A Chinese meal served at Cham exclusively made up of vegetables, meat and seafood from Shizuoka.

Some numbers make you think twice, and even many more times in the present situation created by the recent catastrophes in North East Japan:
Shizuoka Prefecture (4,000,000 souls) is the only Prefecture in Japan capable to survive exclusively on its own food for a period of 6 months….

But Shizuoka naturally will not keep its food to itself!
But in the advent of the need to feed the enormous metropolis that Tokyo is, Shizuoka suddenly finds itself on the front line to produce food of all kinds to nourish the hungry capital and the rest of Japan.

I should know as I work for Agrigraph which is constantly fielding phone calls and e-mails requesting help to obtain more products from our Prefecture.

Incredible efforts are witnessed to help the battered Prefectures in the North East with basic commodities such as blankets, tents, fuel, toiletries and canned food.
Tomorrow Agrigraph will spend a whole day collecting new towels, tea bags (for hot drinks) and rice inside the Rousaikaikan, a hall that can welcome 300 people.

Shizuoka-grown organic vegetables served at Uzu.

Another worrying problem has surfaced when 4 food-producing Prefectures in the North did not pass the country’s strict radioactive limits (far too strict in my own view). Apart of the dire fact that a lot of people have lost their life earnings, Tokyo and the rest of Japan have to look elsewhere for food.
Shizuoka, being one of the rare Prefectures which can grow food all year, is already feeling the pressure for more produce.

At Agrigraph we are already helping with recruiting young and not so young farmers from the devastated North East to come and help Shizuoka farmers to satisfy the demand. This will allow farmers from the north east to earn money at a work they know for the help of their families back home.
We have already suggested to Governor Kawakatsu to accelerate the recruitment and to help exploit the 12,000 ha of good but unused farmland in our Prefecture.

Shizuoka organic vegetables served at Tetsuya Sugimoto

When one realizes that Shizuoka is not only celebrated for its vegetables and fruit, but also for its incredible seafood and more recently for its high-quality meat, the pressure will be nearly overwhelming to deliver to Tokyo instead of locally…
But the Japanese are wise. I’m sure they will find a way.
They deserve it!

Until then, let’s help them!

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