The Aichi Inbound Association offered a rice planting experience in Tobishima Village, Aichi Prefecture.

The farmland that was planted during this work was planted with seedlings of a type of rice for sake called “Yume Ginga”.

“Yume Ginga” is a new variety of sake rice developed jointly by the Aichi Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station and the Aichi Prefectural Food Industry Research Center, and is expected to contribute to the production of high-grade sake in Aichi Prefecture.

This time, the rice planting was done as part of the sake brewing process, which is connected to a series of processes: weeding this summer, harvesting the rice in the fall, brewing sake in the winter, and pressing the sake the following spring.

The rice production is done by Agri Support Ltd. and the sake brewing is done by Mizutani Shuzo Co.
Mr. Tatematsu, the managing director of Agri Support, talked about rice production and distribution, and Mr. Mizutani, the president of Mizutani Sake Brewery, talked about the current situation of sake production.

In a light rain, the participants were knee-deep in water as they planted seedlings at 30cm intervals, following the instructions given by Mr. Tatematsu.
When we looked back at the seedlings after planting, we realized how difficult it was to plant them as the rows were crooked and the spacing was uneven.

After the rice planting experience, participants will have a chance to ride on the latest model of fully automatic rice transplanter.
Even if you have never driven a rice-planting machine before, once you get behind the wheel of the automatic GPS-driven rice-planting machine, the machine will automatically correct its course and plant the rice in a straight and clean line.

At a time when healthy and delicious Japanese food and sake are attracting attention from all over the world, rice farming and sake brewing, as industries unique to Japan, are expected to make great progress in the future.
However, it is important to know through actual experience of rice farming and sake brewing that it requires a steady effort.

After the rice planting experience, the participants had a great conversation about the next summer’s rice growing process.

We very much look forward to meeting you at the next event.
Thank you.