20th, 2023 at 11:24 am
Hello, I am from Fiji and taro is one of our major staple. I’m quite surprised to see that farmers here are also growing taro. In Fiji, we eat the taro leaves, stems and the taro crop itself. I would really appreciate if someone could at least give any information or contact on where I could get some taro. Thanks