Tag Archives: Agricultural Products

Agricultural Products, Agriculture, Farmers, Fruits, Growers, Hamamatsu City, Japan, Japan Tourism, Parks, Shizuoka, Shizuoka tourism, Tourism

Fruit Park in Hamamatsu City!

February 18, 2012 dragonlife Leave a comment

Half way along our trip riding the Tenhama private Railway Line the other day we decided to pay a visit to the Fruits Park of Hamamatsu City.

We had only one hour until the next train and the walk to the Fruits Park takes 10 minutes.
We knew we would be limited in time and the blistering heat didn’t help!

At least looking at the pavement we knew we couldn’t lose our way!

The main entrance
The park is truly enormous and the car park is even bigger.
We realised that we had to limit this visit to the main attraction, the Tropical Fruit Dome!

The hall leading to the dome was full of information but the air-conditioning did not prepare us to the heat inside the dome!
By the way if you can read japanese check their HOMEPAGE as it will help you recognize some very strange fruit!

What is this fruit?

The temperature inside must have been well above 30 degrees with an incredible humidity.
The sweat prevented me to jot down notes and I’m afraid I don’t remember the names of some fruits! Let’s see if you can help me!

Fortunately there was plenty of running water to help cool down the dome!

Not only tropical fruit, but also plenty of beautiful flowers!
All in all, 80 varieties for 300 trees and plants!

Cocoa!

Start of the quizz!
What’s the name of those flowers?

What’s that fruit?

And what are these?

I’ve seen these flowers before…

It’s not a pineapple. What could it be?

Limes/ I doubt it…

Now, this a lime!

I’ve seen that one before, too!

Beautiful orchids there!

A pineapple!

What are these fruit?

Another pineapple!

Bananas!

Red bananas!

Insects and pests had better beware!

Banana flower!

Papaya!

More papayas!

And another pineapple!

Outside the dome a cafe/restaurant will welcome you inside a beautiful park.
But actually the Tropical Fruit Park and the big park with ponds outside represent only one fourth of the whole complex!
You will have to plan half a day for a complete visit even with the help of a mini train!

Among others, you will discover fields of plum trees, orange trees, apple trees, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, kiwi fruit, almond trees, figs, peach trees, pomegranate trees, a field of nut trees including chestnuts and a lot more inside greenhouses and experiment fields!

This park will warrant a least a couple more visits to describe it all!

FRUITS PARK
431-2102 Hamamatsu City, Kita Ku, Miyakoda Cho, 4263-1 (get down at Fruits Park Station on the Tenhama private Railway line. 10 minute walk)
Tel.: 053-428-5211
Fax: 053-428-52000
Business hours: 09:00~16:30 (October~April), 09:00~17:00 (May~September)
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

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My White Kitchen, 47 Japanese Farms Through The Eyes of Its Rural Communities, Foodhoe, Chucks Eats, Things that Fizz & Stuff, Five Euro Food by Charles,Red Shallot Kitchen by Priscilla,With a Glass, Nami | Just One Cookbook, Peach Farm Studio, Clumsyfingers by Xethia, PepperBento,Adventures in Bento Making, American Bent, Beanbento, Bento No, Bento Wo Tsukurimashou, Cooking Cute, Eula, Hapabento , Happy Bento, Jacki’s Bento Blog, Kitchen Cow, Leggo My Obento, Le Petit Journal Bento & CO (French), Lunch In A Box,
Susan at Arkonlite, Vegan Lunch Box; Tokyo Tom Baker, Daily Food Porn/Osaka, Only Nature Food Porn, Happy Little Bento, The Herbed Kitchen, J-Mama’s Kitchen, Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat, Bento Lunch Blog (German), Adventures In Bento, Anna The Red’s Bento Factory, Cooking Cute, Timeless Gourmet, Bento Bug, Ideal Meal, Bentosaurus, Mr. Foodie (London/UK), Ohayo Bento,

Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Agricultural Products, Agriculture, Hamamatsu City, Hamamatsu Railway Station, Japan, Japan Tourism, Shizuoka, Shizuoka tourism, Tourism

Shizuoka Products at Hamamatsu City Railway Station

February 18, 2012 dragonlife Leave a comment

As a general rule it is always a good idea to check inside major railway stations in Japan for local food and products.
And since Shizuoka Prefecture has no less than 6 (the record in Japan) major shinkansen/bullet train station, you ought to spend some time looking around before boarding your train!

This time I will take you around Hamamatsu Railway Station, or JR Station as they call such a building in Japan!

It is quite easy as most shops are concentrated inside the “May One Ekimachi” Store!

Right at the entrance you will discover the biscuit of the area: unagi pie/eel pie! There is no eel in this sweet biscuit. It’s only the color which is reminiscent of the famous fish bred and caught in the Hamamatsu City area!

Have a good look at the ekiben/railway bento before boarding your train. Ekiben are always the best indication of what people eat in the same region!

Here are the real unagi/鰻/eels prepared in various fashions!

Processed products of wasabi. Shizuoka Prefecture grows 80% of the total national crop!

More wasabi processed products including salt, mayonnaise and dressing!

Real fresh wasabi!

Sakes brewed by Hana no Mai Brewery, one of the two breweries in Hamamatsu City!

Tea and orange roll cakes!

Another specialty of Hamamatsu City: simmered eel livers!

More ekiben/railway station bento!

Green tea rusks (hard biscuits!)

A closer look at unagi pie!

Uogashi Sushi Company (from Yaizu City!) has big restaurant inside where you will be able to get all kinds of meals including purely local sushi!

Great plastic models for collectors and fans!

And more!

Another specialty of Hamamatsu City: gyoza dumplings always served with beansprouts!

Oden! More a specialty of Shizuoka City, although all big cities and areas in the Prefecture have their own!

A great health food from Lake (salted) Hamana: seaweed!

Orange cakes and jellies!

Now, what will be the next of the 6 stations I will introduce! LOL

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Agricultural Products, Agriculture, Japan, Japan Tourism, Shizuoka, Shizuoka tourism, Tourism, Yaizu City

Homare Fuji Sake Rice Fields Visit with Mr. Yuuji Miyata

February 18, 2012 dragonlife Leave a comment

Mr. Yuuji Miyata!

13 years ago, some enlightened individuals realized that Shizuoka Prefecture would have to produce its own sake rice, at least a part of it, for many reasons even if some of them are pointedly ignored by many…
First, the culture of sake rice (as opposite to that of edible rice) is a risky venture financially and a steady supply is fraught with unseen complications. Moreover, most of brewers outside the main sake rice producing areas have to “import” their rice from Hyogo, Hiroshima, Iwate, Niigata and other faraway Prefectures.
Moreover, whatever some brewers might tell you when questioned in front of witnesses, the quality of such imported rice cannot be fully insured.

Mr. Muramatsu’s Homare Fuji paddies (30 acres) in Naka Shinden, Yaizu City.

The only solution is to try and grow your own sake rice locally!
In 1998, under the auspices of the JA research was initiated on the culture of the Yamada Nishiki Sake Rice strain, considered as the best by many, in the Iwata Agricultural Research Center.
7 years later, 1n 2005, the cultivation was started in earnest in privately-owned fields under the guidance of such specialists such Mr. Miyata.

The rice stalks grow a lot thicker and nearer to each other than normal rice.

The Yaizu Sake Rice Research Association grouping 15 farmers grows more than 60% of this Yamada Nishiki Sake Rice under the name of Homare Fuji Sake Rice. Actually the same Association grows Homare Fuji Rice on 10.3 ha, Yamada Nishiki Rice on 5.6ha and Gohyakumangoku Rice on on 4.7 ha.
Homare Fuji Rice is presently grown by 31 farmers in 7 distinct areas across the whole Prefecture.
Moreover, 20 out 28 breweries presently produce some of their sake with Homare Fuji Sake Rice up to Junmai Ginjyou level.

Mr. Yuuji Miyata with Mr. Hiromi Ikegaya of the JA Ooigawa

It has become serious business as from this year the Yaizu JA Agricultural Association (governmental) will assume the responsibility for the sales of Homare Fuji Sake Rice grown in the Yaizu City area!

The personal help of Mr. Ryohei Miyake of the Shizuoka Prefecture Shida Haibara Agriculture & Forestry Bureau was certainly welcome to deal with all these farmers and JA representatives!
Messrs. Miyake and Miyata were kind enough to pick me up at Fujieda Station and take care of me for the whole day!
They took me to 3 different paddies including that of Mr. Muramatsu mentioned above and introduced me to the JA Ooigawa Representative and other personalities of the business!

In every paddy Mr. Miyata took out a rice stalk to painstakingly open it with his nails to show me the grains already developed inside and to tell me thus exactly when the rice would appear and would be harvested by the day!

The second paddy was that of Mr. Matsumura (20 acres), Higashi Mashizu, Yaizu City, where planting and harvesting events are regularly held!

Homare Fuji Sake Rice has two big qualities:
its stalks are shorter and harder and will not break under heavy winds, even those of typhoons. Moreover, their rice contains a lot less proteins than others, which allows for an exceptional maturing of sake!

Yaizu soil is of two types whether the fields are on the former bed of Ooigawa River with a high concentration of sand like the above-mentioned two paddies or of a clay type if closer to the mountains. Naturally the soil quality has to be taken in account for each paddy!

The Homare Fuji Rice stalks are comparatively short (25 cm shorter that those of Yamada Nishiki) , but the proportion of the leaves and bottom stalks (“saya”) are longer and the very foot (“fushi”) shorter and thicker.

The third paddy I was taken to is the “heart of the Homare Fuji Sake Rice” as Mr. Toshirhiro Umehara has taken charge of growing the rice for the grains only to be re-planted elsewhere for the last 3 years!

This 30-acre paddy is located in Hirajima in Fujieda City!

The grains will appear in about 10 days and the rice will be harvested in October!

This is rural Japan!

The men behind our regional sake, Mr. Yuuji Miyata and Mr. Toshihiro Umehara!

This is what is going to grow into full-fledged rice thanks to these farmers and later become the nectar of Japan (and Shizuoka Prefecture) thanks to our brewers!

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Agricultural Products, Agriculture, Farmers, Fujieda City, Growers, Japan, Japan Tourism, Shizuoka, Shizuoka tourism, Tourism

Shizuoka Agriculture: Akihiro Matsushita: Organic Sake Rice Grower in Fujieda City!

February 18, 2012 dragonlife Leave a comment

Akihiro Matsushita/松下明弘, Yuuji Miyata/宮田祐二 and Densaburou Aoshima/青島傳三郎!

Akihiro Matsushita is a true pioneer!
No less than 17 years ago he decided to grow all his rice organically, a revolution at the time that did not please many people in the very closed world of Japanese farming!
Fortunately things have changed since then…

15 years ago Akihiro contacted Densaburou (Sake Brewmaster’s name) Aoshima of Aoshima Sake Brewery in Fujieda City to aks him if he would be interested in creating sake with truly organic rice. Densaburou is also a true pioneer in his own closed Japanese sake world who gladly accepted the challenge.
And it certainly was a challenge!

Aoshima Brewery in Fujieda City! Kikuyoi/喜久酔 is their main brand name!

I’ve known Densaburou for quite some time now, and the fact he speaks fluent English does help when I introduce him to foreign fans of his nectars!

Yuuji Miyata/宮田祐二, Ryohei Miyake/三宅良平 and Densaburou Aoshima/青島傳三郎
Whatever the occasion, this is Japan, and nothing will start before business cards have been exchanged!

The fact I know quite a lot of people in the Japanese sake world in Shizuoka Prefecture even helps with my Japanese friends and colleagues.
Before meeting Akihiro Matsushita in his farm, Yuuji Miyamata, the man in charge of the development of Homare Fuji Sake Rice in Yaizu City and Ryohei Miyake, an official from the Shida Haibara Agriculture and Forestry Bureau joined me to visit Densaburou at his brewery as we were all going together to Akihiro’s place. Densaburou does not use the Homare Fuji Sake Rice in his brews but he entertains warm relations with all people concerned with the sake business in his region.

Akihiro is a shy gentleman who will nonetheless quickly open and talk passionately about his trade.
And you certainly need to be passionate and extremely knowledgeable to convince people in one of the most conservative regions of Japan!

Keeping his own fields separated from non-organic growers is no longer a problem, but it was open conflict when he started his venture. He does not remember how many times he had to clean his own fields of mountains of rubbish thrown into them during the night…
But since then Akihiro has been recognized and accepted as a true grower as amply proved by his JAS Organic Grower Recognition and his Shida EM Organic Agriculture Association Chairmanship!

Not only his fields, but surrounding areas have to be kept clean of any chemicals and unwanted materials.
Even so, rice growing within a few meters of the perimeter of his fields will not be sold or used!

Yamada Nishiki, the most famous sake rice variety in Japan! The grains will appear end of August!
The soil being part of the Ooigawa River bed is sandy. The same sand is river sand formed by the constant rubbing of stones.

A single look at the water and soil will tell you this is organic environment with all these bugs and snails!
Akihiro and Densaburou had once thought of ducks to keep their fields clean of bugs. Unfortunately the local stray cats put an end to the trials!

Although Mr. Miyata’s field is not concerned with Yamada Nishiki Sake Rice, his expertise is always welcome!

Akihiro’s fields of organic sake rice and those or normal edible organic rice occupy a lot of land here and there. I asked him if he would be interested in exporting some. He replied that he wouldn’t have enough land to do so! An unequivocal proof of his peers’ and customers’ recognition!

Everyone soon forgot me so passionate their discussions had become!

For all his extremely busy life, Akihiro still finds enough time for constant research: organic black rice!

This passion and thirst for new solutions just proves that Japan and its people, for all the cataclysms that regularly visit them, might bend now and again but will never break like the stalks of their rice!

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