A lush bamboo forest stretches toward the heavens.

For ages, Japanese people have coexisted with bamboo.

This grove provides a popular Japanese food in spring.

These are "takenoko" or bamboo shoots.

Greenhouse farming produces nearly any vegetable all year round.

However, bamboo shoots cannot be cultivated artificially.

They've become a seasonal delicacy.

Bamboo shoots reach their peak of flavor for a scant ten days a year.

For this brief culinary pleasure, a family has maintained a bamboo grove for many years.

Let's follow their story by looking through the kitchen window.

Oma in Fukuoka prefecture is a ninety-minute flight from Tokyo.

Owing to its bamboo grove-covered mountains, the area is known as bamboo shoot country.

Mimura Noriaki farms this grove.

Let's do this.

Behind his home rests a bamboo grove.

Here and there, bamboo shoots reveal themselves.

However, Noriaki seeks those out of sight.

See? Right here.

Where it's risen.

Subtle signs indicate where to dig.

We're in the year's sweet spot.

You can tell it's in season by its appearance.

Bamboo shoots of this quality are his pride and joy.

A characteristic of these shoots is the harsh agent they excrete when coming in contact with the air.

It protects them from being eaten by animals.

The part underground doesn't contain the harsh agent.

A big one. I'd say about three kilos.

The harvest peaks in April.

On a bountiful day, hundreds of shoots are unearthed by hand.

It's labor-intensive work.

Each is dug up differently, as no two are shaped the same.

I wish someone would invent a bamboo digging machine.

Bamboo shoots are first boiled.

Taiki, Noriaki's son, helps out during the busy season.

They use dead bamboo as it burns well due to its oil content.

Doing this removes the harshness.

After about an hour, the bamboo shoots are ready.

Following this, Noriaki's wife, Rieko, takes over.

The skin is removed to get to the edible center portion.

Look. Lovely, isn't it?

I enjoy eating it like "sashimi."

You appreciate the flavor this way.

Let's eat.

- It's good and rather sweet.
- You think so? Great!

Fresh bamboo shoots are sweet with a rich aroma.

- I'll start with the best part.
- Which is?

This.

- You love it.
- I do.

They like the upper parts, but I like the bottom.

There's another dish Rieko enjoys making during this season.

This is "sansho," a Japanese pepper tree.

In season at this time too, the young leaves of "sansho" are known for their fresh scent.

It's reduced to just this.

I enjoy doing this. There's a smooth feel when chopping shoots.

Mixing "sansho" and bamboo shoots makes another dish representative of spring in Japan.

This delicacy can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, such as pickled or mixed with rice.

A meal based around bamboo shoots is ready.

Good work today.

Well done. Cheers!

We eat all the shoots damaged during digging.

On bad days, we eat a lot of bamboo.

We had a good harvest this year.

The shoots are plump and juicy, which makes them crunchy.

The 23-year-old Taiki helps the family when he can, but he's undecided about his future.

Here, eat this.

No thanks.

My mother is on the far right.

A third-generation bamboo shoot farmer,

Noriaki inherited the business from his mother when he was thirty.

It was in the 1990s when the internet began to take off.

Noriaki sensed a new market and started selling online.

He ships the morning harvest on the same day,

reaching consumers faster than going through a market.

However, he had no customers at first.

I suspect I was being laughed at. Nobody understood what I was doing.

But I sought originality. You can't get ahead doing what everyone else is doing.

Today, orders pour in from across Japan.

This is for a repeat customer. It's their third order this year.

I'm really glad when people praise the taste of my bamboo shoots.

To produce quality bamboo shoots, Noriaki maintains his land throughout the year.

The more you put in, the more you get in return.

The way the wind blows. Before and after rainfall.

The grove is different every day.

A characteristic of bamboo is its rapid growth.

Bamboo can grow several meters in a day, making it difficult to maintain.

Here in Oma, a lack of farming successors has led to bamboo groves falling into disarray.

You can't even set foot in there.

Sunlight is cut off, and photosynthesis ceases.

Bamboo trees that last 5 or 6 years won't last 3 or 4.

"Is Taiki going to take things over?"

I'd like him to.

Our family owns this home and bamboo forest.

But I can't force him. It's a generational thing.

Children from a local kindergarten come to experience bamboo shoot harvesting.

Noriaki started this activity 20 years ago to teach children about bamboo shoots.

Taiki, Taiki, over here!

Taiki performs the role of instructor for the first time.

- Careful, here we go.
- It's coming out.

Yeah! It's heavy.

Taiki!

Coming!

Over here.

Dig it up! Dig it up!

Thank you!

The kids are full of energy.

Digging with them is a lot of fun.

On this day, they harvested a total of 25 kilos.

We dug up bamboo shoots!

The busy harvest season had settled down.

I plan to enjoy myself and then get serious at 30.

After that, I'm thinking of taking over the family business.

Dad works very hard. I think he's really cool.

You can't do this unless you love it.

I feel lucky to live here and have the strength to carry out the work.

The generations pass, the bamboo grows, their story continues.