We had to be there before 10, which meant getting out of the house and onto our bikes by 9:20. It was a brisk morning, so we were bundled up to stay warm. We met the group at a community center and headed off on foot for our tour.
Our first stop was the Makino Memorial Garden. Known as the "father of Japanese botany", Tomitaro Makino identified and names over 1,500 plants, many of them native to Japan. Since 1958, his personal garden has been open to the public. We received a guided tour of both the garden and museum on the grounds. While the tour group included translators, my husband conveyed lots of information to me. It was great learning about the different kinds of bamboo on the property and the camellia they recently moved.
Although typically I prefer to be in the garden, I found the museum really interesting. Makino and his apprentice were amazing artists. They drew pictures of plants that looked almost like photos. They were so detailed and beautiful. If I could, I would have purchased several of these drawings to hang in my house.
After spending about 30 minutes at the garden (which I could have spent much longer), we continued on our tour. We walked to a wagashi shop. I have eaten wagashi before, a sweet traditionally eaten with tea. Although beautiful, they are a little dry and not loved by everyone. Someone from the shop explained that each wagashi represented something from nature - like flowers or autumnal leaves or the first frost. The offerings also always change according to the seasons. Hearing about the reasons for each shape made me appreciate wagashi on a whole new level.
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From right to left: camellia, rose, ginko nut, pigeon, autumnal leaves
Not pictured: chestnut, baby boar, and first frost
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Up next was pulling daikon! We were all so excited, as this was the reason we even joined the activity in the first place. We arrived at the farm and saw rows and rows of daikon greens sticking out of the ground. Upon further inspection, there was about 8 inches of radish peeking out above the ground.
The farmer gave us a short speech about Nerima daikon (which interestingly grows down and then up). My son was so excited to get pulling, but first we had to dig around the daikon to loosen up the dirt. Since daikon are super long, they are really deep in the ground. If you wiggle the daikon too much, it will simply break off in the dirt. The farmer and several of his farmhands had shovels and a long pointed stick that helped loosen up the dirt if it was too compacted.
We took turns digging and pulling and finally we unearthed a huge daikon. We were all excited and super proud that we got it out all in one piece. My son was just a tiny bit disappointed we were not successful in having it fly out of the earth with a loud pop sound, but he quickly recovered due to the excitement of getting to pull a second and third daikon (each person gets to pull a daikon).
Every time we go on an agricultural excursion, I am so excited. I love learning about this stuff and getting to experience it first hand is awesome! I am also continually shocked that I get to pick Asian pears and peanuts and so forth in Tokyo. It just blows my mind.
After everyone had pulled their daikon, we left the farm and headed back to the cultural center. Lunch was waiting for us - a dish called Nerima spaghetti. It is pasta with canned tuna sautéed with daikon, vinegar, sugar, salt, and soy sauce, then topped with shredded nori (dried seaweed). One of the park moms told me her son loves this dish. It is served for lunch at the elementary schools in the area. I'm not surprised her son loved it. It was delicious and my son gobbled it up.
I'm so glad I decided to join this activity. It was so much fun! Up next is cooking all that daikon. I guess I'll be testing some new recipes this week.
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