Japanese Daikon Radish Patch

Emilys great aunt shares the bounty of her daikon radish patch. Daikon play an important role in Japanese home cooking and is used in soups and many side dishes. Daikon can grow very large and farmers in Japan will often grow daikon during the summer and autumn which reflects the important role this jumbo radish plays in the Japanese diet.

Viewers may be wondering why Emilys great aunt is wearing a motorcycle helmet while harvesting her daikon. I had previously been filming a spider I found in her field when she rode by on her scooter and stopped to say hi. Being the generous person she is she could not leave without giving me some goodies from her field. I later tried to share the daikon bounty with our neighbors only to find that Emilys great aunt had already made her rounds and given Daikon to everyone. Our family will therefore be happily eating daikon with every meal for the next week.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Japan
• Japanese
• daikon
• radish
• daikon radish
• farmer
• Japan farmer
• Japanese farmer
• Tokaido Softypapa

[marblemill]

Do you remember what time of year this was? Maybe May? I figure the daikons prefer the cooler weather of spring and fall to the heat of summer.

[softypapa]

@marblemill I believe that I filmed this in June. I think that the Daikon farmers in our area typically get in two crops a year and that the plants prefer the colder months. I could be wrong though... -Kurt :-)

[marblemill]

nice looking daikon. I notice Japanese people are a fan of raised beds with their gardening. I wonder how deeply the earth was worked for those radishes. When I have grown them they go to seed very early if you do not work the ground deep enough. Though some farmers in the US suggest using them to break up "hardpan" I wonder what a Japanese farmer would have to say on it.

[softypapa]

@marblemill You are indeed correct in noting the popularity of raised beds. I think that the farmers tend to work the beds fairly deep and the reuse the same plot for daikon each season. They also tend to use the plot for other veggies during the time they are not growing daikon. In short it seems to me that the plots of land where daikon are grown are forever in a state of use, being dug and redug with each crop which may help keep the soil fairly loose. -Kurt :-)

[kidzero22]

what happen to the land they used to own? the insane that the still live the family still live in  the same place since the edo period.

[softypapa]

Hello kidzero22, Back in the old days the family owned little (perhaps none) land as they simply lived on a small plot of land which was owned by a more powerful family in the area (that family currently lives in a huge house across the street). My wife's family managed to acquire little bits and pieces of land here and there in the valley which they have used mostly for agricultural purposes. They have been selling some land in recent years as their farming activity has been cut back -Kurt :-)

[MrEatingPussy]

lol terrible accent

[RSAlbusPotter]

I met her

[MrPoopEpoop]

i like the helmet

[demmylowther]

Japanese people rule !

[fljpopguy]

Do they use cover crops in the offseason? What kind of amendments and fertilizers do they use?

[kc7fys]

Beautiful video. The benefits for gaijin guys who settle and marry in Japan are many. Food is just the start. I hope to have a garden this nice myself.