Special Kansai products produced with water Rice Tea SoySauce Beef Wasabi Nasu Renkon Fishes Aonori A plentiful supply of water and fertile soil are indispensable for rice farming. Though rice is produced all across Japan, the rice farming areas in Kansai play an important role. For instance, Koshihikari, widely grown and given the nation's largest rice acreage, is a variety developed by Fukui, Niigata and Miyagi Prefectures. The Nihon-bare variety produced in the Konan area (around the southern part of Lake Biwa) of Shiga Prefecture is the variety used for standardized taste tests conducted by the Food Agency and the Japan Grain Inspection Association. Today about 80 brands of rice are sold in Japan, and even rice sold under the same brand may taste slightly different depending upon the growing area. Because the varieties produced with Kansai water have their own special characteristics, the brands are named so as to highlight the unique cultivation and blending of each. Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives TEL 03-3245-7570 Omi tea in Shiga, Uji tea in Kyoto, Ise tea in Mie and Yamato tea in Nara are well-known Japanese teas of the Kansai region. Each center produces an original tea that best suits the climate of the location. But common to all tea cultivation areas are mountains or hills with excellent drainage and river valleys blessed with abundant high- quality water. People say that the best tea is made using the water of the tea's own production center. This is because the tea varieties are improved so that the tea suits the area's water. In other words, the water in famous tea production centers is also tasty. Omi tea: Shiga Prefecture Commerce, Industry and Tourism Policy Section TEL 077-528-3741 Uji tea: Kyoto Products Association TEL 075-314-2111 Ise tea: Mie Products Promotion Association TEL 059-213-0700 Yamato tea: Nara Prefectural Office Agricultural Products Promotion Department TEL 0742-22-1101 [Usukuchi (thin, light-colored) Soy Sauce] Soy sauce comes in two types, koikuchi (strong), of which Wakayama Prefecture's Arita soy sauce is typical, and usukuchi (weak), for example Hyogo Prefecture's Tatsuno soy sauce. Because usukuchi soy sauce takes advantage of the cooking ingredients to add not color but flavor to them, water plays an important role in the production process of this soy sauce. Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture, where usukuchi soy sauce originated, is blessed with rich harvests of wheat, high-quality Mikazuki soybeans from the Harima Plains, salt from Ako, and water from the Ibo River, which is particularly suited to making soy sauce. This water is soft, with minimal iron. Generally, the higher the iron content, the darker the soy sauce becomes, and the harder the water, the lower its ability to extract flavors to make tasty soups. Tatsuno soy sauce also makes use of amazake, a sweet alcoholic drink made of fermented rice, which enhances the flavor, aroma and color unique to usukuchi soy sauce. The Kansai tradition of lighter flavors can truly be said to have been developed by its excellent soft water. Tatsuno soy sauce: Usukuchi Tatsuno Soy Sauce Resource Center TEL 0791-63-4573 Arita soy sauce: Yuasa Town Hall TEL 0737-63-2525 The sweetness and softness peculiar to beef abundantly streaked with fine veins of fat are the reasons why Japanese beef is so popular. In the case of beef, too, water is important. Famous beef brands in Kansai are Mie Prefecture's Matsusaka beef, Fukui Prefecture's Wakasa beef, and Shiga Prefecture's Omi beef, and these cattle are raised in areas with ample natural water. Matsusaka beef, for example, originated in the Tajima beef of Hyogo Prefecture's Tajima area, a location blessed with beautiful mountain streams. Elsewhere, the central and southern parts of the Ise Plain where Matsusaka beef cattle are bred are supplied with natural mineral water from the watersheds of the Kumozu, Kushida and Miya Rivers, all flowing from the Nunobiki and Miune Mountains. Together with attentive breeding, carefully controlled nutrition and the environmental element, the noted water of the breeding habitat cannot be ignored. Matsusaka beef: Mie Special Product Beef Association TEL 0592-24-2544 Wakasa beef: Kaminaka Town Hall Industry Department TEL 0770-62-1111 Omi beef: Shiga Prefecture Commerce, Industry and Tourism Policy Section TEL 077-528-3741 (Japanese horseradish) Water quality is vital for mizu wasabi (water horseradish), which grows in running water. The three necessary conditions require the water to be so clean that iwana (char) and yamame (landlocked salmon) can live in it, to be plentiful, and to have a temperature from 8 to 18ûC all year round. In Kansai, wasabi is cultivated in Kakumagi, Wakayama Prefecture, where wasabi is presumed to have originated, and in Azai Town in Shiga Prefecture's Kohoku area around the northern part of Lake Biwa, both noted for their water. Wasabi sushi, in which rice and salted mackerel are rolled in a wasabi leaf, is a famous product of Shimizu Town in Wakayama. Wasabi sushi: Shimizu Town Hall Hometown Development Department TEL 0737-25-1111     TOP NEXT All images Copyright. 1997 Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office. All Rights Reserved.