TOKYO: Masahiro Hoshina, a Japanese farmer, starts worrying about typhoon season months before it begins, haunted by memories of the heavy rains and landslides that washed away wasabi farms during one 2019 storm.
Typhoon Hagibis, which slammed into eastern Japan in 2019, slashed production in Okutama by nearly 70 per cent the next year. The need for replanting and careful tending meant it's taken nearly three years for sushi farms there to recover.
Weather is not the only obstacle wasabi farmers face. A drop in rural populations due to aging means there are no successors. Because of the two factors, the output of wasabi grown in clear-flowing water, like at Hoshina's farm, had fallen to half that of 2005, according to the Agriculture Ministry. The restaurants were long known for allowing customers to grind their own wasabi roots to produce the spicy paste used as a condiment for soba. But they've had to mostly give this up.
Malaysia Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: STForeignDesk - 🏆 4. / 71 Read more »