9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As much as I love to talk[br]about the food we eat,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there's a lot to say [br]about the food we don't eat.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The stuff we don't like, [br]can't afford,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or I've just never been offered, [br]like fried tarantula in Cambodia,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
jellied moose nose in Canada.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But then there are foods [br]we're afraid to eat.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We went to a region in Japan [br]were fears about food grown there
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because of a very major [br]and very tragic event
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have made consumers weary,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which makes it like,[br]really hard for growers.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
FOOD FEARS
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Noboru) A lot of sparrows[br]would come eat the rice.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We fly kites instead of using scarecrows.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Rice from this area has [br]the highest rating, and it tastes great.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This one is called Gohyaku Gawa.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The green ones are Koshihikari.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This farm has been in Noboru Saito's[br]family for eight generations.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A decade ago, [br]Saito quit his government job
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to help his mom in the farm.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm 82 years old.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
After my son came back,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
my responsibilities lightened.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But year after he returned, [br]disaster struck.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There was a massive earthquake.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When I looked around, the mountains--
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there are lots in this area--
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so these mountains looked like
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they were being swayed or sliding.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That earthquake was a 9.1 magnitude.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The fourth most powerful ever recorded
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That triggered a massive tsunami,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
killed more than 15,000 people,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and damaged[br]more than a million buildings,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
including the Fukushima[br]Daiichi Nuclear Plant,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which is still leaking radiation today.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's still piles of radioactive topsoil
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
under black tarps near Saito's property,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which is 50 kilometers[br]from the power plant.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Noboru) Some people decided[br]to stop farming
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and fled to other regions[br]with their entire families.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Personally, I didn't run away.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I tried to make things work in this region[br]and fight the radiation.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's catching the B-waves[br]from the radiation.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We have to make sure[br]the rice doesn't carry radiation.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So every spring,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we put potassium in our paddies.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It'll absorb potassium[br]instead of [radioactive] cesium.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is known as inhibition of resorption.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The disaster has forced Sato[br]to find new ways
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to make sure his produce is safe,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
including raising money on the internet
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to buy a 22,000 dollar radiation tester.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Noburu) Here, we have some peppers.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You have to measure their weight first.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
560, 550 grams.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then you put it inside.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The machine will measure the radiation
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and you can see whether or not[br]it's below the standard.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It won't confirm until after 15 minutes.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But already after 30 seconds,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's stabilizing at zero.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The Japanese government says[br]the food from Fukushima is safe.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Two years after the meltdown,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it reported the 1.5% of food products[br]were over the radiation limit.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
By 2017, that number dropped to 0.05%.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But people are still reluctant.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If I bring my produce directly,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I can answer questions.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I can sell while talking to people.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then, because they understand.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They buy productos from Fukushima
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with a peace of mind.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
More customers are visiting every week.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Whether it's our peaches or vegetables,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they keep coming back[br]because they taste delicious.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Just because customers are coming back,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
doesn't mean the disaster[br]is completely over.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
By 2022, the nuclear plant [br]will run out of storage facilities
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for radioactive waste water,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and experts have advised the government[br]to release the water into the ocean,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which could impact fishing
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and raise new concerns[br]about the region's produce.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[Koji Furuyama] is also a farmer[br]who specializes in luxury peaches.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
His strategy for shaking the region's stigma[br]is to be the best in the world.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Japanese agriculture is about making
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the highest quality produce in the world[br]in limited space.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This has sugar content of over 20%,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so it's easily 50,000 yen[br][$471] per peach.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Also, this is the world's[br]biggest kind of peach.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It will be this big
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it will keep growing[br]bigger and sweeter.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
His best peaches have three times[br]as much sugar as a supermarket peach,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and they're priced[br]at 20,000 dollars a piece.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Oh, no kidding. It's event otaktay.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Last year, the highest sugar content
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we achieved was 40.5%.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I tried it myself.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It was hard to describe with words.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When someone eats something[br]that delicious,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
words won't come right away.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Even his more affordable fruits [br]are pretty expensive.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These usually sell
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for 12,000 yen [113] each[br]in city department stores.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That means altogether, these boxes[br]cost around 70,000 yen [$660] each.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As Japan prepares to showcase [br]its recovery by hosting the Olympics
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
10 years after the earthquake,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's announced that the baseball and[br]softball events will happen in Fukushima.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Farmers here are excited that the games
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
may give them the opportunity [br]to reintroduce the world
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to their produce.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Koji) Well, the people involved in media
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
will present to the world[br]the actual, recovered Fukushima.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So an event like the Olympics
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
will become a plus for a prefecture[br]like Fukushima.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Fukushima is stuck [br]with this image of danger.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That reputation is global.
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Instead of keeping[br]that bad memory of Fukushima,
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
please visit Fukushima yourself
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and see with your own eyes
9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that Fukushima is not[br]what you imagine it to be.