I arrived in Kushihara 3 weeks ago today, and I will be living here for the next year. The village is quite remote in terms of public transport (one bus service to the nearest train station, which is then another 40 minutes by train from the nearest town) and located at a fairly high altitude; it has a population of approximately 300 households spread across 8 hamlets, with one bank, one very nice camping site (with a shop for supplies and a lunch/afternoon karaoke café– and a mini golf course!), and one extremely nice onsen (hot spring).
Other than farming, the other main sources of employment in the village are three factories (photos below, from left to right): Gobar (ham and other pork products. And occasionally wild boar, too); Kushihara Konyaku (a potato-based low calorie gelatinous food…but please ignore the connotations of that terrible description because it’s actually really nice!) ; and Kushihara factory (which makes seat covers for Toyota cars). There is also a nursery, primary school and elementary school.
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I’m here to study the practice of collecting, rearing, harvesting and eating giant hornets, locally known as ‘hebo’ (‘heh-boh’). Please take a look at my research page for a summary of this process! I’m funded by the Japanese Ministry for Education, Sports Science and Technology, and I’m enrolled as a research student at Rikkyo University in Tokyo.
Daily life in the village is brilliant. (Enter this page into google translate for some examples of typical day-to-day events). I am living in a huge family house which by Japanese standards is really very old (over 150 years). When I arrived here no one had even entered the second floor of the house for decades, but my landlord gave me permission to use it so I set to work clearing the place of dust and superfluous furniture, and it’s beginning to turn into a place that can be used for social occasions (and as my own study room!) – which is perfect. There’s still a lot of work to be done though, in terms of cleaning and renovating – but it’s nice to have a work in progress, and a project that gives me a break from research.
Here's a photo of the second floor ->
Here's a photo of the second floor ->
<- And here's a photo from the outside.
We have quite a bit of land, so I’ve also been experimenting with farming on a very small scale. My housemate, Megumi, grows all sorts of fruit and vegetables so I didn't want to replicate what she was doing but also I did want to make the most of the fact that I have an entire year here and can literally start putting down roots. So, when I arrived here I planted lots of herbs, none of which grew – but I also planted flowers, and I now have endless pots of tiny sunflower plants. I planted beetroots as well, because i love beetroots…and I have a few vegetables growing that were given to me as seedlings (aubergine, hot peppers, tomatoes).
We have quite a bit of land, so I’ve also been experimenting with farming on a very small scale. My housemate, Megumi, grows all sorts of fruit and vegetables so I didn't want to replicate what she was doing but also I did want to make the most of the fact that I have an entire year here and can literally start putting down roots. So, when I arrived here I planted lots of herbs, none of which grew – but I also planted flowers, and I now have endless pots of tiny sunflower plants. I planted beetroots as well, because i love beetroots…and I have a few vegetables growing that were given to me as seedlings (aubergine, hot peppers, tomatoes).
In terms of research, I have recently been working through the paperwork from meetings of a nationwide summit on giant hornet management dating from 1997-2010, and gathering this data together into a poster presentation for a conference next week. I’ve also been working on translating a short summary of the recent FAO report on edible insects.
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