Japan Blog

With the warmer weather and turnings with the new fork, the compost’s stench of ammonia has given way to the scent of geranium. Quite a bit of the putrefying stuff got dug in prior to the potatoes, beans and peas. With the bulk of it gone, it was easier to arrange layers of green and brown. Perhaps more importantly, separate the slimy fibrous masses and get some air in.

It’s cooler than it was a couple of weeks ago and there has been quite a bit of rain. On Tuesday there was a surprise thunderstorm bringing you (hail) as large as ice cubes. It really came down heavy and its looks like the summer vet has had too much water. I expect I’ll soon be moaning about the lack of it.

On the way back from our trip to Mitokusan Sanbutsuji we saw the rice paddies flooded up in the mountains. It started down here last week. The odd early bird farmer in-between spells planting out rice.

Price rise announcements are now a common precursor to each month. Earlier in the year there were reports of Japan’s WPI being at a 27 year high and CPI being hitting decade highs. In a country where the economy is as stagnant as the wages, cost-driven inflation is really spanner in the works.

Being so hideously short on natural resources you would think it prudent that the country not to be reliant on something that can be grown at home. Japan’s food self sufficiency has fallen to a meagre 39%. Despite this there is still a surplus of the tightly controlled rice.