{"id":3363,"date":"2015-02-09T22:09:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T13:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/?p=3363"},"modified":"2023-08-18T12:25:20","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T03:25:20","slug":"yahei-hot-chili-peppers-in-konan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/yahei-hot-chili-peppers-in-konan\/","title":{"rendered":"Yahei hot chili peppers in Konan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090752.jpg\" alt=\"P1090752\" class=\"wp-image-3365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090752.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090752-150x112.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Updated: June 1, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meet Yukiyo Mitaka and Yuzu Sasaki (\u4e09\u5cf0 \u6559\u4ee3\u30fb\u4f50\u3005\u6728 \u7531\u73e0), a young and peppy&nbsp;pair of hot chili pepper farmers in Konan, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Under their company name and brand of <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fmcraic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fm craic<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;(not a radio station), they grow a unique and local variety of super-hot chili peppers called&nbsp;<em>yahei togarashi<\/em>&nbsp;(\u5f25\u5e73\u3068\u3046\u304c\u3089\u3057).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They plant, grow, harvest, process, package, and sell the&nbsp;<em>yahei<\/em> hot chili peppers as blended spices,&nbsp;sauces, and confections. They do everything by themselves. Just the two of them. They&#8217;ve also become media darlings, appearing in numerous Japanese print media and even on TV. And they now appear here at shiga-ken.com, in English. They also appear in my new video&nbsp;introducing the city of Konan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OjFnVdKMCKI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Video link:\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/OjFnVdKMCKI\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/youtu.be\/OjFnVdKMCKI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Update: Due to their respective marriages, Yukiyo and Yuzu sold their fm craic company in Jan. 2021 to a new woman owner who continues to grow and sell yahei chili peppers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a sunny November day in 2014, they gave me an exclusive tour of Konan and their chili pepper field near the Shimoda area where the yahei chili peppers were originally grown. It looked&nbsp;like the size of a football field or bigger.&nbsp;They grow&nbsp;about&nbsp;1,000 yahei chili pepper plants.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-3366 size-full\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"227\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090755.jpg\" alt=\"P1090755\" class=\"wp-image-3366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090755.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090755-150x85.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">fm craic&#8217;s yahei hot chili pepper&nbsp;field in&nbsp;Konan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090746.jpg\" alt=\"P1090746\" class=\"wp-image-3368\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090746.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090746-150x112.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-image-3369\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090743.jpg\" alt=\"Yahei chili peppers are orange.\" class=\"wp-image-3369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090743.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/P1090743-150x112.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Yahei chili peppers are bright orange.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The harvest season (summer to early fall) was already over, but they still had yahei togarashi plants with&nbsp;bright orange peppers. Most were shriveled and not marketable. All the&nbsp;plants were going to be uprooted and disposed of&nbsp;since they were&nbsp;single-season only. They plant new seedlings&nbsp;every&nbsp;March and harvest in the heat of summer which is tough work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I couldn&#8217;t believe that only the two of them did all the work on this huge field. No help from family members or friends either. They grow and plant the seedlings, till and fertilize the soil, grow the plants, harvest&nbsp;the peppers by hand in summer, process them, and use spoons to carefully fill little spice bottles. Totally homegrown and handmade product. A&nbsp;lot of work, but they can take it easy during the off-season winter months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The main&nbsp;thing about yahei chili peppers is that compared to ordinary chili pepper spices sold in Japan (like <em>shichimi<\/em>), their yahei chili pepper spices are&nbsp;super hot. On the tip of a wet chopstick, I tasted&nbsp;a tiny dash of both. The regular, blended shichimi&nbsp;was not even&nbsp;hot. But just a little powder of yahei caused an&nbsp;immediate burning&nbsp;sensation on my tongue. Really hot stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The spicy heat of chili peppers is measured by the&nbsp;Scoville scale. Yahei chili pepper is measured as having 100,000&nbsp;Scoville heat units which is twice as hot as ordinary chili peppers in Japan. The girls also profess that it&#8217;s not only about the spicy hotness. Yahei chili peppers&nbsp;also have&nbsp;<em>umami<\/em> flavor and a mellow aroma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The origin of Konan&#8217;s yahei hot chili peppers remains unclear. \u201cYahei\u201d supposed to be the name of the man from Konan&#8217;s Shimoda area who brought over yahei hot chili peppers from overseas (probably Korea) over&nbsp;100 years ago. &#8220;Yahei&#8221; was also a name given to succeeding generations, so it is unknown exactly which Yahei brought over the chili peppers. However, it is known that the local folks&nbsp;in Shimoda started growing yahei togarashi in their backyards for their own consumption. The peppers were pickled or heated as&nbsp;<span class=\"st\">appetizers for sake rice wine.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">fm craic was the first to go commercial with yahei togarashi, billed as Konan&#8217;s&nbsp;native vegetable. This has instilled&nbsp;some local pride and the girls have gotten a number of local food&nbsp;businesses to use their yahei chili pepper&nbsp;spices. It&#8217;s a good synergy and collaboration because they can then promote each other&#8217;s products and&nbsp;businesses.&nbsp;The girls are determined to improve and promote&nbsp;their local area and products. I&nbsp;cannot help but to root&nbsp;for their success.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-image-3376\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"261\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090777a.jpg\" alt=\"Upper Secret, popular cafe in Konan.\" class=\"wp-image-3376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090777a.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090777a-150x97.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Upper Secret, popular cafe in Konan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One local business which&nbsp;uses yahei hot chili peppers is an American-style cafe called Upper Secret, a short walk from JR Kosei Station on the JR Kusatsu Line.&nbsp;We&nbsp;had lunch there and had the award-winning Indian chicken curry that used yahei chili peppers. Very good. The cafe&nbsp;opened only two years ago in September 2012 and it has become a local favorite. Manager Akane Kaikiri also speaks English because she studied in Oklahoma (of all places).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Besides curry, they had a good selection of yummy-looking, homemade desserts, pastries, cookies, etc. They also sell fm craic&#8217;s yahei chili&nbsp;pepper spices and sauces. It&#8217;s a nice cafe&nbsp;and a great place for lunch or coffee\/tea. Open: 9 am\u20135:30 pm, closed Tue. Phone: 0748-60-5077&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/uppersecret.jimdo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-3380 size-full\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"263\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/20141127UpperSecret.jpg\" alt=\"20141127UpperSecret\" class=\"wp-image-3380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/20141127UpperSecret.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/20141127UpperSecret-150x98.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Upper Secret&#8217;s&nbsp;manager, Akane Kaikiri.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-3378 size-full\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090650.jpg\" alt=\"P1090650\" class=\"wp-image-3378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090650.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090650-150x112.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Inside Upper Secret.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-3377 size-full\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090647.jpg\" alt=\"P1090647\" class=\"wp-image-3377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090647.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090647-150x110.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Upper Secret&#8217;s Indian Chicken Curry using yahei chili peppers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><del>Yuzu and Yukiyo&nbsp;also manage Konan March\u00e9&nbsp;(\u3053\u306a\u3093\u30de\u30eb\u30b7\u30a7), a local gift shop selling local produce, food, crafts, and souvenirs.<\/del> (Update: This shop has closed and has been replaced by a new and large store named <a href=\"https:\/\/kocopia.jp\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kocopia<\/a> at a new location.) It&#8217;s like a <em>Michi-no-eki<\/em> (roadside rest area for drivers). Opened in autumn 2011 in a former convenience store, they sell&nbsp;a wide variety&nbsp;of local products. Besides yahei chili pepper spices, they have locally-grown vegetables like the unique Shimoda eggplant, rice, snacks and confections, local crafts like Shimoda-yaki pottery, and&nbsp;souvenirs designed with&nbsp;local mascots Ko-nyan (a cat) and Ishibe-don (a Tokaido Road traveler). &#8220;Ko-nyan&#8221; is a twist&nbsp;on &#8220;Konan&#8221; with &#8220;nyan&#8221; meaning &#8220;meow&#8221; in Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><del>Konan March\u00e9 is open 10 am\u20137 pm, phone 0748-72-5275. (&#8220;March\u00e9&#8221; is French for market.)&nbsp;The shop is in Mikumo, but will eventually move to a new location. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.burari-konan.jp\/marche\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Website<\/a><\/del><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-3375 size-full\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"230\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090775.jpg\" alt=\"Konan March\u00e9\" class=\"wp-image-3375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090775.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1090775-150x86.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Konan Marche<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-3379 size-full\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/20141127fmcraicProducts.jpg\" alt=\"20141127fmcraicProducts\" class=\"wp-image-3379\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/20141127fmcraicProducts.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/20141127fmcraicProducts-150x84.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">fm craic&#8217;s chili pepper products.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">fm craic&nbsp;sells four different blends&nbsp;of yahei hot chili pepper spices in small bottles for \u00a5630 each. It includes an all-purpose blend and one for curry. They also have two chili sauces, one sweet and one hot. Their products are nicknamed &#8220;Piriri&#8221; which means spicy hotness on your tongue. At Konan March\u00e9, I bought and tried a few of the&nbsp;confections and snacks that used yahei chili peppers. Interesting how the hot chili taste comes afterward, like after you swallow. I liked their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fmcraic.com\/item\/white\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">white brownies<\/a>&nbsp;with small pieces of white chocolate and&nbsp;a dash of yahei chili pepper. It&#8217;s sweet at first, but&nbsp;there&#8217;s&nbsp;hot-chili aftertaste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you don&#8217;t have a car, the&nbsp;easiest place to buy yahei hot chili spices would be at Upper Secret near JR Kosei Station. They also sell at the Yurara Onsen hot spring facility near Zensuiji Temple.&nbsp;Or if you can read Japanese, order from their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fmcraic.com\/category\/6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fm craic online store<\/a>&nbsp;for shipping within Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-image-3402\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2014-11-05-15.23.55.jpg\" alt=\"Upper Secret's booth at the 1st Geki-kara summit in Oct. 2014.\" class=\"wp-image-3402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2014-11-05-15.23.55.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2014-11-05-15.23.55-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Upper Secret, winner of the 1st Geki-kara Summit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another impressive project&nbsp;was the &#8220;Yahei&nbsp;Gekikara (Super Spicy Hot) Summit&#8221; (\u5f25\u5e73\u6fc0\u8f9b\u30b5\u30df\u30c3\u30c8 2014) held for the first time on October 18, 2014. (Update: This event is no longer held.) It was held together with the&nbsp;Ishibe-juku Matsuri Festival at the&nbsp;Ameyama Cultural Sports Park (Shukuba no Sato). They had food booths selling food using&nbsp;yahei hot chili peppers. It was a contest for the best spicy-hot food selected by popular vote and by a panel of food&nbsp;experts. The winner was Upper Secret&#8217;s Indian chicken curry dish. They received a cash prize&nbsp;and a free, year-long PR by the city of Konan. It has apparently replaced the previously held B-class&nbsp;gourmet event. <del>I hope it becomes an annual event.<\/del><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-3370 size-full\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/image1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/image1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/image1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Shiga Governor Mikazuki at the fm craic booth at Shiga-Biwako Brand Fair at Osaka Station on Nov. 8-9, 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Isn&#8217;t it amazing to see how far they&#8217;ve gone&nbsp;with some local chili peppers? Not strawberries, not grapes, but chili peppers&nbsp;of all things. Can you imagine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even their company name &#8220;fm craic&#8221; is intriguing for an agricultural company.&nbsp;&#8220;fm&#8221; refers to&nbsp;&#8220;<strong>f<\/strong>ar<strong>m<\/strong>&#8221; (as well as FM radio station) and &#8220;craic&#8221; is Irish meaning &#8220;fun and interesting.&#8221; So I guess they are &#8220;broadcasting&#8221; the &#8220;fun of farming.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More young people (especially from the cities) are indeed getting interested in farming. If&nbsp;not as an occupation, at least as a temporary experience of getting down and dirty to&nbsp;plant rice, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&#8217;s a label for young farmers like Yuzu and Yukiyo. They call themselves &#8220;Noka Girls&#8221; (\u8fb2\u5bb6\u30ac\u30fc\u30eb\u30ba) or Farm Gals which made me laugh. Shiga has a group of Noka Girls who keep in touch with other. They are all young women farmers. Definitely&nbsp;not the traditional image of old women farmers with bent-over backs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their background stories certainly is one reason for the media attention. A pair of young ladies&nbsp;quitting their unfulfilling&nbsp;jobs in the city, returning to their hometowns, and starting a business together. Something that all too many depopulating areas wish would happen more often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yuzu hails&nbsp;from Kusatsu. After graduating from a university in Kyoto, she&nbsp;studied the tea ceremony and Chinese language&nbsp;in <span lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">Tianjin,&nbsp;<\/span>China. She then worked for a travel agency in Osaka before moving back to Shiga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yukiyo is a native of Konan and studied in Boston, Massachusetts as an exchange student and also studied interpreting in the UK. So she speaks English well. She was&nbsp;working for a software firm in Tokyo before moving back to Shiga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both had a yearning to&nbsp;work in the food\/farming business so they took a course in agriculture held by the Shiga Prefectural government. That&#8217;s where they met each other. Two inexperienced girls getting into the hard work of farming. They now have a lot to show for their hard work. It&#8217;s&nbsp;an interesting story for anybody.&nbsp;When they&nbsp;were starting out, veteran farmers in Konan were understandably skeptical of them. Like, &#8220;You gotta be kidding me.&#8221; But look at them now. They&#8217;ve come a long way in a few short years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you have the passion and the willingness to commit yourself, the wheels start to turn and things tend to fall into place. Shiga needs more people like them. Ambitious and determined folks&nbsp;out to improve&nbsp;their community. Konan is very lucky to have these two girls and it was a pleasure meeting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/photoguide.jp\/txt\/Konan,_Shiga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More about Konan<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/cF9JD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Map of Konan<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/photoguide.jp\/pix\/index.php?cat=103\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Photos of Konan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*About the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/OjFnVdKMCKI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Konan video<\/a> embedded above, it was my very&nbsp;first video introducing a city rather than just a single event or attraction. You can&#8217;t introduce everything about a city in a short video like this (about 10.5 min). So my strategy was to present&nbsp;some&nbsp;key words and images of Konan that&nbsp;people can&nbsp;remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The video also shows the indigo dyeing shop Konki Senshoku. The indigo dyeing master, Uenishi Tsuneo, helped us tie-dye a handkerchief when we visited&nbsp;in June 2011. I had an interesting talk with him and part of it is in the video. He speaks with a very rural and heavy Shiga dialect\/accent. Since he talked like my late grandmother in Shiga, I could understand him. But he is rare one, I call him a &#8220;Living Treasure of Shiga.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;video also shows&nbsp;a photo of Konan City Hall people showing drawings made by school kids in St. Johns, Michigan. Konan has friendship city relations with St. Johns. Every year since 20 years ago, artwork by elementary school kids in St. Johns are exhibited in Konan&#8217;s public library. And vice versa with artwork from Konan kids being displayed at Briggs Public Library in St. Johns. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.clintoncountyarts.org\/international-art-connection\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated: June 1, 2018 Meet Yukiyo Mitaka and Yuzu Sasaki (\u4e09\u5cf0 \u6559\u4ee3\u30fb\u4f50\u3005\u6728 \u7531\u73e0), a young and peppy&nbsp;pair of hot chili pepper farmers in Konan, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Under their company name and brand of fm craic&nbsp;(not a radio station), they&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,41,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-konan","category-shigabrand","category-shigapeople"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3363"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8772,"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3363\/revisions\/8772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiga-ken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}