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A kiosk with food souvenirs is indispensable at every large train station, 2005.
rural life – the so-called furusato (‘native place’) – has become increasingly
pronounced, effectively perpetuated by the media and the domestic tourist
industry. 37 This nostalgic reverence for furusato, in turn, generated the
celebration of local produce all over Japan. The revival of traditional
vegetables from Kyoto provides a model example of similar processes taking
place elsewhere. Marketed under the label Kyō yasai (Kyoto vegetables),
the ‘restored’ vegetables include the varieties of vegetables produced by
Kyoto farmers before World War Two, but which after the war were
replaced by new varieties with their promise of higher yields and a greater
resistance to disease.
During the 1960s and ’70s the authorities of the city and prefecture
of Kyoto took the first steps towards preserving local vegetables threatened
with extinction, successfully reintroducing them to the marketplace.
They were aided in this endeavour by Kyoto-based restaurant owner-chefs
who were dissatisfied with the taste of commonly available vegetables,
and by Kyoto farmers eager to reclaim a market advantage. By the 1980s,
greengrocers and restaurants specializing in ‘heirloom’ vegetables opened,
and ‘the taste of historical Kyoto’ was shared throughout Japan via gift
packs and souvenirs of aubergines (eggplants), turnips and yams. Most
vegetables are produced without or with very few chemical fertilizers and
pesticides, and are usually available only seasonally, unlike conventional
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