Wasabi Owner Recruitment
Become the owner
Ownership System
"Wasabi Village" in Shizuoka Prefecture is facing a crisis. Please become an owner and help protect Wasabi Village and Wasabi Valley .
Cultural inheritance
Izu City is the birthplace of tatami-shi wasabi cultivation. It is one of the most important cultural and technical aspects that must be passed on to the next generation.
Cleaning up Izu
Once you become an owner, Wasabi Village will become your second home . Please come and enjoy the countryside and Wasabi Sawa any time. It is truly beautiful.
What is WASABI?
What is Wasabi?
Wasabi is an accompaniment to sashimi and sushi, but what exactly is it? The answer is "vegetable.
It is a vegetable of the Brassicaceae family, the same as radish and cabbage, and is also a perennial plant (a plant that continues to grow for several years after germination). The spiciness of Wasabi comes from the ingredient "allyl mustard oil," of which "Hon Wasabi" is a spicy vegetable unique to Japan.
Wasabi is a species native to Japan, and all its seeds and seedlings originate from Japan. Of course, it was first cultivated in Japan, and it is an important part of Japanese culture, requiring many conditions such as clean water, good soil, and not too much sunlight. Its history dates back to the Asuka period, and it was one of the favorite foods of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was famous for being a gourmet.
What is Wasabi Owner System?
This is a supporter system where you can donate to protect Wasabi Sawawa (Wasabi field) and Japanese Wasabi culture in [Wasabi no Sato] in Izu City (formerly Naka Izu), Shizuoka Prefecture, the birthplace of the Tatami-shiki Wasabi cultivation method. We need your help to pass on the Wasabi to the future. Let's protect this "Wasabi no Sato" together and make it your second "hometown"!
わさび、日本、本わさび
わさび、日本、伊豆市
本わさび、伊豆市、わさびの里
わさび、日本、本わさび
I recommend this hotel
・I love real wasabi and want it to continue to be cultivated. ・I love nature and mountain scenery and want to continue protecting it. ・I want my children to eat traditional Japanese real wasabi. ・I want to somehow help with the waste problem, even if it's indirectly or directly. ・I want a place deep in the mountains of Japan that I can call a second home.
The current state of Japan's wasabi streams
Wasabi is a traditional Japanese ingredient. Most of the wasabi swamps are located in the mountains of rural areas, and income is unstable due to fewer customers and falling unit prices. As a result, there are some wasabi swamps that are unable to maintain traditional manufacturing methods due to a serious lack of successors. Originally, wasabi could be grown without the use of fertilizers or pesticides, with just clean water and the shade of alder trees. In order to take the time and effort to create safe and secure wasabi, it is necessary to be able to sustain a living even with young workers and full-time workers.
To solve the problem
About the Owner System
Please see below for details. First, please fill out the form to request a donation.
You are now a Wasabi owner!
◉ Limited to 15 shares (15 bottles) in 2024
◉ 10,000 yen per share (1 free 30-40g wasabi stick)
There is no limit to the number of applications
◉ Application periods are January 1st to May 30th and September 1st to December 31st every year.
◉ If you live in Japan, please pay by bank transfer.
◉ We will inform you of the status of the wasabi by email.
For individual visits, please click here
*We are considering holding an event once a year during the harvest.
How to receive
[How to receive your wasabi! Choose from 3 options]
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You can apply for an annual contract from one unit per year. The wasabi is actually grown by us in Izu, our contract farmers, and everyone in the community who protects the wasabi stream. Wasabi is harvested once a year (July-August), and although there are individual differences, we are unable to offer you a choice. You can choose to receive the wasabi in one of the three ways listed above.
1. Harvest the strawberries yourself and take them home (around July each year)
2. we will send the wasabi we harvested to your designated location (within Japan only, payment on delivery)
3. we harvest and donate to children *Most Japanese people have never eaten real wasabi.
How to apply
Donations are used to
Main destinations
Increase in Wasabi farmers' profits (fair price transactions are the foundation of survival)
Realization of fair trade and increase in wholesalers
Review and expand sales channels
Attract visitors to Wasabi Sawawa and promote immigration
Attract visitors to Wasabizawa and promote immigration.
All other activities will be used to protect nature, including the mountains.
～Wasabi no Sato problem details～
[Lack of successors due to decreased income]
First, there is a lack of successors due to decreased income. Wasabi farmers are struggling to make a profit due to a decrease in wholesalers, water shortages due to climate change and forest deterioration, and lower unit prices. This has a negative impact on local economic activity and is directly linked to a lack of successors. Additionally, as there are no other jobs available in this area, the younger generation is leaving the area, while the number of elderly residents is increasing, reducing the vitality of the area. If this continues, there is a possibility that it will disappear in 10 to 20 years. Izu City is listed as a city at risk of extinction.
[Mountain and sea trash problem]
Next is the garbage issue. Due to my low income, I can't afford to put in the effort. Currently, the income from full-time work is not enough to support a living, but people who have part-time jobs or live on pensions are managing to maintain Wasabi Sawa. As a result, people tend to avoid using alder trees to create shade, placing stones, or directly planting trees, which require careful cleaning of fallen leaves. Instead, they use cheap and disposable vinyl cheesecloth roofs and plastic fixed stands, which are washed into the sea.
If these issues are not resolved, Izu's ``Wasabi Village'', the birthplace of wasabi, will disappear.
~How we got to this point~.
While we were picking up trash in the mountains, including satoyama, we began to hear about the problems in Izu City one after another. Witnessing these problems, we began to think a lot. The fact that the birthplace of Wasabi, a type of Japanese horseradish loved around the world, has a 60% chance of disappearing. A city of beautiful mountains and water, where one can enjoy the scenery from season to season, will not be able to be passed on to the next generation.
After considering that this is a serious situation, we came to the conclusion that what we are looking for is not "people who want Wasabi" but "people who want to protect Wasabi and the satoyama.
Those who want wasabi can purchase it at various places. That is also an important source of income and necessary to raise awareness of Wasabi. However, "depopulation" and "income decline" are progressing at a speed that cannot be kept up with by itself. If this happens, we cannot survive without cooperation from all over Japan and the world.
Just as the Wasabisawa people are working hard believing that their fans will surely increase if they produce delicious and safe Wasabi, I believe that there are many people who wish to keep this beautiful nature and satoyama scenery alive for the next generation.
I am protecting this satoyama," he said, "I am protecting the birthplace of wasabi. I hope for a future where people around me can boast, "My second hometown is in the mountains of the Japanese countryside....
The reason why we included "donate" as one of the options for receiving the Wasabi is that nowadays, with the abundance of food, people have fewer and fewer opportunities to experience the "real thing". I wanted to let children know the taste of real wasabi as a Japanese person. We hope that those who can buy wasabi for themselves can buy it at the store in large quantities, and that we can offer it as a donation to those children who need the "opportunity".
We are not sure where we will donate the food at this time, but we would like to donate a small portion for school lunches at kindergartens, nursery schools, elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools. We are not sure where the donation will go at this time, but we would like to donate a small amount to kindergartens, nursery schools, elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools! I can't eat it! It stings my eyes! Oh!" It's okay if that's how you feel. We believe that it is important to "try the real thing" and "feel it with all five senses.
We look forward to your warm cooperation!
Link]
Shizuoka Wasabi Agricultural Heritage Promotion Council
https://shizuoka-wasabi.jp/area/detail/2
Wasabi Sawasawa Visiting Rules
https://kanko.city.izu.shizuoka.jp/form1.html?pid=4942
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