Kōnotori Bento / コウノトリ 弁当

Part 8 of the series: Satoyama Concept in Fukui

During our visit to the Kōnotori “Call Back the Storks” Farming (コウノトリ呼び戻す農法) community (learn more), we were given very healthy bento boxes for lunch featuring stork-friendly, locally grown rice and other produce.  One of the onigiri (rice balls) was with umeboshi (pickled plums). This region is famous for the Fukui Plum (福井梅 / Fukui-ume).  Another rice ball was mixed with fish, while the third was covered in fuzzy furikake-tororo which is made from thinly shaved tororo-kombu (edible kelp).  The onigiri were complemented by a selection of pickles and fresh vegetables. 

Readers living in Japan can support the efforts of Echizen farmers to “Call Back the Storks” by ordering their stork-friendly rice via their online shop or Rakuten.

Kōnotori “Call Back the Storks” Farming コウノトリ呼び戻す農法

Part 7 of the series: Satoyama Concept in Fukui

コウノトリ呼び戻す農法

http://www.kounotori.ne.jp/

In the Shirayama district of the city of Echizen, efforts have been made to restore Satoyama landscapes in order to foster the return of the wild Oriental White Stork (コウノトリ/ kōnotori) to the region.  Oriental White Storks have been extinct in Japan and Korea for more than forty years.  By means of a captive breeding program using birds donated by Russia, conservationists have been trying to revive the species.  In 2007, the first chick was born in Japan since 1964 (see: BBC).

In Echizen, they tell of an individual stork named Kō-chan (コウちゃん) who came to the area in 1970.  Kō-chan’s bill was damaged and he could not eat properly, so the locals began to feed him.  Despite these efforts, the bird weakened further and they captured him the following year.  He was sent to a facility in Hyōgo Prefecture where they had a breeding facility.  Kō-chan recovered in captivity and bred successfully, living out his days in the facility for 34 years. 

The story of Kō-chan inspired local people in Shirayama to restore their Satoyama landscape so that storks and humans could live together in harmony.  In 2010, for the first time in 40 years, an Oriental White Stork came to the area and stayed for 107 days.  They named him E-chan (えっちゃん).  This led to the founding of a joint research effort in 2011 by Hyōgo and Fukui Prefectures to reintroduce Oriental White Storks. 

As part of the efforts to introduce sustainable farming methods, local farmers build fish ladders (魚道 / gyodō), also sometimes called fish steps, that allow fish and other aquatic creatures to move between the irrigation channels and the paddy fields.  It is in the paddy fields that many of these aquatic creatures reproduce.  Such creatures are an attractive source of food for the storks.  Although this farming method produces a lower yield than industrial farming methods, the farmers believe that the produce is safer (安心・安全 / Anshin・Anzen / peace of mind ・safe) and tastier to eat.  This is part of a vigorous international debate on the benefits of amount of food produced versus the quality of food produced.  (See: Cornell University’s page on the System of Rice Intensification(EN), Weltagrarbericht (DE),  Japan Association of the System of Rice Intensification (Tōdai), IRRI).

Learn more details about the “Call Back the Storks” farming methods on their website – all in Japanese but with many photographs. 

Learn more about the restoration of rice paddy habitats to reintroduce the Oriental White Stork in Toyooka City here (EN) and here (JP).

Read: Kazuaki Naito and Hiroshi Ikeda's research paper "Habitat Restoration for the Reintroduction of White Storks" (pdf)

Plum Ice Cream Cakes (梅アイスもなか)

Part 6 of the series: Satoyama Concept in Fukui

The town of Wakasa in Fukui Prefecture is famous for its production of plums. In fact, plums are particularly mentioned by the town in their case study for the Satoyama Initiative.  The local variety of plum, known as the Fukui Plum (福井梅 / Fukui-ume), is characterised by its thick flesh and small pit.  The most common way to consume the plums is by pickling them to make umeboshi which is then served with rice.  To make umeboshi, the plums are salted, then dried in the sun before putting them into brine.

In the gift shop of Hotel Suigekka, I discovered that a clever entrepreneur had developed ice cream using the plums.  The mild tasting ice cream is served inside a wafer (もなか / monaka).  This is an adaptation of the traditional Japanese treat monaka (最中) which is a wafer filled with sweet adzuki bean, black sesame seed, or chestnut jam. 

It is well worth giving this delicious ice cream a try when visiting Fukui.  Within Japan, the ice cream can also be ordered via Shokokai (JP), Amazon (JP/EN), or Rakuten (JP/EN).  Another unique product they produce is lotus soft ice cream (はすソフトクリーム), as can be seen here.

Manufacturer: こう太郎のアイス屋さん

Address: 〒919-0225 福井県南条郡南越前町東谷6-85

6-86 Higashidani, Minami-Echizen-chō, Nanjō-gun, Fukui-ken

Tel.: 0778-47-2357