Nagasaki’s “Food Islands” Use Local Specialties to Grow a Brighter Economic Future

Senno Kazutoshi, president of promotional foundation Ritōshinkō Chihōsōsei Kyōkai. (Photo by the author)

Tsushima’s scenic Asō Bay, as seen from the Eboshidake Observatory.

Different varieties of dried sweet potatoes from Gotō rice cake maker Matori (left) and bottles of the spicy condiment yuzukoshō made with yuzu from Iki Island.

Matori Kōji, right, stands with his parents in front of a drying crop of locally grown sweet potatoes from the Gotō Islands. The third-generation head of kankoro mochi maker Matori is currently exploring new products and markets.

Employees at Tsushima Island’s only sake brewery, Kawachi Shuzō. President Itō Kōichirō, center, is flanked by his son Shintarō, second from right, who returned to the island after studying sake brewing at a university in Tokyo.