Chance to eat beans eaten by Tutankhamen
“Beans eaten by Tutankhamen were sent to Japan.” Tomie Miyauchi, a farmer, recalled the article whilst working on her farm. When she glanced at a newspaper rolling up a vegetable, it read, “Do you want to make the new “King Tutankhamen Bean”? If interested, we will provide you with the seeds.”

The King Tutankhamen Bean, a descendant of peas, was first found inside of a tomb with the dead body of King Tutankhamen. After taking the seeds back to England, Connor B. Carter successfully germinated them. Cultivation continued and they were eventually passed to America. It reached Japan in 1956 as a gift in return for Japanese seeds. Ms. Miyauchi remembered reading this article.

The seeds sent to Japan were later selected genetically and bred, and a new type of King Tsutankamen Bean was nurtured.

The flower of King Tutankamen Bean is red and its pod is purple. If boiled with rice, it turns into a red steamed rice.

Ms. Miyauchi has been ordering beans from research farms, and cultivated them little by little.

Learning from the veterans, growing young farmers
The young farmers who live near Ms. Miyauchi were very intrigued by the romantic stories from the time of pyramid.

Mr. Katori, who inherited his parents’ farm and mainly cultivates peanuts, is one of the young aspiring farmers. He received about three hundred different types of seeds from Ms. Miyauchi and began to cultivate them. He has been doing a lot of research on ways of cultivating them in the most productive manner.

Mr. Shinohara is a second son of a family who runs big business on farms. He has been growing Japanese Mustard Spinach (Komatsuna) and crown daisy, using organic fertilizers on a farm given by his parents. They look fresh and delicious.

Producers Federation make safe and delicious vegetables

Nearby Narita Airport, east of Chiba prefecture. Close to the biggest consumption city of Tokyo, this area is a thriving area for vegetable culture. There is a Producers’ Federation named Decopon, which specializes in providing safe and delicious vegetables and fruits. Currently, the federation is composed of about one hundred workers, including Ms. Iyauchi and those young farmers introduced previously.

Mr. Kato, who is affiliated with Decopon, is an expert in growing carrots. Typically, even sweet carrots have a sugar content of 7.5, but the ones made by Mr. Kato have a sugar content of 8.6.

Mr. Tanaka produces a type of turnip called “Peach Turnip.” They are sweet like peaches and are best when eaten raw. The production has been difficult and did not appear on the market as much as he anticipated, but the major mail-order house, Oisix, has entreated to make the products official and it became commercialized. The Peach Turnip is very popular nationwide. They even placed first on a ranking that categorized all their product offerings based on their popularity.

Training young farmers with skills in cultivation, processing
Decopon focuses on training young farmers. Many people today who have parents as farmers do not inherit their farms and go on to do something else which has been a major problem. Decopon offers trainings on cultivation and processing with the help from Oisix. This program is highly regarded as a way to learn the all aspects of the agricultural business.

Within Decopon, young trainees have grown, and the cultivation of various farms has improved.

Not only the farmers who affiliate with Decopon, but also those who have started up their own brand or franchised oversea have been prominent in the agricultural scene.

Vegetables are must in Japanese food. But behind farming the vegetables, there is 300 thousand years of romance and passion of the young farmers, hoping to achieve something big in the near future.