April 19th marks exactly 1 year since I uploaded the first GoNorth Japan video to TH-cam. I think I've learned a lot during that time, but I'm still just getting started. I hope you are all staying safe and healthy in these trying times.
Happy anniversary! And yes, you've come a long way! I hope gathering mountain vegetables stays safe up there - I think this was very interesting and hope to see more!
Congratulations Quinlan! I found you through Sharla's channel and have watched every video since. Even introduced my Mum to TH-cam showing one of your videos. Hopefully one day Ill see you on the trails!
Ah wild food is the best! I'd love to study wild food properly. I have a ton of wild garlic in my garden and I know it's wild garlic, it smells like garlic and looks the part, but I'm still scared in case it's not lol Lived here 8 years and never found the courage to try it. Great video, thank you 🙏
If it smells like garlic it is safe to eat. There is one similar looking that doesn't smell like it and it's not safe. I just got the courage to try it last month after learning more.
Ahh the bane of recording in full sunlight....but it's nice to see the kogomi in your hands! Please tell me these kogomi are crunchy because that's what I'm imagining!
Great video as always. I'm always happy to learn something and you always bring something new to learn in your videos. Happy TH-cam Anniversary! I'm excited to see what you have in store for us.
@@GoNorthJapan You can certainly try if you'd like but what you are doing is working for you as well. I say do what you feel is right and natural for you and the subject. I trust you'll figure out the balance.
Happy 1 year youtube-versary! Loved your content! Thanks to your videos, I had a lovely trip at Morioka last Feb! Both me and my friend enjoyed the sweet town and nice people there. Definitely will need to try more sansai next time in Japan.
Such lovely views! I live in Korea, so I’d love to be in the countryside right now instead of a city. Thanks for this educational video. Your guide seems like a cool guy.
Just popped over after watching the video on the hike you did with Sharla. This is amazing!! Every time we go out there are people stopped all over foraging and I have always wanted to figure out what they are finding, so this is great! I now need to track down a local to also take me out & teach me, because this all sounds amazing. (Maybe after I work on my language skills. We just arrived in January to Misawa and, well, this year wasn’t exactly how I thought it would go..... But I should get to start my language learning in earnest next month!)
Nice! If you're up in Misawa there are tons of local experts on foraging and no shortage of great spots. Hopefully the whole current situation will be resolved before foraging season next spring!
I googled about "カラダチヨモギ" and asked to my friends but I couldn't find a single person who knows it. I think it's either you heard the name wrong or the name is only used by locals in your area (which is very possible). My major isn't botany so I can't confirm it but as far as I can see I think that's a standard Yomogi which is called Korean/Japanese mugwort in English. Nonetheless I'm so glad that you haven't got bored with life in Japan and still enjoying it! I'm a Japanese from Tokyo but watching your videos make me realize how clueless I am about areas only a couple hours away from my home lol.
Yeah- I think Haruo-san made his own name for this, or is using a very very local expression for it. He has said it so many times I'm definitely not hearing it wrong. But the way he says it the difference between this and normal mugwort is that you eat it when it is still small, about 10cm high. I don't think I will ever be bored. There is always so much to do! Thanks for watching!
God I'd kill to live in an area with the kind of wild nature you're at. The one thing I miss about the States is foraging for wild food out on the wilderness of Wisconsin. While living in Yokosuka has its advantages (being able to literally walk to the ocean is nice) the lack of wilderness effing sucks.
i’m sure that streams have much trouts. I joined a summer workshop in east Hokkaido for an exchange university environment study program for general students and took edible wild plants , wild mushroom and wild trouts we caught as samples for investigation on environmental bio ecosystem in outdoor style back to the seminar lodge in the near town. We cooked and ate them. The academic biologists and botanists in the uni were very skilled outdoor life enjoyers too.
Happy TH-cam anniversary!! I love your channel and I'm so happy you showed the foraging and what becomes of them after they are harvested. Did you ever forage like this before coming to Japan? How did you get to know Haro/Haru-san?
Thank you! When I was in junior high school I did a summer school program in ethnobotany where we did a tiny bit of foraging but it was really fairly superficial and meant for kids. Other than that, no. I came to Japan right after university. I met Haruo-san while taking a bath! He is the maintenance man (and bus driver, and kind all-around handyman) for one of my favorite hot springs ryokans. I used to live nearby there and bathe in the hot springs 3 or 4 times a week. He would talk to me when he came by, and when he mentioned foraging in the spring I asked if I could go along. That must have been back in 2008 or 2009. I've been going with him ever since! He's a friend, but I only see him in the spring. But on a good year we'll go out 5 or 6 times foraging.
Try fiddle heads with olive oil and garlic, it's great. Also in soup is a great way to eat them. Personally I think tempura kills the flavour of these gentle plants. In Japan, it's tempura for everything.
Yeah, it really is tempura for everything. Olive oil and garlic sounds dreamy. You mean stir fry them? Or lightly boil and use garlic and oil dressing?
Probably... of course there are a lot of animals out there and Haruo-san stopped drinking the stream water after he once saw a dead animal lying upstream. Probably fine though.
I moved to Iwate recently and will be purchasing a small akiya in the area soon. These videos are very, very exciting! @GoNorthJapan, how did you find a reliable foraging guide?
Hey, that's great! Welcome! I will be doing some foraging tours this coming spring with a Japanese forager that I've been working with for years! Hit me up!
Great that you are still going strong this was a different video that was really interesting. Are there any English language tours that do this kind of foraging thanks again 😀🏴🇬🇧
I am actually working with a couple of local organizations trying to form one. But as of this moment nothing exists. Hopefully when the pandemic lifts I'll be able to remedy that!
This was a peacefull and beatifull video, thanks! One question I have is if it's legal to enter and forage in forests in Japan. There are forage free areas or something like that?
Thanks for that question - you forced me to research and I just learned a number of things! So- basically all spaces in Japan are either privately or publicly owned. There is no "no man's land." So unless it's your mountain that you own (and you can buy mountains here, they're not so expensive in many cases...) then it is technically stealing to go there and take the plants. But entering the forests is legal if it is a public forest. For mountains owned by individuals technically you should ask permission. (Though in practice it's not always clear which mountains are publicly or privately owned.) BUT - there is such a long tradition in Tohoku (and all over Japan I assume) of foraging in uninhabited mountain areas for wild vegetables and picking them that there are basically no cases of anyone being fined for doing it. (I think most people use "mountain manners" and always pick the wild vegetables in a way that doesn't kill the plant so it grows back and no real damage is done.) I think despite the legal status being rather grey, the level of public acceptance for foraging and the general social standing of it as a "wholesome practice" makes me comfortable doing it and publicly sharing that I am. I can show photos and talk about it with very "establishment" type older Japanese people and they are all enthusiastic and talk about what they like to forage for. So it's sort of a rare case where something technically illegal has wide public acceptance in this otherwise rather strict society. It's similar to the law against home brewing in Japan. There is a long tradition among the older generation of making "doburoku" (thick cloudy homemade sake) at home, and this is illegal. That said, I have spoken with a police captain in Morioka (over drinks), who told me that as long as you don't try to sell homemade alcohol, the cops won't investigate you. He said that in Iwate, there hasn't been a single case of anyone being fined for home brewing alcohol unless they tried to sell it. (However the tax department will go after you since you aren't paying brewing tax if you do it at home and consume yourself... so homebrewers still have to keep a bit quiet here.) Anyway, really long answer. You can tell I've had my coffee this morning. Hope this is useful!
@@GoNorthJapan you went full on my level of research 😅👍 I can spend way too long deeply researching even random subjects simply because it's fun to learn.
How I miss walking through a forest, and through rivers and streams😔 Thanfully I, we have Go North Japan, closest thing to it😊 PS; Now I want to eat some of that kogomi ramen😋
It’s dewberry picking season near Houston TX. I really love foraging for those!! This is cool content I’d love to see more of. Why don’t you want to eat the ferns after they have grown more?
Probably.... but I generally don't as certain rivers have volcanic minerals that aren't great to drink. (Also in some cases old mines have made water undrinkable. Not that river in particular, but others in the same general region, so I'm careful.)
Yomogi is mugwort (genus Artemesia) in English. Japanese wikipedia lists 30 different species of ヨモギ but no "karadachi"... I wonder if カラダチヨモギ is a Tohoku-ben version? ^.^
Thanks for letting me know! I had no idea! Yeah- it probably is. As you may have noticed, Haruo-san has quite the accent and may be using local words for some things.
I left the US right after university. I spent a lot of my childhood in a forest/wetland conservancy area running around climbing trees, but didn't do any foraging really.
i live in oregon where theres many rivers. people like to go swimming in them all the time. do people in japan generally go swimming in the rivers or is that wierd to them?
I'm in Australia and I have to admit I'd also like to know. Took one look at the water and wanted to dive right in. Probably very cold though. Please Quinlan?
Actually it's pretty rare for Japanese people to go swimming in the rivers. Most people swim in a few of the larger lakes (Towada, Tazawa), or drive to the beach. (The ocean is always within easy driving distance.) I like wading around the creeks and rivers, but if you do it somewhere with lots of others around you'll get looks. That said, fishermen will wade out and stand for hours in the middle of a stream or small river fly fishing.
So cool! I have a few questions that you might be able to answer. What does a typical foraging trip with a local cost for a foreign tourist? How long do these trips usually take? (Like 08:00 until noon or literally the whole day?) If one is more experienced, how easy can you access good foraging grounds? Is most land out of town off limits due to governmental rule or private ownership or a combination there of? Very cool video Quinlan!
I don't know of any foraging trips that are available to tourists, but I am trying to remedy that. I am working with local organizations to create something. In terms of time, we usually meet up around 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and finish after lunchtime. It depends on how deep we go into the mountains and what we're looking for, but generally from 3 to 5 hours. Technically, it is a gray area as all wilderness in Japan is either government land or privately owned. But because Japan is very accepting of the traditional practice of foraging and people who forage generally pick only what they need and don't litter or otherwise damage the natural areas, there is no enforcement or criticism of people that forage. That said, you need to know where to go, which requires a local contact. I know of several areas near me that are national forestland but not a national park that are very open for foraging.
@@GoNorthJapan thx for the detailed reply! If you ever do know of any good trips for tourists let me know! We go to Japan every year and usually include at least a week in the north.
April 19th marks exactly 1 year since I uploaded the first GoNorth Japan video to TH-cam. I think I've learned a lot during that time, but I'm still just getting started.
I hope you are all staying safe and healthy in these trying times.
Happy anniversary! And yes, you've come a long way! I hope gathering mountain vegetables stays safe up there - I think this was very interesting and hope to see more!
Congratulations Quinlan! I found you through Sharla's channel and have watched every video since. Even introduced my Mum to TH-cam showing one of your videos. Hopefully one day Ill see you on the trails!
@@cleetusthealien9769 Thanks so much! See you on the trails!
Congrats!
And we're so glad you started this adventure! I love this channel :)
Happy 1 year TH-cam-versary! Can’t wait to go foraging with you :D
I would like to see this!
What I learned from this: All plants are a mere vessel for delicious tempura batter.
Hahaha, yeah, pretty much all wild vegetables are good as tempura.
Ah wild food is the best! I'd love to study wild food properly. I have a ton of wild garlic in my garden and I know it's wild garlic, it smells like garlic and looks the part, but I'm still scared in case it's not lol Lived here 8 years and never found the courage to try it. Great video, thank you 🙏
Wild garlic sounds amazing!
If it smells like garlic it is safe to eat. There is one similar looking that doesn't smell like it and it's not safe. I just got the courage to try it last month after learning more.
I tried some packaged Japanese mountain vegetables imported to the UK and they were ddelicious,I can only imagine how good they taste fresh 💚
These types of videos are sooooo fascinating
This was such an interesting video. I enjoyed watching and learning!
Thanks for this one Quinlan. It is very refreshing to see natural exploration like this.
Thanks for watching!
Interesting field hunt Quinlan- you are lucky to have someone like Haruo san as a friend and guide
Ahh the bane of recording in full sunlight....but it's nice to see the kogomi in your hands! Please tell me these kogomi are crunchy because that's what I'm imagining!
They are indeed crunchy! Very crisp! Yeah- was a bit bright.
Wow! I didn’t know fiddleheads were in Japan too! I’ve always know it as a Maine thing. My family goes foraging for them every spring.
Loving your videos! Glad to see another Wisconsinite out there. Hope you're staying safe!
Another great video! Thanks!
Great video as always. I'm always happy to learn something and you always bring something new to learn in your videos. Happy TH-cam Anniversary! I'm excited to see what you have in store for us.
Thank you!! I may have to start scripting videos and see what that's like. (Until how I've just gone and sort of said whatever came to mind.)
@@GoNorthJapan You can certainly try if you'd like but what you are doing is working for you as well. I say do what you feel is right and natural for you and the subject. I trust you'll figure out the balance.
Please do more foraging videos, very interesting
Thankyou. What a wonderful experience to be able to learn and forage like that. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing your video I love Nature and I love the way as you doing !! God bless u .
I love watching these foraging videos!
Happy 1 year youtube-versary! Loved your content! Thanks to your videos, I had a lovely trip at Morioka last Feb! Both me and my friend enjoyed the sweet town and nice people there. Definitely will need to try more sansai next time in Japan.
Such lovely views! I live in Korea, so I’d love to be in the countryside right now instead of a city. Thanks for this educational video. Your guide seems like a cool guy.
Just popped over after watching the video on the hike you did with Sharla. This is amazing!! Every time we go out there are people stopped all over foraging and I have always wanted to figure out what they are finding, so this is great! I now need to track down a local to also take me out & teach me, because this all sounds amazing. (Maybe after I work on my language skills. We just arrived in January to Misawa and, well, this year wasn’t exactly how I thought it would go..... But I should get to start my language learning in earnest next month!)
Nice! If you're up in Misawa there are tons of local experts on foraging and no shortage of great spots. Hopefully the whole current situation will be resolved before foraging season next spring!
I googled about "カラダチヨモギ" and asked to my friends but I couldn't find a single person who knows it. I think it's either you heard the name wrong or the name is only used by locals in your area (which is very possible).
My major isn't botany so I can't confirm it but as far as I can see I think that's a standard Yomogi which is called Korean/Japanese mugwort in English.
Nonetheless I'm so glad that you haven't got bored with life in Japan and still enjoying it! I'm a Japanese from Tokyo but watching your videos make me realize how clueless I am about areas only a couple hours away from my home lol.
Yeah- I think Haruo-san made his own name for this, or is using a very very local expression for it. He has said it so many times I'm definitely not hearing it wrong. But the way he says it the difference between this and normal mugwort is that you eat it when it is still small, about 10cm high.
I don't think I will ever be bored. There is always so much to do!
Thanks for watching!
Happy TH-camversary! A food for thought - perhaps make a video of making various dishes/salads with food you foraged.
That is a great idea! I will definitely do that!
Looks like paradise.
Yomogi, a mugort or wormwood plant. Most of the Artemisia are called either of those 2 names and are usually medicinal or used as herbs.
That's the Ostrich Fern fiddleheads. They are delicious!!
Also, if you happen to find dandelions remember the entire plant is edible, delicious and full of vitamins.
This is so cool! Also the healthiness of the kogomi cancels out the unhealthiness of instant ramen therefore a perfectly balanced meal! ;)
That was so cool and informative! Can't wait for the next one......
God I'd kill to live in an area with the kind of wild nature you're at. The one thing I miss about the States is foraging for wild food out on the wilderness of Wisconsin.
While living in Yokosuka has its advantages (being able to literally walk to the ocean is nice) the lack of wilderness effing sucks.
i’m sure that streams have much trouts.
I joined a summer workshop in east Hokkaido for an exchange university environment study program for general students and took edible wild plants , wild mushroom and wild trouts we caught as samples for investigation on environmental bio ecosystem in outdoor style back to the seminar lodge in the near town. We cooked and ate them.
The academic biologists and botanists in the uni were very skilled outdoor life enjoyers too.
Wow, that sounds like a fantastic workshop! Yeah- there are fish in the streams.
Love your videos 👍👍👍
Enjoyable and nformative. Perfect start for the weekend :)
Happy TH-cam anniversary!! I love your channel and I'm so happy you showed the foraging and what becomes of them after they are harvested. Did you ever forage like this before coming to Japan? How did you get to know Haro/Haru-san?
Thank you! When I was in junior high school I did a summer school program in ethnobotany where we did a tiny bit of foraging but it was really fairly superficial and meant for kids. Other than that, no. I came to Japan right after university.
I met Haruo-san while taking a bath! He is the maintenance man (and bus driver, and kind all-around handyman) for one of my favorite hot springs ryokans. I used to live nearby there and bathe in the hot springs 3 or 4 times a week. He would talk to me when he came by, and when he mentioned foraging in the spring I asked if I could go along. That must have been back in 2008 or 2009. I've been going with him ever since! He's a friend, but I only see him in the spring. But on a good year we'll go out 5 or 6 times foraging.
Great video! Hope to see more of it this year :) stay healthy
Try fiddle heads with olive oil and garlic, it's great. Also in soup is a great way to eat them. Personally I think tempura kills the flavour of these gentle plants. In Japan, it's tempura for everything.
Yeah, it really is tempura for everything. Olive oil and garlic sounds dreamy. You mean stir fry them? Or lightly boil and use garlic and oil dressing?
It’s really awesome!!!
The water looks super clear and clean. Drinkable?
Probably... of course there are a lot of animals out there and Haruo-san stopped drinking the stream water after he once saw a dead animal lying upstream. Probably fine though.
I moved to Iwate recently and will be purchasing a small akiya in the area soon. These videos are very, very exciting! @GoNorthJapan, how did you find a reliable foraging guide?
Hey, that's great! Welcome!
I will be doing some foraging tours this coming spring with a Japanese forager that I've been working with for years! Hit me up!
Great that you are still going strong this was a different video that was really interesting. Are there any English language tours that do this kind of foraging thanks again 😀🏴🇬🇧
I am actually working with a couple of local organizations trying to form one. But as of this moment nothing exists. Hopefully when the pandemic lifts I'll be able to remedy that!
This was a peacefull and beatifull video, thanks! One question I have is if it's legal to enter and forage in forests in Japan. There are forage free areas or something like that?
Thanks for that question - you forced me to research and I just learned a number of things!
So- basically all spaces in Japan are either privately or publicly owned. There is no "no man's land." So unless it's your mountain that you own (and you can buy mountains here, they're not so expensive in many cases...) then it is technically stealing to go there and take the plants. But entering the forests is legal if it is a public forest. For mountains owned by individuals technically you should ask permission. (Though in practice it's not always clear which mountains are publicly or privately owned.)
BUT - there is such a long tradition in Tohoku (and all over Japan I assume) of foraging in uninhabited mountain areas for wild vegetables and picking them that there are basically no cases of anyone being fined for doing it. (I think most people use "mountain manners" and always pick the wild vegetables in a way that doesn't kill the plant so it grows back and no real damage is done.)
I think despite the legal status being rather grey, the level of public acceptance for foraging and the general social standing of it as a "wholesome practice" makes me comfortable doing it and publicly sharing that I am. I can show photos and talk about it with very "establishment" type older Japanese people and they are all enthusiastic and talk about what they like to forage for. So it's sort of a rare case where something technically illegal has wide public acceptance in this otherwise rather strict society.
It's similar to the law against home brewing in Japan. There is a long tradition among the older generation of making "doburoku" (thick cloudy homemade sake) at home, and this is illegal. That said, I have spoken with a police captain in Morioka (over drinks), who told me that as long as you don't try to sell homemade alcohol, the cops won't investigate you. He said that in Iwate, there hasn't been a single case of anyone being fined for home brewing alcohol unless they tried to sell it. (However the tax department will go after you since you aren't paying brewing tax if you do it at home and consume yourself... so homebrewers still have to keep a bit quiet here.)
Anyway, really long answer. You can tell I've had my coffee this morning. Hope this is useful!
@@GoNorthJapan Wow , wasn't expecting such a long and informative answer. Thanks a lot and keep up the great videos!
@@GoNorthJapan you went full on my level of research 😅👍 I can spend way too long deeply researching even random subjects simply because it's fun to learn.
Great as always! Are you some kind of new Wikipedia?
Great video!
How I miss walking through a forest, and through rivers and streams😔
Thanfully I, we have Go North Japan, closest thing to it😊
PS; Now I want to eat some of that kogomi ramen😋
Hahaha, thanks! Yeah- that was good! The best instant ramen!
It’s dewberry picking season near Houston TX. I really love foraging for those!! This is cool content I’d love to see more of. Why don’t you want to eat the ferns after they have grown more?
I think once they are larger they taste different and also the texture isn't so good. Maybe they're harder to digest as well when big?
Just curious if harvesting would be easier with stainless steel kitchen sheers/scissors?
All the local people do it with knives, but that would work fine as well!
More videos like this please! Is it safe to drink water from that river?
Probably.... but I generally don't as certain rivers have volcanic minerals that aren't great to drink. (Also in some cases old mines have made water undrinkable. Not that river in particular, but others in the same general region, so I'm careful.)
Thank you for this video! Can all of these plants be eaten raw?
I think most of them can be... but generally a good idea to cook them a bit first.
GoNorth Japan Thank you~
Yomogi is mugwort (genus Artemesia) in English.
Japanese wikipedia lists 30 different species of ヨモギ but no "karadachi"... I wonder if カラダチヨモギ is a Tohoku-ben version? ^.^
Thanks for letting me know! I had no idea! Yeah- it probably is. As you may have noticed, Haruo-san has quite the accent and may be using local words for some things.
Have you foraged in the US much? If so, what did you get and where?
I left the US right after university. I spent a lot of my childhood in a forest/wetland conservancy area running around climbing trees, but didn't do any foraging really.
i live in oregon where theres many rivers. people like to go swimming in them all the time. do people in japan generally go swimming in the rivers or is that wierd to them?
I'm in Australia and I have to admit I'd also like to know. Took one look at the water and wanted to dive right in. Probably very cold though. Please Quinlan?
Actually it's pretty rare for Japanese people to go swimming in the rivers. Most people swim in a few of the larger lakes (Towada, Tazawa), or drive to the beach. (The ocean is always within easy driving distance.) I like wading around the creeks and rivers, but if you do it somewhere with lots of others around you'll get looks.
That said, fishermen will wade out and stand for hours in the middle of a stream or small river fly fishing.
So cool! I have a few questions that you might be able to answer.
What does a typical foraging trip with a local cost for a foreign tourist?
How long do these trips usually take? (Like 08:00 until noon or literally the whole day?)
If one is more experienced, how easy can you access good foraging grounds? Is most land out of town off limits due to governmental rule or private ownership or a combination there of?
Very cool video Quinlan!
I don't know of any foraging trips that are available to tourists, but I am trying to remedy that. I am working with local organizations to create something.
In terms of time, we usually meet up around 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and finish after lunchtime. It depends on how deep we go into the mountains and what we're looking for, but generally from 3 to 5 hours.
Technically, it is a gray area as all wilderness in Japan is either government land or privately owned. But because Japan is very accepting of the traditional practice of foraging and people who forage generally pick only what they need and don't litter or otherwise damage the natural areas, there is no enforcement or criticism of people that forage. That said, you need to know where to go, which requires a local contact. I know of several areas near me that are national forestland but not a national park that are very open for foraging.
@@GoNorthJapan thx for the detailed reply! If you ever do know of any good trips for tourists let me know! We go to Japan every year and usually include at least a week in the north.
Cheers for lovely video :-)
Is there mushroom foraging in Iwate?
Yes! There are tons of edible mushrooms here. Fall is generally mushroom season.
is it waterdropwort or chineese celery?
Not sure what you would call it in English...
Anyone here from his #short ?
Karadachi Yomogi is Mugwort
i want to do this with someone pls??? Is anyone in tokyo?? Who want to look for mushrooms especially???? Pls???
BEARS!?