There is not much more Japanese a hobby than picking mushrooms in the fall. Mushroom hunting symbolizes the slow change in the seasons in Japan, and signals that a cozy winter is not far off. Until now it has been a symbol of health; grampas and grammas out in the cool fall air picking maitake for the miso soup.
But northeast Japan is being denied even that basic enjoyment this fall.
Fukushima Prefecture is warning that they will be doing emergency monitoring of mushrooms themselves, as well as soil and fallen leaves. Sellers and hobby pickers are being urged to be careful.
I was kind of intrigued with how detailed the sankei shinbun report was.
The investigation begins with Lactarius volemus. The testing is going to go on to 22 species of wood rotters including oyster mushrooms, Hen of the Woods (grifola frondosa). There are 23 kinds of mushrooms which grow off roots such as Lyophyllum shimeji.
Above you can see a photo of Lactarius volemus I took on July 24, 2005, so we can see we are right in season. (Just in case you care.)
Usually products are tested a month after they are shipped to see if restrictions need apply--but mushrooms do not last that long, so the government is trying to find a way to make sure they are safe. In the case of matsutake, the place where they grow is often secret, so the government is requesting that the "myojin" or local experts submit samples for testing.
Reading between the lines with all this, the Japanese government is trying desperately to come up with a way to do thorough food inspections-- there is no centralized system for performing radiation testing. Bloomberg also notes that half of Japan's rice is grown within range of emissions from the ailing nuclear power plants.
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