Ota market, a wholesale market that is proud of its fruits and vegetables sector and floral sectors. The Ota Market that is located in Ota ward Rinkai area is in a satisfactory environment in terms of being the base of flows of goods; it is the only wholesale market in central Tokyo that has a display room and observational courses. The coverage started at 8 in the morning, however the busiest time in early morning seemed to had already passed a while back.

Right after entering the market, the place was filled with the refreshing cooling scent of the flower stores even without being able to see the actual flowers.

This is where the middle trading is held. The most prosperous time is from 5:30~6:00 in the morning, and rather than the flower stores the designers come here to see the flowers with their own eyes. Each store seems to also have their own tastes, and have their own excellency depending on the different types and quality of the flowers. It had already been passed the busiest hours, but it was still prosper. If you look from above the colorful flowers are very pretty.

This is the scene of the race.

Speaking of the place in which the market races are held we thought would be prosperous with the passionate loud voices, but in face there were machinery that created a rather contemporary atmosphere. Because the machinery was brought in it seems to be that all participants were able to participate equally.

And in this way, the products that were out for the race are being introduced.
In order to join this race you need to register beforehand, and not any one can participate.
Those that are participating in this race were all very serious with winning and the atmosphere was rather tense.

Here the flowers that are about to be in the race are placed. Due to a wholesale market there really are a lot of flowers.

This is where the flowers that were bought are transported with belt conveyers. From here it is sold to flower shops. It would be nice if all flowers are sold.

This is a floral material store. Goods being sold are materials for making leases, and for Christmas! The seasonal materials are brought in ahead of time. When you think of the flower shops spending that much energy into selling these, you just can’t wait until Christmas comes.

Here the Shizuoka made roses are displayed. Because the roses grow in warm weather, Shizuoka is the best place in Japan. It is not too hot or cold which is a good environment for the roses. There were a large variety of roses, and if you look closely it was filled with unique cute flowers.

Speaking of roses there is this image of it being a thick luxurious scented flower, but in fact the reality is that roses with scents are rather the minority. We heard that this was due to the fact that if they do have scents there is more maintenance needed. With that in mind the roses with scents are rather bigger in existence! The prices for 1 rose were surprisingly expensive as well!

This time for the coverage is based on the Prestage Co. we decided to interview Ms. Matsuda that is the sales producer and shop owner.

Ms. Matsuda is someone that has been studying hard about roses, and seems to be nicknamed “Rose Shop owner”. It seems to be that roses have so many different types that it has the most varieties among all flowers, and it is therefore worth studying about. Ms. Matsuda prefers roses from the nation among all varieties, and does not import roses from overseas unless the customer insists.

Within the roses that have many different varieties, the reason she prefers roses made in Japan is because if they are from Japan maintaining even the most sensitive types are easier. Due to importing roses from overseas the focus on its durability comes in hand and becomes tasteless. The roses in Japan especially have the quality to bring about the unique Japanese sensibilities.

The need for roses becomes high in seasons such as spring for graduations and entrance ceremonies, and also autumn in which a number of weddings increase. It is in fact this season. The busiest time for flower shops is December, for Christmas, New Years events overlapping, and the need for both Japanese and Western tastes increase as well.

If the temperature is different even the colors of the same type of roses change, and it seems to be that spring is the best season for the roses.
There seems to also be times when roses with different characteristics grow due to sudden changes, also if you can grow that rose in large quantities you can sell them as new species. The constant evolution does not seem to stop.

Even on average about 200 different types of roses are being handles, and at times there must be days in which 500 types of roses are handled.

The flowers that are often used for weddings, are the round not fully bloomed cute roses are popular she said. It seems that at times they sell flowers that are fully bloomed. In fact the roses that were fully bloomed were very pretty due to the flowing petals. There really are different shapes in roses.

When there are this many different types, of course there are different names but for growers it seems to be that they name the roses after their daughters. Roses with Japanese names such as “Aiko” or “Aya” shows the emotions of love that are implanted into growing the roses as if they are their own children can be felt.

When talking to Ms. Matsuda, feelings of love and passion for roses can be felt. The sensibilities of the unique Japanese are being treasured, and in a way you could feel that she was an artisan type of person. Ms. Matsuda thank you very much for your intriguing talk.

In this coverage we were able to see the atmosphere of the races that you cannot see on an ordinary basis, and we were also able to hear rare stories from those that had direct passion for flowers.

This time we understood that until the flowers are being sold at the store there are many people involved, and each and every flower are being grown with a lot of love. It will be exciting to go see the flowers next time at the flower shop.

For everyone why not going to observe the Ota market, and come in touch with the fresh flowers?