Incoming Typhoon Season Worries Wasabi Farmers in Tokyo

Tokyo's wasabi farmers are still able to recall what happened to their horseradish crops during the previous year's typhoon season. They are once again concerned about the dangers that nature might pose as another typhoon season approaches Japan.

Masahiro Hoshina, a Japanese farmer, worries about typhoon season months before it starts because he keeps having flashbacks to a 2019 storm that had devastating landslides and torrential rains that destroyed wasabi farms.

The 70-year-old farmer in Okutama claimed that due to climate change, typhoon power feels different now than it did in the past. The farmer claimed that typhoons are becoming more powerful. He made the point that just because it has happened once doesn't mean it won't happen again. Okutama is located west of downtown Tokyo.

Wasabi, a tangy, spicy Japanese horseradish used in sushi, soba buckwheat noodle soup, and other dishes, is typically grown along streams in narrow valleys, making farms there vulnerable to disasters.

Hagibis Aftermath

After Typhoon Hagibis struck eastern Japan in 2019, production in Okutama was reduced by nearly 70% the following year. It took nearly three years for the sushi farms there to recover because they needed to be carefully tended to and replanted.

According to experts, global warming is affecting production not only by increasing the frequency and intensity of storms but also by raising temperatures that threaten the growth of the plants, which depend on the water's temperature being maintained at a constant 10-15 degrees Celsius throughout the year.

Wasabi's tangy flavor contrasts with raw fish in traditional Japanese dishes like sushi and sashimi, so a shortage could jeopardize these dishes as well.

Farmers of wasabi face other challenges besides the weather. There are no successors due to an aging rural population decline. According to the Agriculture Ministry, as a result of these two factors, the output of wasabi grown in clear-flowing water, like at Hoshina's farm, had decreased to half that of 2005.

Norihito Onishi, head sales manager at Sojibo, has witnessed how wasabi shortages and supply issues have negatively impacted his company. Sojibo is a chain of soba buckwheat noodle restaurants.

A Touch of Root

The eateries were well known for letting patrons grind their wasabi roots to make the hot paste that was served with soba. But they were forced to mostly abandon this.

In the past, all of the cold soba noodles were served with a piece of raw wasabi, but that is no longer possible, according to Onishi.

Onishi claimed that over the past five to ten years there have been occasions when he hasn't been able to find any wasabi root at all, even though it was widely available when the restaurant first opened 30 years ago. Only specific types of dishes can now use the priceless root.

Onishi continued by saying that if the unstable wasabi supply continues as a result of various factors, such as global warming, they will have to find alternative solutions to the issue to avoid having to stop serving raw wasabi altogether.