Kurashi - News From Japan

I was rather shocked to learn that South Korea imports almost all its food from China and the United States. Nearly 90% is imported, according to Asian Sentinel - and that includes almost all its wheat and corn, quoting a Samsung report from SERI World . Some 16 countries supply the country with other food items: ...Korea's food self sufficiency has in fact continued to decline due to its falling international competitiveness in agriculture, as well as its increased opening of its food market to foreign providers. But that is just the beginning. Food stability in South Korea has experienced a continuous decline, caused by rapidly increased grain price volatility and intensified import source concentration as the western countries, particularly the United States and the European Union, devote more and more of their corn production to biofuels. It is estimated that 35 percent of corn production is now going into biofuels. In addition, the report says, "food safety fell to its l...

This blog is honestly more about the sadness I feel, living here, and the reasons we are feeling connected to Japan and South Korea and the Far East. I was in South Korea for a week, visiting organic farms. They are trying to avoid dangerous chemicals, trying to avoid artificial fertilisers, and not adding 添加物 (tenkabutsu) chemical additives, and trying to save seed. I was impressed by their grains, especially by Heuksalim, a farm/company that we visited in central South Korea. The only good food I was able to enjoy was at a Buddhist temple restaurant in Seoul, but even that felt slightly strange. I don't think that was the food that people actually ate at a temple, where they did their practice. I felt so sad in Seoul, with the traffic jams, and the large BMWs and Benz and Lexus. Walking was faster. I was told that in Korea, the rich people cannot afford to buy a house, so they buy a large car instead. If that is true - I feel just sadness, and pain. The income gap just app...

Will Kan Have Hap I asked last year when he was suddenly made Prime Minister as the hapless Hatoyama resigned. Now Mr. Kan has also been replaced, perhaps because he was too outspoken against nuclear power . I have no idea what Hatoyama does these days, but Kan has been seen in Shikoku on the ancient Buddhist pilgrimage route of 88 temples, which he is quoted as saying is preferable to the "slander" that goes on in the political realm. A good choice for a man who had the right stuff but not the right connections. More Buddhism and pilgrimage routes on Kurashi: Praying, Sutras, Meditating For Japan On The Pilgrimage Trail in Chichibu Incense From Mt Koya, Kyoto The Heart Sutra

Over at Japan Focus, Gavan McCormack and Norimatsu Satoko have taken a very close look at how Japanese media covered new Prime Minister Noda and his recent talks with US President Obama. Japan Focus: Discordant Visitors: Japanese and Okinawan Messages to the US Seems to me that the Daily Yomiuri has some serious explaining to do, while other news channels fare almost as badly. It is all down to who said what, and who quoted whom. It all matters a lot to the people in Okinawa. If the Yomiuri fails to explain why it failed to report what actually happened during the Noda-Obama meeting, or if the Japanese officials were involved in what is commonly known as "spin" and if the Yomiuri had its own agenda, I hope we will find out. Noda says he will try to get the "understanding" of the people in Okinawa. OK, good. So, when will he actually travel to the prefecture? When was the last time a Japanese Prime Minister bothered to visit Okinawa? Or is Noda planning to let other...

I have just spent the last week in Korea to attend the World Congress of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). It is the first time they hold such a big meeting in Asia. I will update with more posts as it has been an intensive time with many farm visits, meetings and a lot of impressions (both good and bad).

Some 60,000 people gathered in Tokyo on Sept. 19 to raise their voices and to call for abolishment of all nuclear power plants in Japan. This was one of the largest rallies Japan has ever seen in its history. Japanese Nobel laureate, Kenzaburo Oe, said in his speech that humans cannot co-exist with nuclear energy in its state and a demonstration is a means for the public to show its dissatisfaction in government policies. 10 minutes video Reported by Chie Matsumoto Filmed by Akira Matsubara Thanks to Ten Thousand Things for posting. The Mainichi has published an essay by Oe that I think catches his mood perfectly. He seems to always weigh his words carefully, more carefully than any writer I have ever known. Each word, such as "outrage" or "waste" seems to matter immensely to Oe. A good lesson for all of us. Kenzaburo Oe: Resignation to and responsibility for Fukushima disaster It hasn't been long since I read a science fiction piece in which humankind decides t...