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It’s a cold winter night.
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Fishermen are harvesting nori
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a seaweed now appreciated the world over
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for its use in making
the famous maki sushi rolls.
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Although the recipes date back
to 18th-century Japan,
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when nori began to be produced
in square sheets,
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it wasn't until the 1960s
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that their popularity
spread in the Western world.
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Nori flavor is now enjoyed the world over,
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but do we really know
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to whom we owe
the global spread of this delicacy?
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There are many different deities.
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Here we pray for maritime safety
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as well as nori production
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fish, shellfish
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lots of things harvested from the ocean.
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So every year
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we hold a festival
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to pray for
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a bountiful harvest from the sea
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In this region
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nori is an important industry.
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Drew contributed to
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a successful nori harvest
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so to give thanks for her research
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she is treated like a deity.
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Generally speaking, deities...
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In Shinto there are deities.
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This festival is to pay our respect
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to this deity,
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that is what makes Drew
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worthy of such reverence.
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This is Professor Fusao Ota
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my teacher
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an honored person.
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It was mainly his idea
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to erect a monument here.
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He called for it.
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This is Mrs. Segawa
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she and Drew had a friendly relationship.
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It was Professor Segawa who told us that
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Drew had discovered that laver grows
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in calcareous objects
such as oyster shells.
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It seems that
Professor Segawa and Dr. Drew
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had a friendly relationship.
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They exchanged letters.
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So in one letter, she wrote:
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“Maybe Japanese nori
also burrows in oyster shells?”
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It was also Professor Segawa
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who passed this on to Professor Ota.
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It was here that artificial seedlings
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were first harvested
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in 1953.
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At that time, nori production
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in Kumamoto prefecture
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was very low.
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Then there was the great Kumamoto flood
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so at that time
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artificial seedlings became a hot topic.
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Drew made her discovery before that
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in 1949
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and four years later
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we were harvesting artificial seedlings.
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So while production had stagnated
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nori production increased
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according to the aquaculture harvest.
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So that's how nori production increased
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but I remember the time before that
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as I started working
at the research institute
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in 1958.
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The Drew monument
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was erected here
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in 1963.
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Yes, 60 years ago.
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What is your best memory?
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Well...
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Inaugurating the monument
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was the greatest accomplishment
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of my youth.
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I was really happy.
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That was 60 years ago.
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Do you feel nostalgic about that time?
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Yes
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At the time I was still single
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but my fiancée was there
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My fiancée wrote down what was said
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beside the monument,
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it’s all buried underground
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like a time capsule.
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The nori harvesting season
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used to start on October 1st.
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Now we have to wait
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till around October 20.
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In Uto, spring comes early
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so the period for nori aquaculture
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has gotten shorter.
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This is because of climate change.
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If we can stop global warming
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the nori harvesting season can be longer
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and production can become more stable.
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Now due to global warming
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the nori industry is gradually shrinking
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and nori production is declining.
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Also due to the rising price of oil
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and other materials
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it costs more to produce nori
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so the number of nori farmers
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is decreasing.
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Now it's harder to make a profit
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so production is declining.
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So my family also quit the business.
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Now we’re here.
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Aquaculture used to be here
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on the lower end of the Kikuchi river
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there were seedling racks
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Every year, according to our experience
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this was the only place where seedlings
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would be planted in the nori cultch.
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The method was to charter a boat from here
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to take out the cultch, seed the nori
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then bring them back here to be farmed
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as aquaculture.
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They also came here
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focusing on
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Saga and Fukuoka prefectures
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They gathered here.
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Space is limited
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so the local union
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charges the highest fee possible
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for the location.
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It would be great if nori
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could be seeded everywhere
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but there are some places
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where it doesn’t grow.
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That’s why Drew tried
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seeding inside the shells.
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Artificial seedlings
were successfully cultivated.
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In an emergency
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you can cultivate them locally
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in your own space.
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This is sea water.
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Yamamoto Sensei tells us
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in 1945
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people on these shores could see
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the Nagasaki atomic
mushroom cloud in the distance.
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Even the day after the disaster,
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Kumamoto was still heavily bombed.
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With the war over,
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the situation was particularly difficult,
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and food was scarce.
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For many years,
and long before the war,
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Japanese scientists
had been already striving
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to understand nori’s complete life cycle
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so that it could be
cultivated more reliably.
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Different theories clashed,
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so when young Fusao Ota
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succeeded in
germinating spores on oyster shells
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in 1953,
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the national academic society
did not immediately
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recognize these results
and even questioned it.
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But the following year
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its accuracy was successively proven
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in neighbouring prefectures.
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By 1955,
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people traveling along the coast
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could see the countless nets
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of seaweed offshore.
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My name is Yumiko Shimada
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I was born and raised in Kawachi town.
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Ever since I was little
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I have been involved
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in my parents’ nori aquaculture.
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Of course
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I have been helping
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since elementary school
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I would come home with my school bag
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and look toward the factory
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If the lights were on
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I would drop my school bag at the door
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and go help.
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I watched my father and mother
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struggle for a long time
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but I didn't think about
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spreading the goodness of nori
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until I was around 30 years old.
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Up until then
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I just saw it as a family business.
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In 1964, around then
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we quit doing it the old way.
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Up until then we used
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the cracks in the bamboo
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That was how we cultivated nori
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like this, we plucked it out
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we could only get 2,000 sheets
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in one day.
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At that time the price was 20 yen.
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So we earned enough money to eat
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but in summer
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we didn’t make enough
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so we caught fish so that we could eat.
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Every day we went fishing.
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Artificial seedlings
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as my mother mentioned earlier
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it was all natural until then.
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I think it was probably in 1948 or 1949
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that Professor Ota established
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the artificial seedlings.
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As for developing techniques for nori ,
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for example
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Freezing technology
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and floating technology
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were combined in the 1950s
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so nori began to grow faster
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But thanks to the prior contributions
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of Professor Fusao Ota
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the nori industry really began
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to develop artificial seedlings
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by planting them in oyster shells
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and putting them on nets.
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If you don't use a microscope
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you can't tell
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if the filaments
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are attached or not.
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But it's best to
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buy your own microscope
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then by looking
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into the microscope
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then right away, right there
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you can work with the sea.
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After the professor taught me
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how to use the microscope
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I was able to do it
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step by step
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accumulating skills along the way,
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even now.
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Once we looked into the microscope
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we could see right away.
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We could see from the color
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It was lit up in color.
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We followed what Ota-sensei was saying
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as he taught us to recognize the shapes.
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The spores were like this
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all lined up...
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After they came out in vertical lines
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then a few hours later
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they were ejected from the shells
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So we had to prepare the shells.
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I didn’t quite understand at first.
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Of course, to us
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Ota-sensei was a God
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God, God.
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In recent years
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annual nori production in Japan
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has been less than 5 billion sheets.
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This year in the Ariake Sea
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red tides spoiled the harvest
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so we only harvested
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around 5 or 6 billion sheets.
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I think the nori farmers are doing this
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as a matter of course.
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They don’t have a particular desire
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to do research.
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They just want
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to get good nori
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delicious nori.
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So in order to get good nori
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they need to buy a microscope
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and learn how to look into the microscope
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and learn from others
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how to put the seedlings on the nori.
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so today I learn from my neighbor
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If someone is successful
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let’s see how they’re doing it
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so little by little
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we're doing our own research.
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Tides
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floodings
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algae blooms
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typhoons
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heatwaves
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earthquakes
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tsunamis
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volcanos
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atomic bombs
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the powerful forces of the Earth System
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the driving forces of human activities
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In the 1950s
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Professor Ota shared with passion
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the new practical science
of nori aquaculture.
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These were also the years
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that marked the beginning
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of a major acceleration
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in the impact of human activities
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on the Earth System.
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This sudden, severe
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and irreversible acceleration
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making humanity
a planetary geological factor
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was considered to mark
the beginning of a new era
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the Anthropocene.
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But humanity is too presumptuous
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to agree on the issue.
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And although geological institutions
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accept the idea of human impact
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they refuse for now
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to consider it a new epoch.
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To define a geological epoch
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they need a located site
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recording the marks of the impact
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over deep time.
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The thermonuclear tests
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on the Bikini and Enewetak atolls
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in the Western Pacific from 1952 onwards
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and their radioactive fallout
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have been proposed as markers
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alongside other concurrent markers
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from pesticides
to heavy metals or micro-plastics
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all traces dating from after 1950.
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Several sites
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recording all these traces
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were studied
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such as Beppu Bay
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northeast of the Aso volcano
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in neighboring Oita prefecture
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halfway between Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
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The bay also records high levels
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of phosphates and nitrates
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and unprecedented
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microplankton community changes.
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Crawford Lake in Ontario
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was the final choice
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of the Anthropocene Working Group.
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But this didn’t convince
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the decision-making committee.
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With global warming and algae blooms
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today’s nori producers
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have to reinvent themselves.
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Can we imagine
human resilient systems
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still in line with a functional
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and evolutionary ecology?
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In order to help
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our living environments to regenerate?
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... which talks about
the micro and the macro worlds
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of seaweeds,
of this very queer
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and underestimated
biomass of planet Earth.
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... so while algae blooms
have a threatening character
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towards us humans,
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it's also a fact
that algae blooms are...
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or algae and phytoplankton
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are providing more than 50%
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of oxygen into our atmosphere.
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Haneda Airport was built
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at the time of the Olympics.
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Nori was harvested in the area
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of what is now Haneda Airport.
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So by the time Haneda Airport opened
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the nori factories had left.
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Because the Ariake Sea was
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a good spot for nori factories
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now over 50% of the nori
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that is industrially manufactured
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is harvested from the Ariake Sea.
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When did people
start eating nori in Japan?
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It was a long time ago
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in the Jomon period
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when people were also probably
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eating fish and shellfish.
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But it seems that it was not
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in the form of square sheets
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like paper
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It was more like wakame
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dried wakame.
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So people first started eating
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crunchy dried wakame
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in the 18th century
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in the form of sheets.
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We skipped past the history of nori
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up to the 18th century
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but before then
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in the year 701
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there was the Taiho Code
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in Japanese law.
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Nori started to be used
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as one kind of tax payment.
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Nori was just one
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among many other ways to pay tax.
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For example, you would have to give
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a whole lot of wakame or fish or rice
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so it was better to switch to nori.
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People understood that
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in contrast
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nori was very efficient.
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Nowadays tax is paid in money
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but at that time, in ancient times
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people paid tax with objects
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as a contribution to the Emperor.
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If they paid tax in rice or wakame
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they had to contribute a lot of it
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so they thought nori
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was a pretty good option.
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Of course, you might think
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that in ancient times
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everyone ate it
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but most people did not eat it
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It was mostly fishermen who ate it.
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Fishermen ate nori
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and the imperial family
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thought it must be good
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so they asked to receive nori.
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So after 701, around that time
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the noble class
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wealthy people ate it.
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At that time, it was not yet
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in the form of flat sheets
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They still ate it like this.
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So it was probably mixed with rice
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or eaten as is.
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Today’s aquaculture is also very primitive
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but they use a method
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of hanging shellfish
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that contain nori babies
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underneath the net.
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So thanks to Drew
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the quantity of nori harvested
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gradually expanded.
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The most nori produced
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was about 10 billion sheets.
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Before Drew
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it was only about 3 or 4 billion sheets.
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So thanks to Drew
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they could harvest
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more than 10 billion sheets.
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Although the quantity
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is once again declining.
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Why is nori so delicious?
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Because it has 3 umami ingredients
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Kombu contains glutamic acid
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Bonito flakes contain inosinic acid
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Shiitake contains guanylic acid
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Mushrooms contain a "tasty" ingredient
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called guanosine monophosphate.
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The only natural food that contains
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the three famous representative
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tasty ingredients
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the one unique natural food product
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is nori.
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Please try it.
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... the 20 essential amino acids
that we need for life
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... you see which one is hydrophilic
which one is hydrophobic...
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Could we use it as seasoning?
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Yes, why not
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You know the phycocyanin
actually is really good
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as a hormone regulator
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in France they sell
as a pill like this
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There's not much
scientific research going on
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but as I met lot of
spirulina farmers
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they all say
this colour is so magic
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it's good for your hormones
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for the regeneration
of your DNA as well...
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I'm mad with that because
it's a bit like vinegar, but with citrus...
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kefir...
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then you boil it...
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Also please
write down the recipes
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spirulina and oil...
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It's very dark, look...
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you can paint with this
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smells good
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just that the egg white
is not coming out
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during the boiling process
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so now we're going
to dip it into...
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What do you say?
3 minutes?
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or 7 minutes?
or 10 minutes?
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I think 7
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7 minutes ok, 7...
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This is our interpretation
of seaweed inoculation.
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We're back at the Ariake Sea
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The Drew Festival
takes place the day after tomorrow.
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It will be the 60th anniversary
of the Drew-Baker memorial.
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Today we're invited
next to Yamamoto Sensei's lab space,
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to cook with
the ladies of Noriko’s Kitchen
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who will prepare
the gifts for the ceremony.
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We appreciate nori
more and more every day.
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Next time
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on the 18th or the 14th
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the day after tomorrow.
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Boil it
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let it cool off in the refrigerator overnight
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It will clump together
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so you can cut it into small pieces
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That’s how
you make it (tokoroten).
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I think we have some here somewhere.
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Then it's ready to eat?
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Yes, with sauce.
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When the nori gets old
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you can’t eat it raw
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so eating it
like this (tsukudani)
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it still tastes good.
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Thank you very much.
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Since you left the fishing cooperative
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what are you doing now?
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Now I have a nori shop
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I opened my own nori shop.
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Oh, in Kawachi?
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In Kawachi
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Wow, really? That’s great
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I’m doing my best
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Thank you, see you later.
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We will now begin
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the 60th commemoration event
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to the Drew Monument
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Hello everyone.
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As introduced, I’m the local Uto mayor
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Motomatsu Shigeki
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This is the 60th Drew festival.
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It was a very difficult year
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but I’m so glad
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we were able to hold it this year
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I think you all know
the story of Ms. Drew,
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Dr. Drew’s discovery of nori filaments,
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then Ota sensei’s development of
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artificial cultivation techniques.
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From these events
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Japan’s nori aquaculture techniques
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spread around the world
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and became established.
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You have been fishermen for many years
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I guess you know that your techniques
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are originally based on Dr. Drew's
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and Professor Ota’s work.
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We might have thought that
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nori aquaculture would go on naturally…
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The clearing fog reveals
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a sea of treasures
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Today another hopeful
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day is dawning
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In the early morning tide
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the boats set out
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Praying for their safety
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we saw them off
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Now with our own hands, we accept our task
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We of the fishing village
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accept our task.
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A recent scientific study
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has described how the microbiota
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of the Japanese population
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has undergone
a lateral transfer of genes
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from eating nori over centuries,
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enabling Japanese people
to better digest the seaweed
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and assimilate its nutrients.
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We evolve through what we eat.
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The food system accounts
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for a third of global carbon footprint.
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How can seaweed
contribute to the long-awaited
-
food and ecological transitions?
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How can we get even
more seaweed on our tables?
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And how can today's nori producers
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reinvent themselves and find resilience
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in the face of global warming?