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As much as I love to talk[br]about the food we eat,
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there's a lot to say [br]about the food we don't eat.
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The stuff we don't like,
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can't afford,
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or I've just never been offered
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like, fried tarantula in Cambodia,
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or jellied moose nose in Canada.
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But then there are foods [br]we're afraid to eat.
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We went to a region in Japan [br]were fears about food grown there
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because of a very major [br]and very tragic event
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have made consumers weary,
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which makes life[br]really hard for growers.
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FOOD FEARS
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(Noboru) A lot of sparrows[br]would come eat the rice.
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We fly kites instead of using scarecrows.
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Rice from this area [br]has the highest rating,
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and it tastes great.
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This one is called Gohyaku Gawa.
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The green ones are Koshihikari.
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This farm has been in Noboru Saito's[br]family for eight generations.
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A decade ago, [br]Saito quit his government job
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to help his mom run the farm.
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I'm 82 years old.
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After my son came back,
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my responsibilities lightened.
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But a year after he returned, [br]disaster struck.
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There was a massive earthquake.
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When I looked around, the mountains--
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there are lots in this area--
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so these mountains looked like
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they were being swayed or sliding.
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That earthquake was a 9.1 magnitude.
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The fourth most powerful ever recorded
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that triggered a massive tsunami,
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killed more than 15,000 people,
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and damaged[br]more than a million buildings,
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including the Fukushima[br]Daiichi Nuclear Plant,
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which is still leaking radiation today.
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There's still piles of radioactive topsoil
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under black tarps near Saito's property,
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which is 50 kilometers[br]from the power plant.
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(Noboru) Some people decided[br]to stop farming
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and fled to other regions[br]with their entire families.
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Personally, I didn't run away.
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I tried to make things work in this region[br]and fight the radiation.
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It's catching the B-waves[br]from the radiation.
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We have to make sure[br]the rice doesn't carry radiation.
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So every spring,
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we put potassium in our paddies.
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It'll absorb potassium[br]instead of [radioactive] cesium.
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This is known as inhibition of resorption.
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The disaster has forced Saito[br]to find new ways
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to make sure his produce is safe,
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including raising money on the internet
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to buy a 22,000 dollar radiation tester.
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(Nobuoru) Here, we have some peppers.
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You have to measure their weight first.
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560, 550 grams.
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And then you put it inside.
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The machine will measure the radiation
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and you can see whether or not[br]it's below the standard.
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It won't confirm until after 15 minutes.
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But already after 30 seconds,
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it's stabilizing at zero.
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The Japanese government says[br]the food from Fukushima is safe.
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Two years after the meltdown,
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it reported the 1.5% of food products[br]were over the radiation limit.
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By 2017, that number dropped to 0.05%.
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But people are still reluctant.
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(Noboru) If I bring my produce directly,
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I can answer questions.
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I can sell while talking to people.
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Then, because they understand.
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They buy productos from Fukushima
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with a peace of mind.
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More customers are visiting every week.
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Whether it's our peaches or vegetables,
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they keep coming back[br]because they taste delicious.
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Just because customers are coming back,
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doesn't mean the disaster[br]is completely over.
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By 2022, the nuclear plant [br]will run out of storage facilities
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for radioactive waste water,
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and experts have advised the government[br]to release the water into the ocean,
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which could impact fishing
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and raise new concerns[br]about the region's produce.
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Koji Furuyama is also[br]a farmer in Fukushima
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who specializes in luxury peaches.
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His strategy for shaking[br]the region's stigma
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is to be the best in the world.
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Japanese agriculture is about making
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the highest quality produce in the world[br]in limited space.
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This has sugar content of over 20%,
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so it's easily 50,000 yen[br][$471] per peach.
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Also, this is the world's[br]biggest kind of peach.
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It will be this big
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and it will keep growing[br]bigger and sweeter.
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His best peaches have three times[br]as much sugar as a supermarket peach,
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and they're priced[br]at 20,000 dollars a piece.
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Last year, the highest sugar content
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we achieved was 40.5%.
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I tried it myself.
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It was hard to describe with words.
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When someone eats something[br]that delicious,
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words won't come right away.
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Even his more affordable fruits [br]are pretty expensive.
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These usually sell
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for 12,000 yen [$113] each[br]in city department stores.
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That means altogether, these boxes[br]cost around 70,000 yen [$660] each.
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As Japan prepares to showcase [br]its recovery by hosting the Olympics
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10 years after the earthquake,
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it's announced that the baseball and[br]softball events will happen in Fukushima.
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Farmers here are excited that the games[br]may give them the opportunity
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to reintroduce the world to their produce.
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(Koji) Well, the people involved in media
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will present to the world[br]the actual, recovered Fukushima.
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So an event like the Olympics
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will become a plus[br]for a prefecture like Fukushima.
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Fukushima is stuck [br]with this image of danger.
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That reputation is global.
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Instead of keeping[br]that bad memory of Fukushima,
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please visit Fukushima yourself
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and see with your own eyes
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that Fukushima is not[br]what you imagine it to be.