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Nagano Road Trip

By Sasha Wizansky On October 27, a crew from OPENharvest woke up at 5am and headed up into the mountains, into Nagano prefecture, for a series of farm and producer visits. As usual we made a few pitstops along the way. Tal,...

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OPENharvest Trip (Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9TPBDpeDyQ&feature=channel_video_title This is a short video by Tokyo-based photographer Nahoko Morimoto, which marvelously captures Yoko and my trip to Japan with the OPENharvest team. We spent three jam-packed weeks visiting farms, markets, taking brewery/distillery tours, and eating + drinking our way through Japan--all culminating in a huge event...

Hanging Onions

Frostopia Farm. Saitama, Japan. Photo by Kelly Ishikawa, a San Francisco-based photographer and the co-owner of The Perish Trust.

Radiation + Japan: Testing Report and Thoughts

By Howie Correa Within half a day of arrival from Ireland, I was excited to be heading out of endless Tokyo to visit a radiation testing facility at Natural Harmony, a produce distribution site in Chiba. It was a trip that seemed to be...

Hokutei Suisan Fish Market (Saitama)

By Sasha Wizansky On October 21st, chef Kanji Nakatani took a small group of the OPENharvest crew on a trip to the Hokutei Fish Market to visit fish purveyor, Katsuhiro Sato. Apparently, Sato was kicked out of the main local fish market many...

Tuna Head at Tsukiji Fish Market

Look at this tuna head! It was fucking HUGE--I could easily fit my own head into its mouth. Its eyeball was so clear, it looked as though it were still alive, looking deep into my soul, prodding me to try its precious ruby red flesh. Sorry...

Mochi Tsuki and Shishimai Performance (Saitama)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AwoE-59pMqc The OPENharvest group visited the Hachisu residence in Kodama-gun in Saitama Prefecture. We enjoyed a Japanese farm food meal which included fresh edamame, natto, fall vegetable soup, ohitashi (blanched spinach) and mochi. After the meal, Harigaya-san and his troupe performed a shishimai (lion dance).

Rice Harvesting in Niigata

At 5am on a Thursday morning, groggy and jetlagged, 20 of us OPENharvest participants, with Food Light Project members piled into three vans headed for Niigata prefecture. As we drove through the quiet morning streets of Tokyo, we eagerly anticipated the adventures ahead....

OPENharvest: Umamimart Goes to Japan

I am ecstatic, beyond words, to announce that Yoko and I will be joining the Bay Area-based art and food collective, OPENrestaurant, on a special trip to Japan in October. We will be there for three weeks, visiting farms and fisheries,...