shikisaisai – Uncanny Terrain

April 14, 2012April 14, 2012

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Hiroaki Yoshida had his rice tested at several labs. None of it showed any detectible radiation.
Despite testing clean, Yoshida struggles to find new customers for rice grown on the southern outskirts of Fukushima.
To fight a dropoff in sales, Yuko and Hiroaki Yoshida bring their rice and mochi into Tokyo every weekend for the Aoyama Farmers Market.
Grandma Yoshida says anything you eat could be radioactive, but you still have to eat.

September 12, 2011September 12, 2011

The Harvest Approaches

Sugeno relaxes in the grass beside his radish field, Geiger counter in hand.
Junko and Sugeno finish planting radishes in his mountaintop field in Nihonmatsu.
Guests at Sugeno's farm enjoy flowers transplanted from the evacuation zone.
Asami looks out on his rice field in the mountains of Kitakata.
Asami shows Junko his favorite vantage point.
Asami and his intern Ota in the chicken coop.
Watanabe's fruit is showing undetectable radiation levels despite surrounding contamination in Fukushima City.
Masanori Yoshida looks out on his ancestral land, foreseeing big changes ahead.
Yumi and Masanori Yoshida care for their vegetable garden.
Yumi Yoshida displays her sweet potatoes.
Junko digs up a choice bunch of sweet potatoes.
The Yoshidas have been eating a lot of sweet potatoes. Sales of the bumper crop have been slow.

June 23, 2011July 2, 2011

New intern on Colors of the Four Seasons Farm

Maruyama, the new Hokkaido University intern on the Yoshidas' farm in Hanawa, Fukushima.
Masanori Yoshida shows Haruyama the ropes in the chicken coop.
My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse. Maruyama recites Shakespeare he learned on a farm in Australia.