Sakurajima (Cherry blossom island) across the bay from Kagoshima City, gets a LOT of volcano ash, which is good for growing Japan radish (daikon). There have been very few events in Tenmonkan in the last year, and one of the first in recent weeks was the Sakurajima Daikon Fair, this last Saturday and Sunday.
And, it pretty much was what the name implied. A bunch of very large Japanese radishes displayed for sale, plus some tables selling daikon-related products, like salted pickles and udon toppings. The biggest of these things are close to 16" in diameter, and weigh several pounds.
Prices for the ones here range from 1,500 to 3,000 yen ($14 to $28 USD). I can't see many households wanting to get more than one, if any at all. I'd expect that the main market would be sushi, soba and ramen restaurants.
They even had a beauty contest.
"Look at the gams on that one."
(Inside joke: For a long time, Japanese houses didn't have chairs, and the families would sit on pillows at low tables, often with the women in "seiza" position (with the legs bent under them in a kind of kneeling sit). This put a lot of pressure on their calves, and their legs would lose definition such that they just looked like stuffed sausage casings. There's a different type of daikon that's more like a really big white carrot, and when women are said to have "daikon ashi" (radish legs), that's what's meant. So, the daikon in the contest above do indeed have "radish legs.")
No comments:
Post a Comment